Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Is it reasonable extortion?

Comment from a reader on From AC website Fields Ave Clubs Warned of Foreclosure. The "No-Compliance" requirement does not, as one club owner suggests, need translation between the lines. It's blatantly saying that the city scabs want more of the clubs' revenues if they want to continue operation. And they suggest there'll be large numbers closed in 2015? Really, when the entertainment business provides 30 to 40% of city collections? Yeah, right! What may eventually happen is that many club owners wiil, as Dave Fisher did, move their enterprises to friendlier territory. We hope, if this occurs, that Angeles crime and scams don't take root in Barretto. 

From the Bugle: In all fairness, these businesses operate just on the margins of legality to begin with. If you ever get an official receipt, indicating that tax is being paid, in one of these nightclubs you might have a heart attack. The foreign managers usually don't have work permits, the foreign owners don't have legal title to the business, etc. etc. Of course the local officials are going to extort, just as they do to the nightclubs in Thailand, but the question is: is it reasonable extortion that allows the nightclubs to continue operating profitably? The fact that the extortion is linked to health checkups is admirable.

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