Easy Come

07/01/02 Are the robber barons hitting hard times?

Mary Lou stole my thunder somewhat with her eloquent plea for citizens to demand integrity from people in government and business leaders.

The past several months have proven that big (even worldwide) businesses can come crashing down when corrupt operations are exposed.

Look at the mess Daddy and Jr. Perot are in with those bozos in California. Who knows whether Perot Systems was involved in some high-tech shell game with Enron to cook the utilities books out there? The California morons in charge are looking for anyone to blame for their own stupidity. You don't get something for nothing, and the lawmakers in California sold their constituents on the idea that energy could be bought and consumed at a rate so low it was impossible to justify.

If you are a lawmaker and you screw up, you go looking for a donkey with a hiney big enough to pin a tail on -- a donkey a lot of people don't like -- that would be anyone named Perot. But, do you really think either Daddy or Jr. would be involved in this Enron mess?

Citizen D:
You nailed this one spot on!
I will not buy tickets to any events at the Arena. It may be a small thing, but we have to
make our marks wherever we can.
See: Boycott Robber Barons
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Torry M
I love getting your newsletters. Your writing style is a breath of fresh air within the often sour notes our other forms of media!!! Thanks,

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Looks like hard times are here even for the high rollers. Or maybe not. Surely, they'll find a way for the taxpayers to bail them out yet again. NDDB

The idea that Daddy Perot might get subpoenaed is so California. Just how much of the day to day operations do they think Daddy controls these days?

All things considered, it is just so funny that now when Jr. is running things, Perot Systems is caught up in this scandal -- even if it is as likely as one of those California written scripts where J. R. Ewing pulls his car up in front of a Downtown Dallas office building and parks on the curb. Of course, with the way things are Downtown he might be able to do that in 2002, but not in 1985.

Why would anyone pick on Daddy or Jr. Perot? Could it be because they are a couple of ruthless jerks who think they are superior species and have stepped on people all over the world? Could it be that people who once bought Daddy Perot as a common man who was against government waste now know him and his son to be elitists who have made millions using government officials and with government contracts?

It's not just Daddy and Jr. who are little uneasy in their castles these days. Jr.'s good buddy Tommy Hicks may be calling for some help from his fellow robber baron any day. Tommy should not be surprised if Jr. turns a deaf ear.

We hear D Magazine was not just content to stir up the wrath of that spoiled brat who owns the Mavericks. Guess Wick Allison figures if D is not getting any advertising from the basketball crowd, they better offend the owner of the local baseball and hockey teams, as well. Is Tom Hicks really about to lose everything?

Other than the great glee DallasArena.com would take in seeing the world crash around Jr. and Tommy, D Magazine is not supposed to be writing hard news or doing stories the Dallas Managed News won't cover -- that's for DallasArena.com to do.

Here are some more articles on Tommy H's $$ problems:

Is Tom Hicks Going Broke?
Tom Hicks was a quiet, rich investor until he bought the Texas Rangers and the Dallas Stars. Now, as a sports team owner, he?s cast himself and his firm in the public eye, so he shouldn?t be surprised to find the vultures hovering. Just last January, he was on top of the sports and business worlds, and there was even buzz that he may become Treasury Secretary. How times have changed: his investment business is costing him money, his baseball team is bleeding cash, and his new house is running over budget. Is the Big Man going to be okay? By Dan McGraw

There has been an unholy alliance between big business, big and little government and professional sports. That's what motivated Jr. Perot to get into sports in the first place -- business opportunity to do a humongous real estate deal that Joe Taxpayer got to pay for and gets to pay for and will keep on paying for - year after year after year.

The current collapse of some corporate house of cards is having a trickle down effect -- or at least an oozing out effect -- that is impacting professional sports. Houston's new sports facility is now named for Minute Maid. Don't you love it?

I am not about to say bad guys get what they deserve because they usually get what someone else deserves. But, wouldn't it be great if this year 2002 had some bad things happening to bad people?

It's time for people with integrity to stop being so complacent about a lack of integrity in others. I had a long discussion the other night about whether life is a study in black and white or it's all gray. Whether you sell out on your way toward a higher goal, or whether you draw a line in the sand.

If you are a DallasArena.com reader, you are no gray, go along to get along type. You have drawn your line in the sand.

Here's what you have to do next. You have to stop tolerating anything less from your elected officials, from your church leaders, from your community leaders and even your friends. If someone tells you some garbage like "there's good in everyone", cut them loose. If someone wants you to make nice about something that is wrong, cut them loose.

We have just a couple of days before it is July 5th when we will know if any of that mad man's threats became reality. There are no gray areas in that guy's world. The reason he and his puppets have had success against us is our incessant need to make nice. Get over it!

There are some really good people in this world and some really bad people. Most of us are pretty good people. The bad guys only seem so many because they cause so many problems.

Daddy and Jr. Perot are not terrorists, but they are ruthless and exploitive. They are not gray people. They only succeed because so many other people want to make nice and are afraid to speak out.

Tommy Hicks is not the worst robber baron in town, but he has been part of one of the most total taxpayer rip-offs this city has ever seen.

No one is going to say their billion dollar empires were easy to come by for Daddy and Jr. or even Tommy H, but they all have had much assistance from government bureaucrats and elected officials.

Now, it looks like they are in for a bumpy road -- at least for awhile.

That's worth setting off a couple of firecrackers anyway.