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Once there was a tiny tree living in a big forest. It thought it would grow to be the biggest tree if it cut down all the other trees.  

He cut and cut and cut and cut.  It took him years, but he finally cut down all the trees in the forest.  He stood alone.  

But still he did not grow tall.  In fact, he was withering, slowly drying out.  His leaves started to fall, and his branches started to hollow out.  

Without his brother and sister trees to help block out the sun's rays, it became quite hot.  

Without his brother and sister trees’roots to hold on to the topsoil, the soil eroded.

Without the forest to house animals and plants, the land became barren.  

The tiny tree was dying from thirst, and its roots no longer had a foothold in the ground; soon it simply dried up and fell over from the slightest wind.  

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The fable teaches that an individual, organization, state, or country cannot become stronger, taller, or bigger by cutting down others.  The result would be self-annihilation or destruction.  

We are part of humanity, a whole environmental ecosystem, and part of the global economy.  

Cutting down the biggest fruit tree will not make you a fruit tree capable of bearing fruit.  

Shrinking the global economy, where there is less innovation, will not make the country cutting down fruit trees and other trees that are customers richer.  

In fact, fewer customers and less innovation mean becoming poorer.  And depending on the level of destruction, the economy would likely spiral into depression, and stagnation becomes imminent and inevitable.

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