I heard, from the lips of a Tribal chief, the following direct quote:
“Biggest mistake the Red Man made was taking a penny of the White Man’s money. That’s what broke our spirit, and why I have more people in drug rehab on this reservation than I do working at Tribal enterprises.
Do not come in here and tell me if I build it here, it will bring jobs. I have jobs in my businesses that nobody will take because it is easier to live in their shitty homes and take a Tribal check.”
We could not believe our ears - and the chief was a big Obama guy, as they all are here in the People’s Soviet of Washington.
I once asked ANOTHER Tribal chief, “With all the money you generated with the casinos at various reservations in the 1990s, why didn’t you just form a Tribal Nations Bank, and fund your own development and tell the US banks to shove it? That way you don’t run into collateral problems that tie Tribal land up as a capital guarantee?”
“Because we don’t trust each other. There would be so much fraud, so fast, that it would fall over inside of five years and we’d be asking for a bailout. Not joking.”
In both of those cases, I was speechless. Both chiefs just looked at me gaping, laughed a little bit, and shook their heads.
Education in business you can’t get at Harvard.
As it has been since before Columbus set foot here..............