What is it about the "civilized" world that makes a simple gratuity or gift so... socially unacceptable. Unless, of course, it's funneled through the "proper channels" and other folks get their cut too. You know, so "no one knows".
"Oh, yes; I am," added the king, taking a handful of gold from La Chesnaye, and putting it into the hand of d'Artagnan. "Here," said he, "is a proof of my satisfaction." At this epoch, the ideas of pride which are in fashion in our days did not prevail. A gentleman received, from hand to hand, money from the king, and was not the least in the world humiliated. D'Artagnan put his forty pistoles into his pocket without any scruple--on the contrary, thanking his Majesty greatly...
...and a vast number of heroes of that gallant period may be cited who would neither have won their spurs in the first place, nor their battles afterward, without the purse, more or less furnished, which their mistress fastened to the saddle bow.
Because funding is centralized, not distributed, people have a hard time figuring out where great amounts of money they never saw, but they paid into, goes.
It's the fundamental premise of pyramid schemes and even confidence acts. Now you see it, now you don't.
For a kingdom, there was little option to distribute funding, since it had to be first collected, assessed, and then secured. The journey, thus, was the part where money leaked through, skimmed off the top and what not.
In modern day, the money is collected in one place or mechanism precisely so that it is easier to skim off, rather than secure. These days, using electronic verification and data keeping, money is a lot safer in individual hands than it ever was in centralized banks and governments.
Even an investment is one orders away, and can still be kept in sight of the original payer. That is sufficient to count as being kept at home. Once it is routed into the federal government, where it can go through 1600 different permutations of offices and bureaucratic budget siphons, it's gone.
For all that Democrats accuse American patriots of making money off war, oil, or various other military industrial complex projects, Democrat death merchants like Feinstein and Californian gun runners are making way more than "boat loads" of money off the military projects funneled to them.
William, because it's wrong to tempt- them and yourself.
As the son of a 30 year Internal Auditor for a Catholic Archdiocese, I can tell you that people don't need the temptation, and trust but verify. Also, good intentions may not mean good results, and can devolve quickly regardless.
What is it about the "civilized" world that makes a simple gratuity or gift so... socially unacceptable. Unless, of course, it's funneled through the "proper channels" and other folks get their cut too. You know, so "no one knows".
ReplyDeleteWilliam sends.
"Oh, yes; I am," added the king, taking a handful of gold from La Chesnaye, and putting it into the hand of d'Artagnan. "Here," said he, "is a proof of my satisfaction." At this epoch, the ideas of pride which are in fashion in our days did not prevail. A gentleman received, from hand to hand, money from the king, and was not the least in the world humiliated. D'Artagnan put his forty pistoles into his pocket without any scruple--on the contrary, thanking his Majesty greatly...
ReplyDelete...and a vast number of heroes of that gallant period may be cited who would neither have won their spurs in the first place, nor their battles afterward, without the purse, more or less furnished, which their mistress fastened to the saddle bow.
Alexander Dumas, The Three Musketeers
Because funding is centralized, not distributed, people have a hard time figuring out where great amounts of money they never saw, but they paid into, goes.
ReplyDeleteIt's the fundamental premise of pyramid schemes and even confidence acts. Now you see it, now you don't.
For a kingdom, there was little option to distribute funding, since it had to be first collected, assessed, and then secured. The journey, thus, was the part where money leaked through, skimmed off the top and what not.
In modern day, the money is collected in one place or mechanism precisely so that it is easier to skim off, rather than secure. These days, using electronic verification and data keeping, money is a lot safer in individual hands than it ever was in centralized banks and governments.
Even an investment is one orders away, and can still be kept in sight of the original payer. That is sufficient to count as being kept at home. Once it is routed into the federal government, where it can go through 1600 different permutations of offices and bureaucratic budget siphons, it's gone.
For all that Democrats accuse American patriots of making money off war, oil, or various other military industrial complex projects, Democrat death merchants like Feinstein and Californian gun runners are making way more than "boat loads" of money off the military projects funneled to them.
ReplyDeleteFunny how that works.
William, because it's wrong to tempt- them and yourself.
ReplyDeleteAs the son of a 30 year Internal Auditor for a Catholic Archdiocese, I can tell you that people don't need the temptation, and trust but verify. Also, good intentions may not mean good results, and can devolve quickly regardless.