The Royal Scam

I forgot about that record. I think it's one of Steely Dan's finest. Haven't heard it in a long, long time.

I think it's probably prophetic. Our economy has been built on the Royal Scam. And we've all been implicated in the scam in one way or another. We kind of grow cynical about it all, knowing that everyone is basically scamming everyone else. And that's how you actually accumulate stuff.

So since we're all in on the scam, we actually develop a sort of admiration for those who are good at scamming others. "Look how they swindle the rubes." Except we are the rubes. And they write books about the Royal Scammers, and give them awards, and put them on TV shows. All our pillars of society (really pillars of salt) are built on the scam: real estate, finance, insurance, health care, government, entertainment, etc...

Pick your poison.

"See the glory of the Royal Scam." - Becker & Fagan