STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Wednesday, 7 March 2012

[Demeter]

23. How cabbies get ripped off on K Street

FROM THE Department of What is WRONG with These People?

http://www.correntewire.com/arrogant_oligarchs_wall_street_vs_k_street


By now we have all read the story of the arrogant bankster who not only cheated a cabbie, but stabbed him into the bargain. I thought to myself that that would never happen here in the nation's capital, simply because the local oligarchs would worry that they might get caught; if not right away, it might come up at some future confirmation hearing.

So what is the Washington, DC version of this? I asked a cab driver:

The most common problem here is the lawyer/banker/whatever asks for 2 receipts, one is accurate and one blank. The accurate one will have the driver's name and cab number on it. The creep fills in the blank one with a greatly inflated fee. He gets the cab number and name from the other receipt. If and when the expense account office questions the amount on the receipt, it comes back to the driver as a violation.

As always, the political one is more insidious than the strictly economic one.