American Business - The Great Scam

 In my blog on TV, I touched upon the fact that the networks keep dredging up cheap, sorry reality shows, half-witted comedies, and, on many of the cable networks, endless reruns of old programs and a constant stream of a limited number of bad movies, and suggested that if we turned them off, sponsors would cancel, and they would have to change their routines. I then realized that maybe they wouldn't do that at all, that maybe, they didn't always care about money.

Now, I know that makes no sense, on the surface, but stay with me. Every year, this country does around 60 billion dollars business in illegal drugs and all of that money has to be laundered. Without going through all of the steps invloved, suffice it to say, that often, the best way to do that is to borrow good money from banks, keep that, and dump the illegal funds on the open market. You cannot spend the tainted money without the cops, the DEA  and IRS getting a bit too nosy, so why care if you lose it. You have replaced it with clean money.

The more you have, the easier it is to get bank loans, so. you create businesses, get your loan, and spend the bad cash without thought. Again, if you lose it, who cares. Heck, you can even use some to pay back that bank loan. If it seems complicated it is, but big time criminals can hire accountants who can manipulate that money better that David Copperfield can manipulate a deck of cards.

Look around when you travel your town and pay close attention every time you go out. Go to a local mall a few times and look at the little stores, not the big-box stores like Target, but the little boutiques and specialty shops. You will be amazed at how few customers ever go in them. There is no way possible that they are making enough to pay the lease on the store, their utilities, their employees, insurance, and taxes.  They cannot be making enough to justify restocking the shelves on the rare occasions they actually sell something. The story often told is that they make all of their money during the holidays, but just take a look around mid-December. Those stores may get a few browsers and make a sale or two, but, as folks are loading their cars to leave the mall, you will see that most of the bags are from the big name store.

Why, you might ask, would such a thing be allowed to go on? Good question, and here's the answer. Leaving aside talk of such nasty things as bribes, payoffs and blackmail, the economy cannot afford to have all of that drug money pulled out. If suddenly, law enforcement put a stop to all drug trafficking or the Nation was swept with some sort of anti-drug religious fervor, and all of that trade money disappeared, the economy would be stunned. Collapse would be too strong of a word, but businesses would stagger and reel a bit, and many would suffer greatly until the ship could be righted.

This, I believe, is one reason you see so many stores that just don't seem to care about attracting and keeping customers. They don't have to.