Regarding Kozyra

I have heard the angle that the wealth itself was a bluff – an image built up to mask huge debts from gambling on and investing in a variety of projects. The idea being to look rich enough for banks etc to lend him more. Of Kozyra, Earl Regan reportedly said: who is richer, ‘the banker or the shepherd?’

Three different interpretations of this statement come to me, all of which may be valid – firstly, that Kozyra is the ‘banker’ who may handle money, but is in real terms not rich from it. Secondly – a shepherd, in the biblical sense, is a guide, who supports and protects a group of people along a chosen path. Kozyra could be considered a shepherd in this sense, and could be considered richer for this role, successfully fostering projects by guiding them towards fruition, than any possessor of money. Thirdly, it could refer to wool being the new power currency, ahead of money, hence the shepherd being the possessor of wool, being richer than the possessor of money.

I don’t think the implication was that Kosyra was the shepherd in the third sense, ie. a dealer in wool, but I may be wrong. Perhaps Kosyra was a pawn in someone else’s game, being controlled by those to whom he was in debt?

I haven’t yet heard back from my political marketing contact.