Friday, September 26, 2008

Legal Scam?--Con Artists' / Politicians' Ace in the Hole: Create Controversy

--Generating 2 Strongly Opposing Sides is Key to a Good Legal Scam enjoyed by Con Artists and Politicians Everywhere

It's said the hand that turns the knob opens the door.

If you be the con artist / politician, you know that, to succeed in selling a legal scam, several steps are essential. steps necessary to just getting to the door, before you can even hope to open it.

As it's said: Never wrestle a pig; you'll both get dirty, and the pig likes it. Take the easy way.

You must hatch a problem so that you can organize a group of people to step in with the "solution." You must then employ the Us and Them technique so that your group of suckers can be manipulated, with strong emotion, to become the 'void-filler" in this legal scam. Tell them your powers can only be used for good. At no time overlook the potency of collective stupidity.

You can't make someone instantly buy your scam: all you can do is stalk them until they give in. So, next up, you have to create, or piggy-back onto, emotion-laden issues This enables you to not only get through the door, but to climb the staircase in search of this perfect scam. If all else fails, lower your standards still further.

It doesn't much matter what the precise nature of the issue is, as long as you can condemn the other side of it as being dead wrong. (Embalming of a corpse is not a legal requirement; most people are unaware of this.) And, in so doing, you can more appropriately lay claim to the righteousness of your cause--occupy the moral high ground. Tell your flock it's not easy being right all the time. This will go over well with those of your followers who seem like they have been working with glue too long

How do you go about engendering this controversy? A number of ways are available to you. (Con artists and politicians promoting a legal scam are all the same. They think anything worth fighting for is worth fighting dirty for.)

> Start out broadly, by finger-pointing at everyone who might disagree with you in any way, no matter how small. Be ruthless. Cruel and unusual punishment works better. In the early stages you merely follow a fundamental Law of Bureaucracy: To get action create the illusion of a crisis, and hope somebody will try to do something about it. If at first you do succeed, try not to look surprised.

> Narrow your field down to a few of the better-known, more dominant, more influential entities. At this stage you will let a few of your fringe oppressors off the hook. (Forgive your enemies; it messes up their heads.)

> Among your array of enemies to fight, you must include entities such as oppressive government agencies, and some suspect and discredited watchdog organizations that you can accuse of devious ambitions which can be proven by "follow the money" trails. And, any other opposing group which can be scalded with the taint of blind ambition or greed makes a good scapegoat.

Mix in a little blasphemy with outrageous lies, stir well, and a most succulent conspiracy broth will emerge, ready for consumption by your sucker following. Be brutal. Be explicit. Be direct. Never play leapfrog with a unicorn.

> Now comes the final narrowing-down to that one enemy who threatens you in the harshest, meanest way--the one which is the biggest stumbling block to your achieving your noble goals (legal scam). You'll want to concentrate your fire more on this single villain than all the rest. Again, show no mercy. Nobody has ever complained about a parachute not opening.

> Stir this pot of contempt and hatred to boiling pitch. And, watch the money come pouring in to support your valiant cause. Once your group of suckers has made up its collective mind, don't confuse them with facts. Merely step aside and lovingly and gratefully accept their generous money donations. At this point don't overdo. That would be as pointless as a hit man outfitting his gun with a silencer to whack a mime.

How do you--as the victim of this accumulated nonsense--prevent yourself from getting so cleaned out that you are eating beans for breakfast? Just as you wouldn't consider beef jerky and Twinkies as 2 of the major food groups, and wouldn't consider barbequing Spam on your outdoor grille even if you didn't have anything better to eat, you've got to use plain old common sense. Talk is cheap because supply exceeds demand. Reason everything out from there.

Remember, if you go dancing with a grizzly bear, let him lead.

But, the safe path is the best.

Clutching your wallet to your breast, run for the tall grass.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

i could not agree more with all of your points

Anonymous said...

I think the current Canadian PM (Harper)has gone to the same school as these fellows you talk about.
At no time overlook the potency of collective stupidity,and It doesn't much matter what the precise nature of the issue is, as long as you can condemn the other side of it as being dead wrong.

Excellent. Jack, you should consider writing a book on how to effectively lead a nation. I swear your posts mimick the Canadian political scene to the tee.

I *bow* to the master of cynicism :-)
~JD

Anonymous said...

With the nightmare situation prevailing in the financial markets right now, you can see how this mindset would have contributed to it.

Anonymous said...

Sew as much discord as you can so you can ride in like a white knight and come to the rescue. Yes I can see that reasoning all right. And that is exactly what is being done.

Jack Payne said...

Playing Referee, with a firm, "Let's You and Him Fight," attitude is of prime importance to the con man.

You guys are picking up on this "essential" very well.

Anonymous said...

With this huge financial disaster hanging over our heads I think its more important than ever before to understand the con man mind that goes into this. Yes I am not so naive to believe all these power mad politicians should be excluded. They belong in this grouping too.

Anonymous said...

I'm so mad I can't see straight. Today I went to my credit union to withdraw $8,000 cash. They treated me like I was crazy...they called the manager over to talk me out of it, and treated me like I was a lunatic. It was like pulling teeth to get my money out of there. I think these con artist things you are talking about extend to financial places too.

Jack Payne said...

It's not only power mad politicians, Bern, but obscene greed on Wall Street too. With so many $100 million, plus, golden parachutes,this is outright looting of their companies, even when the company performs poorly and loses money. I say give these people an actual "golden parachute" and push them out of a plane.

Jack Payne said...

Same thing happened to me a couple of days ago at one of my banks, Ellen. I tried to cash a $4,400natural gas royalty check and pocket the funds. The teller had a hissy and practically threatened to call for the men in the white coats to come haul me off. She patronized me like I'd lost my mind, demanding to know what I wanted "all that cash" for. Being a firm believer that it's none of anybody's business what I want money for, I did nothing but insist, finally winning the argument. Being elderly, I was probably suspect of being some kind of Alzheimer's case. She ended up half-way apologizing. I thought she might even offer me a drool cup as a "gift" premium on the way out.

Anonymous said...

It's funny, I had a political conversation just last night where I said almost the exact same thing. It's funny how this whole economic 'crisis' is happening right at the end of the Bush administration, precisely at the time of the presidential debates....

Anonymous said...

"Let him lead?" I'll try to remember that the next time I dance with a grizzly bear.

Anonymous said...

Never play leap frog with a Unicorn? Ouch!

Inspector Clouseau said...

Very interesting stuff. Hmmm. Definitely causes one to think. I'm not quite as cynical as you, but we may reach the same result. I definitely think that we have been conned by all sides, no matter what the label, as many of my articles suggest. Thanks for contributing to the discourse.

I'm going to post a referral to your site and mention your article. Should initiate some mental exercises.

http://www.theviewfromoutsidemytinywindow.blogspot.com

Phoenix2Life said...

Interesting read. Great cynicism. Very realistic analysis of the crowd psychology.

Thanks,

Pheonix2Life

Anonymous said...

My laughter is ironic. Deep down in my gut this crowd psychology thing makes me sick. Commonly done thogh, and is what is being used in this herding of us all into a panic state of doing something - anything, do it now, this very minute, do it immediately. It is only 700 billion dollars. Jeeez, give me a break.

Anonymous said...

This makes it easier to understand why everything is falling apart.

Jack Payne said...

Glad to see that this has triggered all of you folks into thinking about this mob psychology thing--in this case, Us against them, Main Street vs. Wall Street. It's a ploy that always works. Sadly, the obvious gets lost in the dust--in this process.
Completely we overlook such facts as, where does Main Street have its money invested? (We have met the enemy, and he is us.)

Nancy Ellyn said...

Wall Street, Big Government, Golden Parachutes, Gordon Gekko, Greed.

Who is funding the nonsense? Main Street! Thru our tax dollars, mortgages, accumulation of "stuff" and general consumerism we continue to line the coffers and our dollars are disrespected and misused.

We've had our heads in the sand. They've played us and we trusted them. Yes, we've been conned, because we forgot whose pockets the money is coming from.

It is OUR money that has been mismanaged and misused. OURS. It will be OUR MONEY that funds whatever buyout agreement finally passes.

I'm so upset about all of this I can't even see straight.

We are paying for the gasoline for our politicians, for crying out loud! We are paying for their CARS! Some people cannot even afford that for themselves!

We've been conned by the best...those that gained our trust and distracted us, even as the walls were tumbling down.

Anonymous said...

Your insight into the dynamics of the politicians who run our country (USA) is really quite remarkable. Well, at least that's what I felt like I was reading. I also felt like I was reading a psychological profile of a nation. I was. But I've never seen it lined up like this before. Only in bits and peaces, which of course further fragments people....and a nation. Makes them more easily manipulated and controlled.

You line: "Never play leapfrog with a unicorn."

DELIGHTFUL!!! :) :)

And the other one about....no one ever complaining that their parachute didn't open....just cracked me up. You are famous for such lines. I've never seen anyone write with so much wit.

Again, you are the master. I am working on keeping my post tighter. Still much to learn.

So good to "see" you again. Always is. Hugs, Robin

Anonymous said...

Hi Dear Jack, I left a comment here but I think it might be lost in cyber space. I will wait a bit longer and check back. Hope you are doing really well. Your writing is top notch...just amazing and sharp! Phew!

Anonymous said...

Talk is cheap because supply exceeds demand? How do you come up with these lines?

Anonymous said...

if you can't figure it out yet, who is going to?

Jack Payne said...

Nancy Ellyn, you are one of the best kitchen table economists I have ever seen. Keep it up. Your insights are precious.

Robin, you are still the love of my life. Please, oh, please, don't stop. Keep filling my head with the aura of Wizard of Oz mysticism. If my head expands beyond recall, I will owe it all to you.

Anonymous said...

Hey Jack, You have it wrong!!! YOU are the love of MY life!!! LOL :) BUT the compliments are none the less the absolute truth. I don't need to conjure up flattery where you're concerned!! :) :) Hugs, Robin