Sooner or later a mismatched partnership, like a marriage, goes sour. There is always a partnership with one partner accusing the other of throwing them out or diminishing their authority. Here a sort of Darwinian law operates at the level of survival. While some partners are genuinely cheated out of their share of the business others are removed because they are incompetent or inefficient. Here the two people are in a relationship only a single person is assuming the work and planning. It is a bad partnership because one of the partnerships will not carry their weight. Not carrying ones weight can be seen in the following example. There was a furniture shop in Portland Oregon where a creative person developed a line of furniture. He bonded together with a tight group of friends and built the business. His employees began to depend on steady work that had a future. But the owner did not pay attention to business and the enterprise began to fail. By deceptive means they forced the owner out simply to assure their own well being. They rescued the business but in real time it is difficult to find a lot of fault with the employees. Technically, yes this was unethical, but is it really? But, if a partner does not contribute and instead obstructs the flow of business it would seem time for a break up. Here one partner frustrates the other provoking him to higher emotions where greed can seep in.

     The real estate partnership is one of the most visible places cheating goes on in partnerships.  Hear a real estate agent, property manager, or investor partners with another person who is willing to do all the physical labor of restoring a house. This sort of thing goes on even where both parties have invested the same amount of money. Restoring houses is exhausting and sometimes a disappointing experience. There are cost overruns and fights with the other partner. The working partner must make decisions on their own only to find out later the other partner does not want to pay for the extra work. What looked like a great partnership in the begriming goes bad because one person is investing all the time and money and the other is not. The investor consciously or unconsciously "fatigues" the other partner. The real estate market slows down. After a while the person doing the work sees their profit disappear and wants out. For the investor or agent it is simply a waiting game. They know that in a few years the full value of the house will return and they can rent the house in the mean time.