In 1869, a banker, named David Hannum, put together a syndicate to purchase and market the 'paleontological discovery' by Mr. David Hull, of a giant petrified humanoid, the Cardiff Giant. When the crowds gathered and the money began to roll in, Mr. Hannum coined a phrase that has since, been falsely attributed to P.T. Barnum; “There's a sucker born every minute.”

In fact, old P.T., who could smell a hoax at the drop of a Tom Thumb, labeled the giant as such and wa subsequently sued by Hannum for libel. As a result, Mr. Hull stepped forward and admitted that his giant was, indeed, a clever gypsum fraud. The judge ruled that Hannum had not been libeled by Barnum since he had, in fact, labeled a fraud truthfully as 'a fraud'. Case closed. Why revisit history? Well, one would hope that such blatant hucksterism would be a thing of the past; that the public is too well educated to fall for such flummery. Sigh! I guess not.

I just viewed a television commercial for a “Limited Edition “, “Commemorative” gold replica of an “Out of Production” U.S. Fifty Dollar Gold Piece. Yikes. Originally priced at $50, you can get it for only $9.99. But, you can only buy five, so hurry and phone in. This coin is not solid gold, though. After all gold prices have “soared 3,000% since the original issue in 2008”! So, it's clad in “14 milligrams of .9999 Fine 24carat solid gold”.

Well, now, at today's gold price the amount of gold on this “Special Non-Monetary Minting” is a paltry FIFTY CENTS. I'm sure that if you wait around long enough the announcer will have no choice but to say: “But Wait! There's more.” I'm certain that every purchaser of the bargain will be offered shares in a bridge they have for sale.

Ye cats. Perhaps there IS a sucker born every minute.