As I write this, Apple Inc. (formerly Apple Computer) is about to announce new products. Today they are a focal point of the technology world. But it has not always been so. About 15 years ago I had left my job. The new job I was promised before I moved across the country fell through. I spent time living off the kindness of friends and eventually had to move back in with my parents. I was out of money. At that time the price of Apple stock had fallen, as I recall, to about $12 per share. I was urging everyone I knew (and who had money) to buy Apple stock. The reason for my urging was that I believed only two things could happen. First, the stock would go up in value, in which