Binding Fairy Tales

On the last page of today's (01.11.2008) Guardian "Review" insert, there is an advert that takes all the available space.
A collection of all the most famous fairy tales authors of the past, worth £156, is offered for £9.95. Perrault, the Grimm brothers, H. C. Andersen, Aesop and the anonymous Arabian nights all for less than 10 quid.
We will also receive the Blue Fairy Book (alone worth other 34.95) free of charges.
All we have to do is fill out a form and send it along with our payments details to the address specified and...
...Well and(according to the small print) that will serve as introduction to an exclusive book club. Joining this club, which is exactly what we apply for when we post our form, means agreeing on buying two more books from a Catalogue (which is nowhere better specified) within 4 weeks and two further within March 2009.

Two hours ago two persons knocked on my door, flashing some badge, and saying they were from an electricity and gas supplier not based in my area. They offered me an annual credit of £100 plus a prospect of having bills 5-10% cheaper than my current provider. They funnily enough refused to leave a contract so I could examine it carefully in my own time, or any informative leaflet, with the excuse they had very few of them left.

It must have been the same for those who bought in the hedge funds or whatever were those products that made the all banking system collapse in the past few weeks.
People are attracted to bargains. Money is the primary factor, but there is also the secret drive of being smarter. You'll get books that general public pay hundreds of pounds for 15 times less as much. Your gas provider charges you more because it's had the monopoly and thinks of itself as the owner of the network; but you can show'em now. Normal people put money in saving accounts, you can earn 10 times as much investing on those combined products, there is a small risk, but it practically never happens (oh yeah!).

It would be easy not to trust these people. The difficult is not trusting ourselves. Being wary of the stranger is innate. Suppressing our own instinct of being smart daredevils that float over the ignorant bleating crowd, is damn harder.

Bargains are out there, I am sure. But usually it is you that have to chase them, very rarely they knock at your door.
Sorry, have to leave now. I have to phone and order this lamp I saw on telly. Apparently if you rub over it...