Outside a small, Irish independent bank in County Kerry in southwest Ireland, a crowd of people was gathering, all of them being customers of the bank who were anxious about their finances.
This was back in the time of the great depression and the world’s economies were in a state of shambles, with the value of everyone’s investments spiralling downwards on a daily basis.
“Tell us the facts”, shouted Jim Hanagan to the bank manager. “Remember, I was one of the first people in the town to deposit money with you!”
“Indeed you were”, said bank manager John Kennedy, who had come out from the bank to try and pacify the crowd.
“And because of that”, the banker continued, “you are what we call a preferential creditor”.
“A preferential creditor!”, shouted Jim Hanagan, louder than before. “What does that mean exactly?”
“Well”, said John Kennedy, “It means that you will be the first to know there’s nothing to come!”
Image used under a Collective Commons License from https://www.geograph.ie/photo/2503706
