Posted on 11/28/2012 6:18:49 AM PST by Perdogg
WHICH Bond villain had the most reasonable plan to get rich? Via Tyler Cowen, I see that New York Magazine asked Jean-Jacques Dethier, a senior economist at the World Bank, to evaluate some of the diabolical plots from the films. He covered the schemes of Auric Goldfinger, Dr Kananga, Max Zorin, Alec Trevelyan, Elliot Carver, Elektra King, Le Chiffre, and Dominic Greene. While an important contribution to the literature (the critique of Mr Trevelyan's plan is particularly astute), his analysis left out quite a few moneymaking ventures from the rest of the Bond canon. In an effort to fill that gap, this post will examine, in chronological order, the schemes of Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Francisco Scaramanga, and Georgi Koskov.
(Excerpt) Read more at economist.com ...
ping
If you’re going to blackmail/extort/take over the world, never EVER tell anyone what you’re going to do.
Rex Stout had thought of this back 60+ years ago when he penned the Nero Wolfe trilogy. In the first book, the blackmailer decides to blackmail nemerous people with money (doctors, professionals, low-level celebrities) with false but plausible stories about their past. One year of a high-priced phony subscription was enough to get him off their backs. It worked remarkably well until ...
Correct answer for all those would-be Ernst Stavro Blofelds out there: hire Hillary if you want to succeed in world domination.
He hired incompetent security. The women who eventually wound up helping Bond in Thunderball and On Her Majesty's Secret Service were not his employees. He was married to, and partnered with, a "Hillary" in the form of Irma Bunt.
Of course, I’m referring to the book versions of the Bond/Blofeld/SPECTRE stories. The movies screwed just about everything up.
Incorrect: Slow moving industrial laser gradually approaching crotch.
That you shouldn't waste time preaching to the secret agent or thinking up some fun way of killing him -- just shoot him... :-P
Lesson from successful villains.
Buy the media’s favor.
Promise free stuff to the lame, lazy, weak, stupid, and perverted.
Promise the jealous that you will hurt or destroy those they envy.
Cheat.
Get elected and wreak havoc.
Don’t unveil the inner workings of your nefarious plot to the top agent of Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
Hmmm, Is Huma on His Royal Saudi Highness' Secret Service?
Bond: “Do you expect me to talk?”
Gold finger: “No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!”
Ah - I can see the plot for the next Bond epic “Downfall: the second term”. Unfortunately, in this episode, the international cabal for the destruction of freedom (the Democrat Party) wins.
One of my advisers will be an average five-year-old child. Any flaws in my plan that he is able to spot will be corrected before implementation.
If my advisers ask "Why are you risking everything on such a mad scheme?", I will not proceed until I have a response that satisfies them.
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