Genji wrote: > ----- Original Message ----- > You forget SKZB's antiprohibitionist sympathies. I suspect he > would say it's like law enforcement as Vlad depicts it, only > *more so* -- more speeches by the Emperor about the importance > of public morality, more announcements of public crackdowns on > all sorts of vice, more public busts by the Guard of various > entrepreneurs who haven't made the proper contributions, or who > had the misfortune to make them to the wrong faction of the > Organization. And, as a result, higher prices, tighter control > by the Jhereg, and more money flowing into their coffers. > > ----------------------- > > That brings up an interesting idea ..... would they promote tighter control > by the government leading to higher prices in the "illegal operations" of > the house, or would they get while the getting is good and mainstream their > operations for maximum coverage while there are few restrictions? This > latter would certainly get every last imperial from the teckla. I seem to recall the Vallista reign as being the prohibitionist reign, and once the Jhereg were nice and fat on their profits from such a reign, they would bribe the emperor to step down (I assume that if the bribe works, then the cycle has turned). I wish I could remember which book this was in; I'm not away from my books, but I have no idea which one it might be. Jose -- Jose Marquez jhereg69 at earthlink.net