THE VESPA$IAN MANEUVER

VESPASIAN was the emperor who followed Nero (after a few, quick-come, quick-go 'loser' emperors) He inherited a burned-down to the ground city and bankrupt treasury. He had to rebuild ROME and capture back a lot of satellite provinces. But with what money? His coffers were nearly empty. A huge tab was on its way to being incurred for among other things, building the Coliseum! So Emperor Vespasian invented THE VESPASIAN MANEUVER which is one OBAMA could well adopt for those pesky, un-taxable oligarchs that run around not paying a cent of income tax, leaving that job to the middle class.

Vespy knew every aristocrat in town, every blue blood family! He knew who the brigands and pirates were, the real FORTUNES up in the 400,000,000,000 talents or sesterces neighborhood.

HE gave these rogues THE HIGHEST POSTS in government. When they invariably embezzled money, took bribes, sold favors, he hit them with dismissal, court trial and jail and execution and took their lands, their treasure
chests, all of it. He quickly had the money to rebuild Rome from Nero's fire, build a coliseum and lots more
goodies, look him up! He was born late SCORPIO, the sign that knows how to get other people's money. Scorpios are also cunning, tricky S.O.BS's with x-ray eyesight into others' foibles. Great psychologists. Freud's ruling planet was in Scorpio. Putin is Scorpio rising. KGB, born to spy. And last and most appropriate, SCORPIO rules death and taxes!

A SECOND TRICK was up the Emperor's  'sleeve'. Vespa had insider knowledge of the corruption of the Senate. He had scorned the senate before, publicly refusing the 'celebration date' they chose, when THEY appointed him Emperor, and gave him the post. He chose to celebrate the day that his soldiers 'elected' him Emperor, earlier. Which wasn't the real date at all so this was the man who was up to taking them apart, DESTROYING THEM and capable of taking their money if they comitted a crime of theft or graft. Vespy  had insider knowledge of the entire Roman aristocracy --a very insular community.

When he caught all the pirate Senators with his 'here, take this important government post' method, after he'd seized their holdings, he followed an interesting 'hope and change' maneuver to bring NEW PEOPLE TO ROME to take posts in a new Senate ..men with none of these insider gambit tricks and none of the 'good old boy school ties' either. He pulled the brightest and most successful new blood from the PROVINCES i.e. tradesmen from the far away cities, men who'd worked hard to become leaders miles from corrupt ROME. He made THEM SENATORS! The blue blood, venal, immoral families suddenly were on welfare or dead and Italy was again being ruled by DECENT idealists. Ixnay on the Orruption-KAY!

I like the sound of it. Don't you? OBAMA, sir, if you really are a progressive and we've come to doubt it, TAKE NOTICE! Congress will never know what hit 'em!

Think any of this is hearsay? The HISTORIAN SUETONIUS (a contemporary of Vespasian,) had these facts  in his scribblings on first century AD, being an insider, privvy to stuff, they didn't appear elsewhere. Will Durant cited them in "CAESAR AND CHRIST" one of his 11 books on world history. The series was called STORY OF CIVILIZATION though each has its own title. You want to find all eleven used on ABEBOOKS, sometimes a buck a book. Caesar was second tome after "ORIENTAL HERITAGE."

Vespesian was only able to do all this as he was kind of like Ike Eisenhower, strictly military, not at all part of the capital games,  good ole boys skull and bones network in the Roman Senate.  He came right off the battlefield. Remember how Ike pointed out 'undue influence of the military/industrial establishment'... which no pres before or since has done!  Only cuz he was NOT part of them. He'd been in wars all over the Empire hearing gossip and rumors from faraway, stuff that made him seethe with rage. He was brave as all getout; the man didn't know fear. VERY yang constitution from the statuary on him, his skull and bones were definitely a doublewide. No, his entrapment of aristocrats is believeable. Plus he'd done that earlier thing ...When Senate made his 'day of ascension' a holiday,the day they'd voted him emperor, he ignored the Senate's self serving 'VESPESIAN HOLIDAY' and made the ascension date when his ARMY had declared him EMPEROR after some victory or other. A rude slap in the face of the aristos who felt 'born to rule' (literal meaning of artistocrat) Vespy was Rome's bulldog. a Patton type. Now, the Vespesian  Maneuver would work today. We took back Bernie Madoff's billions of ill got gains -- what we could find of em, there was not one cent NOT repo'd. A penalty is a penalty. Mega crimes deserve mega punishments. Mrs. Madoff should be living in a section 8 apartment on welfare and food stamps, IF THAT!

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