Recently it was reported that I made some “controversial” comments about Nagasaki, Japan. I compared subprime lenders to noodle salesman left with few noodles or customers after the atomic bomb.

Firstly, not to indulge in stereotypes, but I think the Japanese are too good at business to be offended by this. Secondly, my analogy was spot on. Subprime lenders are in the business of lending money they can no longer access to poor slobs who never had the means to pay it back in the first place. That would indeed be like setting up shop in a desolate, radioactive city, so Nagasaki after the bomb dropped was perfect. Is Hiroshima offended I didn’t mention them and they were bombed first? Take it up with Harry Truman.

But what would have been a good place to do business? Well, the opportunities throughout history are endless. Let’s take the Second World War, for example. If I did have some surplus noodles, I would have used them to sell chicken noodle soup from a mobile cart outside of Auschwitz or one of the other newly liberated concentration camps. Look at the business opportunity: people are starving and they haven’t had a good bowl of chicken noodle soup in years, the food rations from the Russians probably stink and everyone could really use some hearty soup.

Things like the Trail of Tears, the Armenian Genocide or the Bataan Death March would have made for the perfect place to break the inexpensive noodle and athletic shoe markets wide open.

Why should anyone be offended by capitalism? Capitalism equals freedom, and freedom is always in good taste.