Simple Responses "Unintended Consequences" by Marti Ronemus

In British India there was a little problem with cobras. The government's obvious solution was to put a bounty on them. Sounds sensible, right?

The only problem was that the price for each cobra the British were offering was greater than the cost of breeding and raising a cobra. Result? Snake breeding became a cottage industry.

When the government realized what was happening they scrapped the whole program. People raising the now worthless cobras set them loose. And now there were more cobras than ever. Government Wisdom at its finest.

The problem of course was not looking far enough ahead. That would never happen to us bridge players, would it? We plan ahead.

BY THE WAY... I made a mistake in my last column, on Hairball Awareness. That didn't come from Faithful reader Sarah, but from Stirling. Very sorry about the false accreditation!!