“Jack was commissioned by his mother to sell the last of their worldly goods on the open market.  This flies in the face of common sense, the last of their worldly goods was a source of constant food, and potentially a source of steady revenue.
“The mother obviously did not know of one of the first precepts of the market, and its attendant concept of good house-keeping.  That is not to sell your only means of marketable income.”
 
John Bird, Big Issue