Welcome to the Theft Economy

One of my all time favorite movies is Goodfellas. I like it because it depicts the cast of criminals as regular guys doing regular things, in a criminal world. One of the best examples of this is where the owner of The Tiki Bar takes Paulie on as a partner, Paulie is the boss of the crew. The owner is only doing this because Tommy, one of Paulie’s soldiers terrorizes him and he needs protection. Take note, this is an action of desperation. We will come back to this. After Paulie is settled he forces the Tiki owner to take out loans against the businesses credit to pay him. Here is a quote from the film narrated by Henry Hill “Now the guy’s got Paulie as a partner. Any problems, he goes to Paulie. Trouble with the bill? He can go to Paulie. Trouble with the cops, deliveries, Tommy, he can call Paulie. But now the guy’s gotta come up with Paulie’s money every week no matter what. Business bad? Fuck you, pay me. Oh, you had a fire? Fuck you, pay me. Place got hit by lightning huh? Fuck you, pay me.” Lets recap, this is a film about real people committing real crimes. In the film the Tiki owner is bankrupted and Paulie burns the business to the ground for the insurance.

Now I would like to bring you to current America and it’s “legal” business of chapter 11 bankruptcy. Never heard of it? Well you should because it most likely will effect you financially. Chapter 11 bankruptcy is a financial action…