Capture (Abridged)

1

It's not as if big biz
       and banks need be shown
              where the juicy loopholes lie.

After all   it's not unknown
              that it's big banks and biz
                            who write and wrote
the slippery bits of sly
that riddle the rules and regs and codes

       that allow them  to legally steal
                     seemingly unreal amounts
       of cash to stash offshore
                     in their ghost-named
                            shell-gamed accounts

              while getting away
              with tax evay and avoi
                     and the environmental rape
                     and smug   unbridled pillage

              of the unguarded theirs-to-take
              transnational world-girdling village.


2

A recipe for success
in a couple of easy well-heeled steps:

1.    Mobilize a persuasive  can't-miss mess
              of campaign-sized legalized bribes
       to ensure ever-pliable pols
                     are set and kept firmly on side.

2.    When all this legitimate graft
       has had time to brew and is ready to tap
              but not a lobby-funding
              cunning-money split-second too soon

have all these pols your bankrolling's bought
       abetted by a well-greased obedient platoon
              of captured   regulatory whores
                     lapdog media   judiciary and cops

       pull enough strings to grant you permission
              to lawfully rob the populace at will
       in keeping  with crony cap's dazzling vision
              of the great rapaciously larcenous thrill.


3

It's not as if the ultra-rich
and big biz  and banks need any tips
              on where the sneaky loopholes lurk.

After all   it's no secret
they're the sleazy ones who wrote
              the slimy bits of fruitful murk
              that dwell in regs and laws and codes

       and even if all the muscle
              of their accounting hustles
                            and legislative sway
       should   in any way prove insufficient
                     and they're caught breaking laws

they can always count on the staunch assistance
                                          of selective enforcement
and the unwritten rule
that makes it clear the state's shady paws
can always be placed on the sheep and the mules

but never laid on the chosen few
       with anything stiffer than kids' fluffy gloves;
never laid  on the wealthy well-connected crews
                            that make up Club Untouchable.


4

Thus   worst case scenario
no time need be served by thieving elites
       since only token fines
       for bargained sweetheart pleas
       are the agreed-upon price of doing business

--- a racketeer's wet dream; mere licensing fees
                                   for cartels and syndicates.

This article was posted on Sunday, October 17th, 2021 at 8:03am and is filed under Poetry.