Why America owes an apology to the Mafia
inspired by:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023668480#post20
Okay, I am not fond of extortion artists, but I have what Johnathon Swift might call a "modest proposal."
America owes the Mafia an apology. The reason being, our government has done everything the Mafia does, and many things even the Mafia would not.
Take the example of Numbers running. It was a small, local lottery, with small payouts, but much better chances of winning than any state Lotto, much less powerball. The cops broke them up, and then ran their own "numbers" game. What is worse, they used the proceeds to lower taxes on the rich, taking funds not only from the poor, but from the schools.
Take the example of competence: Yes, if you are a Mafiosi, you can have power, but if you screw up, you sleep with the fishes, or at least get a broken kneecap. To be blunt, if Larry Summers, Karl Rove, or any numbers of the potentates and pundits that are wrong, again and again, were in the mafia, they would have been wearing cement shoes a long, long time ago.
Take the issue of Liberty: Wiretaps sounded like a great idea when it was used on Mafiosi, back when Google was just a number only professors cared about. Now, lo and behold, we are now getting it. Funny how these wiretaps do not get used a New England social Brahmins, or Good Ole Boy Southern social clubs.
Take the "crime" of gambling: Everywhere in Las Vegas, that heavily regulated place of Gambling, there is constant surveillance of all details, from much much damage can cards take before they must be thrown away, to whether the blackjack dealer claps his hands to show he is not cheating. There is even a whole branch of Math called Game theory, which calculates the odds of Dice. Every factor in gaming must be accounted for. There is even a class of "professional" gamblers who make it because they simply have studied the math, and can calculate right down to the decimal the odds of a card being drawn. Soem are so good they are banned from casinos, because the card games, being glorified Math problems, are predictable by those who can do Math in their head. Now, compare that do your average Wall Street derivative, or "AAA" stock. Standard and Poor has been caught being wrong, if not outright dishonest; the Mafia would never employ a Bookee our Accountant with the Track record of Wall Street.
Take the idea of Patriotism: The Godfather of a major city knows that if his city is poor, he will not get to milk much from the residents. Your current Wall Street types know that wealth is "Global" which is a very fancy word for "I can take my wealth elsewhere because I know I can." Hell, they know they can even export the jobs and still make money, not even having to corrupt a union. Even the Mafia realized you needed unions, even if they were part of a scheme, because only a strong union could intimidate the managers.
So, to La Cosa Nostra, I say, we owe you an apology. You may be scum, but you are honorable scum, which is far more than we can say for our current types in power.
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