There was a beggar begging on Wall Street.

He wrote "Beggar" on the cup he used to collect coins and bills. He received $100
after one day.

Then, on the next day, he wrote "beggar.com" on his cup. He received over $10,000 in cash, and offers from three underwriters and two law firms to do an IPO on the NASDAQ.

On the following day, he wrote "e-Beg" on his cup.

Before 10:00am, Microsoft, IBM, and HP had sent corporate vice-presidents to talk to him about strategic alliances, software development, and server access.

At noon, it was reported on both CNBC and CNN Headline News that e-Beg had opted for 95% Oracle technology.

At 2:00pm, I2 announced the launch of BegTradeMatrix, a spinoff industry portal offering total supply chain integration in the beggar community. At 3:00pm, MCI/WorldCom filed notice of a tender offer with the SEC.

At 4:00pm, Senator Orrin Hatch and Justice Department Anti-Trust Chief Joel Klein announced a joint U.S. Senate-U.S. Department
of Justice investigation of the beggar for egregious monopolistic and anti-competitive practices.

The Wall Street Journal OnLine Edition immediately posted an editorial severely criticizing the beggar for his naivete in
"trying to go it alone" without establishing a "Washington presence" to deal with "the realities of the modern regulatory state."

At 5:00pm, Al Gore's campaign chairman, Tony Coehlo, angrily denounced as a "George Bush lie" a report aired by Geraldo Rivera that the beggar had been told that a $5 million soft money contribution to the DNC would "make all his problems go away."

The beggar had no comment.