As any big city mobster will tell you, shaking down small businesses for protection money is a profitable line of work. The government gets into the same lines as the mob and every branch of government wants a piece of the action until the number of permits gets to the point that no one can afford the protection. Mobsters understand this, which is why they have a capo who decides which local thugs get to shake down which neighbourhoods. Sometimes the Capo is referred to as “Mr. Mayor”.
I will be at the Kettering Mayor Making in a little while – I do not think I will be showing Councillor (soon to be Mayor) Burton this post.
However, to be fair, Mr Llewellin is referring to a paid popularly elected Mayor – not the sort of Mayor we have in Kettering, a hardworking small business person (as Mayors tend to be here).
Someone recently asked about my “expenses” – I have never put in an expense claim. But then I have only been a councillor for a dozen years – I must be working up to it.
People must think I am an eccentric who enjoys standing at the park gate (last Saturday in heavy rain – for several hours) as I must get a large income from robbing the taxpayers.
A book Mob Rules explains how the Mob has better ethics than politcians.
Mr. Llewellin has described the City of Chicago to a “t”.
It was the ZMan who pointed in a recent podcast that the government eventually gets into every racket the mob used to run – alcohol, gambling, tobacco – and creams off the bulk of the proceeds.