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Economics | Money
Living in a House of Paper
Let me tell you about a perfect plan to rob the Royal Mint of Spain.
Planned over decades, executed professionally. The Salvador Dalí mask-wearing heisters entered the mint with forged military trucks before establishing order inside — keeping their hostages satiated and under control.
Outwardly, they ruled with force. Patrolling down lines of hostages with menacing M-16 rifles strapped to their backs. But in reality, they were soft. They properly fed their subjects and cared for their needs, emotional and medical, despite putting them to work.
The object of this heist was not to part the mint from its reserves of cash. That would be too easy. More importantly, that would be “stealing” — and these heisters did not consider themselves thieves.
Instead, their money expert led a team of hostages in operating the Royal Mint’s behemoth cash printing system.
The target of the heist didn’t even exist yet.
Their plan didn’t involve stealing from anyone. Arguably, it didn’t involve “stealing” at all.
Holed up in the mint for days, protected from the authorities by the captivity of their hostages, the heisters printed almost…
