Taken straight from the 4th grade text book, “American History”, written in 2017.

Chapter 7, Example 7.2 : Two boys, each age 8, decide to set up drink stands in order to make money. Each borrow a small amount of cash (capital) from their parents and move forward with their plans. One boy sets up an Ecto Cooler stand and the other sets up a lemonade stand, each on one corner of Spooner street. Demand for the Ecto Cooler is high as over 80% of the customers, all local neighbors, prefer it over the lemonade. So instead of changing over to a new drink, the second boy borrows additional money from his parents, employs his two sisters, offers a promotion by giving away a free cookie with each drink, and reduces the cost of the lemonade – all contributing to a reduced profit. This attracts a few customers for a short time but before long they make their way back to the Ecto Cooler, as it is just the superior product. So the boy selling lemonade offers early retirement to his two sisters, giving them each a life time of free cookies and lemonade. He then progresses to hire three of his friends and old man Sullivan, who he thought would attract some much needed attention. Once again the same story occurs, the Ecto Cooler is just a better tasting and satisfying drink. So after working long hours, putting in a lot money, and never changing the game plan to adapt to the demand of the neighborhood, the lemonade stand now runs the risk of complete failure. The boy now owes a large amount of money to his parents (creditors) and must continue to give his sisters (retirees) unlimited cookies and lemonade for as long as the stand is still operable.

1868: The lemonade stand challenges the Ecto Cooler stand to a duel. The survivor sells a lower quality, cheap drink. The neighborhood purchases the drink because if they are thirsty, they have no other choice.

1869-2008: The lemonade stand goes out of business. The sisters receive what is left of the cookies and lemonade but do not receive anything after this runs out. The parents lose their investment. The stand with ecto-cooler wins 100% of the business and continues to do well into the future as the neighbors all flock to the better, and only stand, now existing on Spooner street. Two other 8 year old children see the opportunity and set up Hawaiian Punch and Soda stands on two other corners of Spooner Street, creating competition to Ecto Cooler.

2009: The lemonade stand is going to go out of business due to poor management, producing a product no one wants, a high cost of operating, and lower skill. The mother of the lemonade stand is also the town congressman. She institutes a new law that requires no vote that allows her to use all local taxes to pay off the lemonade stand debts. 60% of all lemonade revenues will go back to the town to repair roads, pay teachers & police, and collect garbage. The neighbors have no choice but to purchase the lemonade to keep their town operable. The Ecto Cooler stand loses 50% of its business because the mother of the lemonade stand made the decision her son’s stand would not fail, no matter how bad it was managed.