Summertime and the Protection Racket

[struggle4progress]

Con games change predictably with the seasons, and with November getting closer, the gangsters have dusted off the "protection racket."

Of course, nobody complains about real protection, affordably priced: the folk in the tall building don't want an airplane flying into them, and people beside the levee want out when it floods. But the racketeers don't offer real protection. Sometimes, you hire the guys, then nobody answers when you call for help. Other times, there's no visible daylight between their game and armed robbery: they lean and you hand over the credit cards.

How can you tell the square business from the scam? Well, you won't wake up one morning to find the genuine insurance man going through your stuff or on your phone. He won't charge you money to protect an intangible like the pledge of allegiance or anything with mere symbolic value like your dimestore flag. If he wants to help keep you and your spouse together, he might offer deoderant or an anti-snoring nostrum. But when the stranger is coming through your door, and offering a policy to protect your marriage, without any useful product, that's probably a thug. You might want the shotgun handy, because they play rough.

[linazelle]

1. Yeah, the terr-a-ists are out in full force again. There's a new alert

and I'm sk-k-eered. :scared:

NOT :eyes:

Unfortunately, I work around people who are stupid as they come when it comes to terr-a-ism. Just the other day during travel to Springfield IL during a meeting a woman mentioned "the terrorists" as we were planning.

Unfortunately, it won't take much to get them to run to daddy. A little more ratcheting up the fear levels and somebody's approval ratings will start soaring. Watch.