Aristotle wrote a few short pages about money around 330 BC. They became law for a thousand years, and they describe Wall Street, private equity, and the 2022 real estate crash better than anything written since.
In this video I break down the most important distinction in the history of economic thought: the difference between oikonomia (stewardship, managing an estate for use) and chrematistike (money-making for its own sake). Aristotle said the two look identical from the outside, use the same instruments, and that one of them builds civilizations while the other one eats them.
We start with Thales of Miletus and the first recorded options trade in history, move through King Midas and Aristotle's argument against interest, and then watch the same pattern play out in Rome's tax farmers, Spain's silver, the British Empire, General Electric, Boeing, and the Toys "R" Us leveraged buyout. Then I'll tell you where Aristotle was wrong, and why I still borrow money for a living.
Out of all of it comes a three-question test you can run on any investment: a stock, a fund, a syndication, an apartment building, or the business you own. I ran my own deals through it. I nearly bought a $17M tower in Seattle in 2021 that would have failed two of the three.
Follow us on The Timeless Investor Newsletter
Learn more about my investment company here
Other Videos Mentioned:
Cicero's 2,000-Year-Old Ethics Test
The Business Model That Destroyed 4 Empires
Never Lend Money to a King (Knights Templar)
The Founding Father Who Died in Debtors' Prison
