Easy Money

They thought they could use her anyway they liked. But she was the one using them. That attitude protected her. She was the one who chose what she did and how she felt. To the world at large they were successful, wealthy, powerful men. Their names appeared on the front pages of the daily business sections, on the stock market stickers, and in the highest income tax brackets. In reality, they were a bunch of pathetic, tragic losers. People who lacked something. People who obviously needed her. (P. 5)

Fredrik said "You know, you don't need that much money to start a company. A hundred thousand kronor's enough. I think that's the lowest capital stock. If we come up with a sweet idea, we can totally do it. Try to do some business, register a cool company name, appoint of board and CEO. But above all buy stuff tax free. How awesome would that be?" ( p. 21)

Button-down shirts from Paul Smith and Dior and one specially made by a tailor on Jermyn Street in London. . . Two of the guys wore Acne jeans. Gucci on another: intricate designs on the back pocket. . . One was ordered from a tailor on Savile Row in London: visible scenes at the cuffs and with a red silk lining. (p. 22)

He let his eyes scan the room. The ceiling was over 10 feet high. Rich mouldings. Two armchairs and a grey couch on top of a real Persian carpet. Four hundred thousand tiny knots tied by some shackled kid. (p. 23)

"The Turk, the blatter we buy C from: is he a little Gecko or what?" Referring to Wall Street was standard among the boyz. JW'd seen the movie over 10 times. Enjoyed every second of it: the simplicity of greed. (p. 24)

The challenge of the game was becoming one of them truly. He read etiquette books, learned the jargon, the rules, and the unwritten codes. Listened to the way they talked, the nasal sound of it, worked hard to eliminate his northern accent. He learned what slang to use and in which contexts, understood what clothes were correct, what ski resorts in the Alps were in, which vacation destinations in Sweden were it.(p. 44)

Turned the sets over in his mind, counted, fed numbers into the calculator. His thoughts returned to the discussion he'd had with the boyz the night before: how much did the blatte really make selling coke? How much did he pull in a month? What were his margins? Risk versus possible income. Heshould be able to calculate that. (p. 47)

On one hand: fantastic luck, a chance, a real opportunity. Probably nothing else offered the kinds of margins that coke did. . . On the other hand, mad dangerous, really fucking illegal, scary. One mistake and he could screw it all up, his whole life. . . Be part of the drug industry, make money on other peoples fried sinuses, their wrecked lives. Didn't feel right. . . On the other hand no one ruined their life on coke as far as he knew. Mostly it was better people who did it anyway. No risk of tweaky junkies. No risk JW had to suffer a bad conscience. (p. 52)

Coat checks equal goldmines. Calculation of mid-tier place: Force everyone with some sort of jacket or other personal item to check it. Twenty kronor a head. Extra for bags. 400 people passing through on average. Sum: at least 8000 kroner per night. 90 per cent off the books. All money in cash. Impossible for big brother tax collector to control the revenue. And the only cost was a pretty girl to stand there and run the show. Win-win: good business for everyone (p. 54)

He knew them, but still not really. The girls belongs to the clique from Lundsberg, an elite boarding school. A school with the motto knowledge tradition community. They all had the same first names as their parents, and their parents before them. JW was used to most things from hanging out with the boyz. New the jargon and the etiquette. He ought to have a chance. (p. 71)

"We know our fields. But we're we are organising all wrong. That's the hitch. A few years ago there was a lotta talk about the new economy. I don't know if it works the regular folks. But for us the new market is the new rule. We've got to integrate a new way of thinking. Reach out beyond our narrow ethnic group. Recruit from the boroughs. Make alliances with Russian and Estonian organisations. Decentralize. Invest