Pitchman Billy Mays died today. Billy will long be remembered as the man who kept free markets and democracy alive through the worst of times. If he liked a product, he would sell it. No customer was cheated and he offered a money back guarantee. His force of personality and his blue shirt were his trademarks. He could “move“ anything, but he chose to limit his sales to practical products for the masses. Billy worked his way up to the top by spending many years traveling to trade shows and state fairs selling products. Later he worked for Home Shopping Network. He launched his mainstream career into short TV infomercials in the 1990’s.
Washington Post staff writer Frank Ahrens called him “a full-volume pitchman, amped up like a candidate for a tranquilizer-gun takedown.” (Quoted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Mays ).
Now one can only imagine the possibilities of his future potential. Had he been appointed Secretary of the Treasury by President Obama, he would have “moved” those bank mortgage toxic assets within thirty days (“If you call now, we will double the offer”). We would have saved the billions squandered on irresponsible banks, investment houses, and insurance companies and our nation would be “past” the bailout.
Billy Mays made money the old fashioned honorable way: He earned it. He kept free enterprise alive.
