This hit my inbox a few days ago:

A man opened a delicatessen and sold delicious Italian foods. He was hard of hearing so he had no radio. He had trouble with his eyes, so he read no newspapers, but he sold the most delicious Italian food. He created a beautiful window display, and put a large sign outside telling people how fantastic his food was, and advertised in the local papers. He stood outside his shop and shouted “get the finest Italian pasta, cakes and ice-cream here” – and people bought. He increased his orders with his suppliers. He bought more kitchen equipment and a bigger oven to bake more bread and cakes to supply his increasing trade. He got his boy home from University to help him.

But then something happened….

His son said “Dad, haven’t you been listening to the radio? Some people are saying we’re heading for a credit crunch. There’s a recession coming. We had better prepare for poor trade.” The father thought, “Well my son has been to University, he reads the papers, watches television and listens to the radio, so he should know.” So the father cut down his orders. He took down the sign, stopped the advertising and no longer bothered to stand outside his shop and sell his fantastic food. And his sales fell almost overnight. “You’re right son” the father said. “We are certainly heading for hard times”.