Yes, But What Is My Price?

 An LA Rams wide receiver got in trouble for making an antisemitic gesture as part of his touchdown celebration. I had no idea who the guy was because who can afford to watch football these days? I was also kind of curious what the gesture was. I assumed it might be the rubbing of the fingers against the thumb that people do when someone is cheap. It turned out to be the rubbing of the hands together, one curled under the other open hand that we've all seen and maybe even done over the years. It signifies greed. I had no idea it was antisemitic. Just thought it was overacting. The player likely had no idea of the implication of the gesture, the connotation, if you will, thinking (as I would) that it meant he was greedy for touchdowns. He got kinda duped into doing it by a shitbird podcaster who probably did know what it meant. 

The rubbing of the fingers gesture is more familiar to me. Seen it throughout life, and often a reference to Jews is made while the person is doing it. An instance that stands out, is years ago I was working for a very wealthy Indian man, of the Hindu persuasion. He was talking to a couple people as I approached and I saw him rub his fingers with his thumb and say, "He's like this with money". The look on his face when he saw me told me he was talking about my brother-in-law, Jimmy. It was as if I had caught him with his hand in the cookie jar. I swear his deeply brown face blushed at being caught. 

There were a couple things going on here. I knew full well that Jimmy had a constant battle with Velu (the Indian) over payment. Every bid was a fight. His bids were always "too high", and it was quite obvious that the complaints on Velu's part were arbitrary and perfunctory. Indians like to bargain. Truth be told, most of the world likes to bargain. It's a cultural thing. They come to America and are shocked that the price on the item at Walmart is THE price- no haggling. I also knew that Jimmy's surname, though Swedish, sounded kinda Jewish. My own family had teased him and our sister about it just because it was so silly. He was blonde, Swedish and Lutheran. Only an idiot would think he was Jewish. 

The caught-in-the-act look on Velu's face confirmed what I had suspected. The fucking irony of Velu thinking anyone was a bigger chiseler than him, was incredible. I don't want to paint all Indians with the same brush, but they often do haggle unnecessarily. I knew Velu to be a greedy thief. Let's just qualify this and say that he was a greedy thief who just happened to be Indian. Fair enough? 

I haven't deal with a lot of Indians or Jews when I was working, but I heard things. Jews also have a long, cultural history that certainly includes bargaining, but it has been my experience that they are quite reasonable businessmen. I'm of the opinion that, in business, a Jew isn't happy with the deal unless you are too. Both parties should be satisfied. That sounds kosher to me!

Velu was quite predatory. You tell him you can do the job for $5,000; he will immediately want it for $2500. No rhyme or reason. No insight into what the job should cost. Just halve your price. I told Jimmy one time, if you know the job is good for you at $5k, tell him your price is $10k and let him Velu you down to five. Then everybody is happy! I was only half serious, but it sounded like a plan. In construction, a lot of guys overbid a job if they really don't want to do it. Some people bite on the high price though. Then the contractor can't resist. That's why you should negotiate- and get at least three bids. 

I told a version of this story on a Facebook page about Chicago gangsters. Just that he was Indian and lived in a mansion once owned by an outfit gangster. (I can never remember the gangster's name, but I had heard of him.) At least two posters chimed in: "Oh, you're talking about Velu!" Kind of surprised me until I read up on the bank fraud charges, he wound up facing. WOW! The entire family (him, wife and two kids) were facing Federal time for bank fraud, bankruptcy fraud and like a dozen other related financial shenanigans charges. Incredible amounts of money. At one point they were worth $500 MILLION. "Why would they steal?", you might ask. Well, do you know any Trumps? Rich people are notoriously greedy. Thieves! One day when I was complaining to his receptionist about him being such a chiseler, (Donna) said ever so matter-a-factly to me, "That's why he's rich and you're not!" I think she may have invented Maga. If not, I bet she was an early adopter. 

I could not find how the case concluded. Tons upon tons of legal jargon that had my head spinning and frankly, gave me PTSD from the time I was given a death sentence in traffic court. I was guilty of being 20 over the speed limit, the judge didn't like my attitude and ordered me to be hung! I beat that rap by unzipping my jeans, pulling out my special purpose and saying, "Your honor, I am already hung. Look up the double indemnity clause in the Constitution". The state's attorney examined the evidence, she told the judge something about the penile code, and his order was vacated- whatever that means. 

But I digress. An incident that actually happened though, was when I was painting outside of Velu's house one day, I saw his son running towards me at full speed. He stopped and picked up my paint-splattered boombox. He looked puzzled. I asked if my music was too loud. "No", he replied, rather forlornly, "I thought this was a gift from my dad for me". Very strange but he mumbled something about his dad always leaving gifts for him laying about. OK...

So, I don't know if they did time, though I suspect they did as it was better than 10 years ago since they exhausted all the appeals. There were millions upon millions in restitution to be paid by the whole family and you don't generally get out of that. The FBI traced money from Illinois to India (which brought more charges- wire fraud) as they tried to hide assets with the kids, other relatives and businesses here and there. A fucking mess of crime leading to more crime. Velu once beat Jimmy out of $7,000. Stealing is never enough for the truly filthy rich. It's never too little either. Go and figure people.