You know who really loves prisons? Shithole towns in the Southwest with 4,000 residents. You see, these faux libertarians don't want no government interference in their lives, BUT if you're gonna build a prison AND them mudpeople prisoners is gonna git counted as unemployed residents with zero income AND this makes their fine, proud town look really, really poor without any of the actual effects of poverty AND helps them become eligible for state and federal funds, well, they'll take yer stinkin' money, but you best not touch their guns!!!
@Richard Petty Bourgeoisie: If you can pair it with a casino you'd have the perfect Shithole Town complex. And you wouldn't even need a paddy wagon! Just walk them from one building to the next.
@raincoaster: Why have two separate buildings? I'm picturing weekend furloughs where the inmates get $200 of state/federal money, but are only allowed to go upstairs to the casino. The machine will feed itself!
The only problem with putting the banksters in regular prisons is that the regular population makes friends with them and protects them in hopes of winning favors. (Don't know how much this happens... only have a few data points. We should try it with a huge group and see how it really works)
@Uncle_Billy_Slumming: I actually just finished reading Stung, an amazing book about a banker at CIBC who took the bank for ten million, gambling it all away. His notes from prison were quite fascinating:
'Day leave has been cancelled, since all the guards who'd escort us are needed to do security for the pope's visit. One of the inmates said, "Who the fuck does this pope think he is?" '
@raincoaster: Oh, also fun: in prison, he ALWAYS insisted on being the banker in monopoly. When he tried that with the Hell's Angels, they replied "The fuck you will."
That brings up the question that's been churning around in my febrile brain for a while now: Who's on top? We have the "establishment" in bed with the bad guys, but are is the establishment smart enough to control the brute force and threats of the bad guys they use/think they are using? (I guess we can't really draw a solid line between the two.. maybe it's a matter of who is willing to get their hands dirty, and who isn't? Who sits on the board at the Met versus who deals meth?)
@Uncle_Billy_Slumming: The Establishment has always been the bad guys. The title of the best-selling biography of Conrad Black is "The Establishment Man" and Peter Newman chose him to write about because he was, to Newman, the DEFINITIVE establishment figure.
@raincoaster: I think that's what I was trying to say. One sleezy continuum. The hood that shoots you on the street or the suit that's responsible for millions of lives lost from oil, tobacco, finance, etc.
Not sure why I'm trying to make distinctions... probably an ingrained prejudice.
@raincoaster: Oh this is interesting. There was a post at www.baselinscenario.com written by one of the young turks of the econblog community (rortybomb). The post noted that he was now associated with the Roosevelt Institute. I did some digging on the Roosevelt Institute people... lots of Dutch folks, ex OSS ambassardor fellow, Rockefeller, Conrad Black, tobacco industry alumnus, etc. etc. First it got "caught" in their spam filter. One of the hosts told me they pulled it out, but then it "awaiting moderation." I just went back to get the link for you because of the Conrad Black connection, and the post was completely gone. Post and comments, *poof*. Can't wait to see... oops.. now it's back. Looks like someone did the classic "take it down!" then "wait, put it back up! It will look worse if people know we just disappeared it"
@Uncle_Billy_Slumming: That's hilarious: I'm writing a short story in the Cthulhu Mythos tradition with a Conrad Black-like figure as the demon-haunted protagonist. So proof of superhuman powers is just what I'm looking for to make it compelling.
(any resemblance to figures living or dead would involve them admitting their wives are not fully human, but I'm still expecting to get sued anyway)
@raincoaster: I wish Americans had an understanding of Conrad Black like you neighbors to the north. He's like Warren Buffett crossed with Rupert Murdoch and a dash of Beelzebub.
@Juancho: It's even more fucked-up than that. He's really too epic a figure to exist in this world.
Did you know when he was about 12 his dad climbed the huge, impressive staircase in the main hall, called the boys down to breakfast, and then threw himself from the second floor to the first, so the kids would find him?
Some day someone will write an opera about Conrad Black.
Cheers. I used to be diligent about that, but then, I thought: "I'll just dedicate a hard drive and do it automatically." But then I didn't. But... very true. The post came back but there's no way to tell if it changed or not. We should have a system set up for the public good, audited by random, trustworthy folk, that collects all the published info and tracks changes. Google... want to do something useful? The wayback machine isn't reliable... things disappear from google cache... we need an easy, dependable way of making sure the nazis don't burn our books.
Hmmm... in light of the post on the gambler on Gawker today, one wonders if we shouldn't look into all the high-rolling losers to see if they aren't laundering money.
@Uncle_Billy_Slumming: I wish I could get that job. I knew a Palestinian arms smuggler once who would just say "I won it at the casino" whenever any particular government wondered why he was travelling with so much cash. What's funny is, his day job was as a manager at Starbucks.
I realize this sounds like bullshit, but it's not. What can I say? I'm a weirdness magnet.
Parents bought house for under ~2ook in late 1970s, sold it for 50 times in 2006. Only good investment my dad ever made, and he didn't even plan it. Now he has the money but misses his dream home terribly. Says selling was a mistake. True story.
If you want to be scared straight, watch "Property Ladder." The flippers tend to be unrealistic, somewhat bumbling and fast and loose with their cash. Budgets: never knew ya! Oh and that one guy ate a live cockroach from under the floor of the L.A. mansion he was restoring. You can see how craaazy people are these days.
I can operate a cash register and make a fucking bombass cup of coffee, but I can't hammer a nail to save my life, and you probably can't either. When flipping, hire olds to do your carpentry and wiring on the cheap! They probably accidently learned a skill in their youth. (Their youth was the '50s.)
@Mrs. Beeton: The other approach to rehab on the cheap is to redefine your personal aesthetics around the word "rehabbed," and simply live in the house as-is. That way, crumbling plaster, exposed brick, capricious plumbing, and the "rain-powered sprinkler system" in the roof eventually burrow their way into your brain as things of beauty. Much simpler in the long run.
@momof3wildkids: Yep, best motivation to properly look after the trash ever!
I've also seen people at the track do this and win. Definitely one of those bittersweet "Yay for you but ew you scrounge in racetrack gutters for a living all day long and god I need a drink now" moments.
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Either that or I want a Lady Gaga sparkin' bra.
12/09/09
12/09/09
[gawker.com]
The only problem with putting the banksters in regular prisons is that the regular population makes friends with them and protects them in hopes of winning favors. (Don't know how much this happens... only have a few data points. We should try it with a huge group and see how it really works)
12/09/09
[www.mcclelland.com]
'Day leave has been cancelled, since all the guards who'd escort us are needed to do security for the pope's visit. One of the inmates said, "Who the fuck does this pope think he is?" '
12/09/09
12/09/09
That brings up the question that's been churning around in my febrile brain for a while now: Who's on top? We have the "establishment" in bed with the bad guys, but are is the establishment smart enough to control the brute force and threats of the bad guys they use/think they are using? (I guess we can't really draw a solid line between the two.. maybe it's a matter of who is willing to get their hands dirty, and who isn't? Who sits on the board at the Met versus who deals meth?)
12/09/09
Which in every way he still is.
12/09/09
Not sure why I'm trying to make distinctions... probably an ingrained prejudice.
12/09/09
Anywho, here it is:
[baselinescenario.com]
12/09/09
(any resemblance to figures living or dead would involve them admitting their wives are not fully human, but I'm still expecting to get sued anyway)
12/09/09
12/09/09
Did you know when he was about 12 his dad climbed the huge, impressive staircase in the main hall, called the boys down to breakfast, and then threw himself from the second floor to the first, so the kids would find him?
Some day someone will write an opera about Conrad Black.
12/09/09
Screen dumps and PDF are your friends.
12/09/09
Cheers. I used to be diligent about that, but then, I thought: "I'll just dedicate a hard drive and do it automatically." But then I didn't. But... very true. The post came back but there's no way to tell if it changed or not. We should have a system set up for the public good, audited by random, trustworthy folk, that collects all the published info and tracks changes. Google... want to do something useful? The wayback machine isn't reliable... things disappear from google cache... we need an easy, dependable way of making sure the nazis don't burn our books.
12/09/09
Hmmm... in light of the post on the gambler on Gawker today, one wonders if we shouldn't look into all the high-rolling losers to see if they aren't laundering money.
11:14 AM
I realize this sounds like bullshit, but it's not. What can I say? I'm a weirdness magnet.
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But we have to bring him loaves, fish and water (to change into wine) first.
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I've also seen people at the track do this and win. Definitely one of those bittersweet "Yay for you but ew you scrounge in racetrack gutters for a living all day long and god I need a drink now" moments.
12/07/09
12/07/09