It is said that the development of California's agricultural and motion picture industries can be attributed to Amadeo Peter Giannini's liberal credit policies. Giannini's father, a farmer, died when A.P. was only seven--in a fight over a dollar. Let's have this joke about the man from www.anecdotage.com :
Giannini (whose Bank of America National Trust and Savings Association weathered the Depression and became the largest privately owned bank in the world) asked a distinguished looking grey-haired gentleman to get him a taxi.
When the man dutifully obliged, Giannini gave him a quarter. The recipient, clearly embarrassed, explained that he was the head of the Los Angeles Bank of America. Giannini duly apologised, took back the quarter, and gave him a dollar.
