The I.P.O. Read Online Free PDF Page B

help, let’s say, even one out of every thousand orphans in this country, wouldn’t that be better than not helping any at all, which is what we as a society have been doing – until yesterday?”
    Herndon looked like he was going to vomit and couldn’t resist jumping in. “You love to cite statistics that show these kids are more likely to end up in jail than in college,” he said.  “Yet you hand pick the ones who are obviously not on that track, and saddle them with a life of indentured servitude.”
    “Now Britt,” Prescott chuckled with a glint in his eye.  “I’m just going by statistics that we have for unselected orphans.  If you have more specific data, I’d love for you to share it with us.  And as for your claim of indentured servitude, well, that’s just absurd.  That’s like recommending against a student’s going to college to avoid being saddled with all of that debt they’ll eventually be forced to repay.”
    Shaking his head, Herndon barked back, “If you look at the roughly one thousand living people who have at one time or another been part of the Forbes 400 – the wealthiest 400 people in the world, mind you – 25 of them were adopted.  Two point five percent!  That’s an over -representation of adoptees among the wealthiest people in the world!  I could say that you’re hand-picking from a population that’s more likely to overachieve!”
    “Now here’s where we do have more specific data, Britt,” Prescott said without pause.  “Of those 25 people you referenced, 17 were adopted as infants, which we don’t touch.  That leaves eight who were adopted later in life.  Seven of those were adopted by extended family members and one by a close family friend.  Only one spent any time in an orphanage, which was purely transitional and only for a few days.  All of our kids, by law, must have spent a minimum of three months in an orphanage prior to joining the program.  So if you look at the population we’re drawing from, they represent precisely 0% of the Forbes 400.”
    “Corporations are going to be making decisions about the way these kids are raised with future profitability as their only motivation – with no concern for their happiness!” Herndon seethed.
    “Britt, two suggestions.  One, look over our mission statement.  Two, try some decaf.”  He turned over to Blake, snickering, pointing a sideways thumb at Herndon’s image on the monitor. “Of course I’m only joking, Britt.  But we are very aware that successful adults are the products of happy childhoods.  They come from strong families, they have friends, and they’re involved in diverse extracurricular activities.  I’d also like to point out that short-selling on the Avillage Exchange is explicitly and permanently forbidden, so every investor will only have an interest in these kids’ values going up.”
    “Ok, well why don’t you tell the people at home who the true legal guardians are?  Is it the ‘mom’ and ‘dad’ you referred to?” Britt asked, making quotation marks with his fingers as he spoke, leaning in almost on top of the camera.
    “This is an entirely new paradigm where the legal guardians are not the parents but the corporation.  I know that’s become dirty word, but let’s be honest.  No investor would put a single cent into one of these kids if there were no legal bond.  And if you allow yourself to get past the media buzzword ‘corporation,’ I don’t think that’s such a bad thing.  The truth is most parents don’t know what they’re doing a lot of the time.  They really don’t – myself included.  We parents often wind up making emotional decisions without a lot of thought to the long-term consequences.  I hear parents say all the time, ‘There’s no handbook on how to raise a kid.’  Well, I’m hear to tell you there is.  Sort of.
    “We have developed actuarial tables over the last 20 years that cover an amazing array of variables.  For