When the Going gets Tough, The Tough Change the Rules

The Ferengi are a strange little gnome like race of aliens who appear from time to time on Star Trek. They are obsessed with profits, living under a religious code based on the sacred “Rules of Acquisition.” Because they avoid war, racism, revenge, and dictatorships they consider themselves morally superior to humans even though they cheat and engage in every possible sort of fraud to maximize their profits.

I really like rule #78. “When the going gets tough, the tough change the rules.”

Isn’t that what the Bank of America did during the recent unpleasantness? The rules of the game said they were bankrupt, a ward of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, but they used their connections in the Federal Reserve Bank and the Department of Treasury to change the rules of the game. Now their profits are the property of the bank’s executives. Any losses belong to the American middle class taxpayer. Talk about the tough changing the rules.

I don’t have enough power to change all the rules that affect me and my profits, but I can change some of the rules some of the time. We lend our money to the bank. If we are lucky, they will give us 0.5% interest. Then they encourage us to borrow our own money by means of their credit cards at 18%. I don’t like the rules of this game, so I change the rules. I pay off my credit card every month. I get to use my money for free. I like those rules.

What rules can you change?