Monday, December 12, 2022

Paying Baksheesh

 If you want some group to give you money, you can promise to help them, or you can promise to not hurt them. The best models for this are government and organized crime. Government starts out by promising to pave the roads and put up street lights. The mob starts out by promising to not break windows or burn your business down. Guess which offer is the most persuasive. Government has moved up to suggesting that monies donated to certain political parties will defer new regulations that would have the same effect as a Molotov cocktail through the window. Republicans say they won't support the regulations. Satisfied that they are safe from the Right, businesses see no reason to pay the protection money to them.

No comments: