Sometimes the Chinese have the right idea

[jmowreader]

There are economic crimes in China that carry the death penalty--most of them having to do with defrauding banks. The history of Chinese people making runs on the banks for the slightest twinge of panic is about as long as the history of Chinese banking (which is nowhere near as long as the history of Chinese industry), so the Chinese government takes any attack on the Chinese economic system very seriously.

Anyway, there are several economic crimes that, if you commit them in China, will result in you getting executed.

Let me introduce you to Anthony Allen, the Scum of the Earth. This is a man who really deserves to be taken out back and shot.

http://www.fayettevillenc.com/article?id=222428

Mr. Allen didn't do much...he just defrauded 150-plus senior citizens out of between $15 million and $20 million of their retirement savings. Where did it go? Even the bank isn't sure--this guy spent his ill-gotten gains so fast that he incurred returned-check charges every month.

Allen copped a plea--guilty to 85 counts of obtaining property by false pretenses. Our prosecutor, Ed Grannis, is working to get him sentenced to 1900 years in prison. (They didn't do this for leniency, either...they estimate that a full-blown trial would take over a year.)

There needs to be something we can do with people like this.

[lectrobyte]

1. 1900 years... and yet, Ken Lay is walking around giving speeches etc.

As Guinan would say, it's not supposed to be like this.

[jmowreader]

2. Our prosecutor's a Democrat

I think I've finally figured out that "Republicans are the law and order party" line.

When the Republicans are in power, we will have neither law nor order. We will, however, spend a lot of money on the illusion of it.

[Jed Dilligan]

3. I feel like if you have a job, that affords you and your family more

than a comfortable living, there should be a lot of misuses of office that carry severe penalties including death. The biggest problem with this country today is that minor offenders get put away for life and the greatest criminals never get punished at all.

[jmowreader]

4. So is this guy a "minor offender" or a "greatest criminal"

or somewhere in between?

I'm goin' for somewhere in between.

Obviously he's not like the BFEE. He hasn't committed treason. He didn't authorize thirty different telephone-surveillance missions against American citizens. And he hasn't killed anyone, at least not directly.

OTOH, there are 150-odd senior citizens who entrusted their life's savings to this asshat...who spent them on himself.

They won't execute him, but he needs to be picking up trash alongside the road for the rest of his life.