Bust Out - the Republican approach to governance

[This was orignally posted in 2008, and boy, did Shystee call his shot. I'm stickying it because the talking point is even more relevant today. --lambert]

This whole thing about the Bush administration taking control of the US treasury, using the Nation's credit to buy junk and and selling it out the back door reminds me of something:

Davey Scatino: You told me not to get in the game. Why'd you let me do it?

Tony Soprano: Well, I knew you had this business here, Davey. It's my nature. The frog and the scorpion, you know? Besides, if you would've won I'd be the one crying the blues, right?

Davey Scatino: What's the end?

Tony Soprano: The end... It's planned bankruptcy. Hey, you're not the first guy to get busted out. This is how a guy like me makes his living. This is my bread and butter. When this is over you're free to go. You can go anywhere you want.

In case you didn't see the epsisode in question... You're living it.

A "bust out" is a common tactic in the organized crime world where a business's assets and lines of credit are exploited and exhausted to the point of bankruptcy. Richie and Tony profit from busting out Davey Scatino's sporting goods store in this episode.

UPDATE I wrote the headline for Shystee's great post, and how wrong I was fix on one of the two legacy parties as the cause of the problem. -- lambert, 2009-12-24