Comps Castles and Caskets

The frequency of my facebook notes is rising considerably, maybe I should turn it into a blog, but then I'm not that pretentious...yet.

Comps, castes and caskets. Sounds like an episode of Las Vegas. The rapid approach of Chinese New Year brings an annual resurgence of ethnic awareness. I once took great pride in being a person of Tang, but that's a story for another day. One indisputable fact about the Chinese is that we love to gamble. After all what kind of person jumps on a boat to cross the world's largest ocean in order to mine a golden mountain but instead slaves away in a laundromat 20 years before coming home to show off their winnings to their fellow villagers. Sounds like just another trip to Atlantic City.

Whether this passion for (im)probability is genetic or cultural is irrelevant. It is enough of a reality that the mega corporate powers that be who control the gambling industries have devoted mountains of treasure in order to court the golden geese of high rollers: Chinese whales. The code word is Asian gambler, but in actuality China mints millionaires and billionaires faster than Obama can print money and issue government bonds. These schools of noveau riche fish are just what the doctor ordered to prop up a struggling stock prices.

The masters of Las Vegas; Sheldon Anderson and Steve Wynn have poured billions into Macau to turn it into the world's largest whale farm. Player development specialists and sales representatives target ultra high net worth individuals at the Macau properties and introduce them to the wonder that is Sin City. They then load these whales into private jets and personal Boeing 747s and transport them to the desert where they stay in 8,000 square foot unnamed villas and play in private salons wagering the GDP of the Dominican republic on a hand of Baccarat. Teams of 3-star Michelin chefs, five diamond concierges and grand master English butlers cater to their every whim.

The billionaire is happy because he gets a 24 hour buffet that changes every 45 minutes, his favorite jade statue in the dominant position of his villa's great room which faces the auspicious south west and then places his bet during when the blade of Lord Guan is in the seventh trigram of the goddess of mercy.

The casino is happy because it's going to get at least ten times whatever it spends on Feng Shui, Shui Mai and Mai Mai the masseuse. The whale believes that they are duping the casino and the casinos know they are duping the whales. Ultimately the whales can afford it and if they can't they'll lose everything, kill themselves and someone else will fill their LV flip flops.

Why do we devote so much time and energy to the accumulation of wealth, status and power? So we can get comps. Once you can buy everything you could possibly want, then you want it for free. Thus is the selfish entitlement that dominates the typical human mind. Now that you have money you want status, because only a part of the joy comes from having it, the rest of it stems from having someone else want it. But unfortunately our brain develops a tolerance to this fairly quickly as well. That's why billionaires become politicians and philanthropists. Because even with wealth and status you are still at the mercy of those with authority outside of your sphere of money and fame. So the quest for power ensues. Billionaire presidents, governors, mayors, etc. and then of course there are the philanthropists. Those who seek to change the world with the strength of their vision and the depth of their bank accounts.

This is by no means an attack on those who seek to do good with their billions. It is just a simple fact that there is no limit to human ambition and equally no limit to our propensity for good or evil. But certain inalienable truths remain. The crippled and diseased beggar foraging for moldy bread crusts was born and the debonair gambler in the hand cut Brioni pushing a stack of flags ($5000 chips) onto Banker and swirling a glass of MacCallan 55 while his $20,000/day escort feigns interest will die. Between birth and death, the tapestry of humanity and inhumanity contains countless manifestations of luck, fate, unfairness and repetitiveness.

Repetition seems to be a universal theme. Ever drive down a long stretch of road and watch the signs? Cross the Holland tunnel into Jersey and you'll see Exxon, McDonald's, Home Depot, Applebee's, IHOP, Wendy's, Burger King, Car dealership, Costco, Wal-mart, Target, Exxon, Mc Donald's, Home Depot, Applebee's, IHOP, Wendy's, Burger King, Car dealership, Costco, Wal-mart, repeat for a few thousand times and you'll see a sign that says Welcome to Los Angeles.

Our lives are geared towards a decades long cycle of repetition. Eat, work, drink, mate, sleep. Having been given this ignoble gift of sentience we have to convince ourselves that we're not just repeating the same motions of a bumble bee. Please spare me your protestations citing love, literature, art, music, compassion and grace. All of that falls under the mating category.

You can eat $1.78/lb. ground beef, collect cans for recycling, drink Taurino beer for $6.99/18 pack, hook up with a toothless meth tweaker, and sleep next to a dumpster. Or you can nosh on $300 lb. Kobe Wagyu, live on the residual income of your oil well money, sip your single cask 60 year old Isle of Islay single malt, retire to a chamber of super models and when you're spent slump onto your $60,000 vivendus mattress on your $ 1,600,000 Ruijssenaars floating magnetic bed. Whichever end of the spectrum you inhabit, there is an inevitably similar ending.

What the hell is the point? We all know this already. There are some really rich people and there are some really poor people. After the game the king and the pawn go into the same box. Do you have anything new to add Antonio?

Why yes I do.

More than just descriptions of increasingly outrageous luxuries?

Yes. Please let me finish.

By all means.

As my alter ego so rudely points out. Money doesn't buy happiness.

The ultimate equalizer is already in place for all of us. So whether you are chasing money, love, power, respect or chicken nuggets just GO FOR IT.

It isn't gambling, life isn't a gamble, life is a game of musical boxes. Run around in circles as long as the music is playing, laugh, scream, dance, chase, leap and tumble because once it stops....


you have to wait for it to start over again.

Chinese people like reincarnation =)