No country adopted the values of the "warrior-hard merchant" with more vigour than Bismarckian Germany, where repression at home and brutal zero-sum commercial competition with other rising industrial powers became the order of the day.
His neighbour, Sheikh Rashed bin Said al Maktum, a shrewd, cunning and hard-working merchant who has ruled Dubai since 1958, would have been as likely a candidate.
The salary levels might seem high, but I think pound per pound, lawyers work much harder than merchant bankers or management consultants.
But it will be hard for merchants to point to the vague idea of less-steep increases and satisfy angry customers who may suddenly be paying $10 a month for a checking account or earning half as many debit card rewards because their bank can't afford to be as generous anymore.
"When you landed in the app, you were dropped into an empty canvas, and it was really hard for merchants to know what to do next".
No matter how hard the merchants tried, they could not convince the people that it was normal to have a nose.
Venezuela makes it hard for merchants to acquire the American dollars necessary to import goods like diapers, drugs, and basic cooking ingredients, he said.
Liberalization comes at a price, but hard-pressed merchants hope to build traffic and maintain consumers' good will.
Meanwhile, she and the other hard-pressed merchants and restaurateurs in Ossining have banded together to lure that endangered species — the full-throated, money-spending shopper — with the first of a series of monthly First Friday events designed to bring crowds downtown.
"We feel this is indicative of a broader trend, where the increased mainstream interest in Bitcoin will make it harder for merchants not to support Bitcoin, which will lead to more Bitcoin support, more transactions, and perhaps the continued appreciation of Bitcoin prices".
