BOOTS
The Captain Samuel Vimes "Boots" Theory of Socio-Economic Unfairness
From the works of Terry Pratchett
According to this theory, the reason the rich are so rich is because they manage to spend less money.
Take boots, for example. A Captain in the City Watch of Ankh-Morpork earns 38
dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots costs
fifty dollars. But an AFFORDABLE pair of boots,
which are sort of OK for a season or two and then leak like hell when the
cardboard gives out, costs about ten dollars.
But the thing is that GOOD boots last for years and years. A man who can afford fifty Ankh-Morpork dollars has a pair of boots that'll still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while a poor man who can only afford cheap boots will have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time AND STILL HAVE WET FEET.