Ever used your phone’s GPS and STILL got lost?
I have. Lots of times.
Like, how do you get lost using GPS? Satellites in space. Beaming your exact location down to Earth.
Or, have you ever seen something on your map that didn’t quite “line up” with what was actually on the road?
There was a reason for that, and it might not be “user error.”
Maybe it was as subtle as a slight curve where there should be a straight line…
Or…
Maybe an entire town is there that isn’t supposed to be.
These are called “trap streets” or “map traps.”
Mapmakers include them on maps to combat intellectual property theft (they call them “imitators”). You see, if a map company includes a fake street, or mis-names a river or even a mountain range, puts erroneous curves in streets, or invents an entire town, then anyone illegally copying that map will instantly be caught “red handed.”
Examples of this can be found everywhere. La Taza Drive in Upland, California – doesn’t exist in real life, but appears on certain Rand McNally maps before 1980.
The most famous is Agloe, a fake town in upstate New York invented by mapmakers in the 1930s.
It was fake, that is, until a small general store opened up in the area and called itself the “Agloe General Store.“
…and then, suddenly, the town became real. It’s true. Look it up.
What does this have to do with business or finance?
Well, for years, businesses have done something similar, creating “secret divisions” within their companies. Divisions that technically don’t exist. “Money traps,” if you will.
Except, instead of sucking moola out of the ‘ole bank account, they trapped money that was already “out there” and sucked it back in. Money traps worth millions of dollars. In some cases, billions.
Not to combat fraud or theft, but to provide a safeguard against downturns in the economy…
…business cycles…
…bankruptcy.
J.C. Penny did it. Disney did it. The Pampered Chef did it.
Want to know what the secret is?
Uncle, uncle, uncle.
Fine, I’ll tell you, and then help you set one up for yourself