[lentulusgracchus]

Sometimes the most worthless people continue to prosper when things turn really bad ... but sometimes they get what’s coming to them.

My dad said that about wars and civil disorder. He'd seen Paris in the autumn of 1944, when the reptiles who'd prospered under Nazi occupation were still riding high, and black marketeers were everywhere. "Scum rises" is about the best way to put it.

[Tax-chick]

"Scum rises" is about the best way to put it.

Excellent phrasing. I was trying to find those very words.