20 years ago, the average investor would not stand for any cheating. Today, it's more like "Yo, we be the gangsta badass business dudes!" and people LET THEM GET AWAY WITH IT. "Badazzz" businessmen are treated more like rock stars or athletes than before, meaning their abusive or destructive behavior is tolerated. More important to be a CELEBRITY than to make money!

And in case anyone's wondering, the OLD Krispy Kreme donuts were very consistent from store to store all over the South. And they were amazing, almost like fried meringue or extremely light angel food--melted in your mouth. Impossible to adequately describe. No yeasty flavor, which you usually taste in donuts.

But in the past several years I've had their donuts from various new franchisees in CA, NV, AZ, NM, and UT. And they were all over the map in quality.
I remember having a donut at their Mountain View (CA) store in 2000, it was excellent. Then had a donut at their West Oakland store a few days later--it was awful, like stale fried cookie dough. I lost interest in Krispy Kreme by then....obviously they were gonna go in the dumper, if the quality of their PRIMARY PRODUCT was so chaotic.

It is widely rumored this close friend of Tom DeLay has had people murdered--for interfering with his business practices.

Even more amusing, the Mighty Wurlitzer of conservative blather is split on whether to call this staunch conservative Republican a sleazebag or not....in the Mafia, loyalty is everything....

(not to say the Democrats are guiltless, either. I find blubbering about "partisanism" to be a cheap shot. The whole system is corrupt.)