Cowboys Floyd finds himself walking the streets, cigarette in mouth, hat tilted eye level, pondering to himself before deciding to ask the streets.

I'll keep this short and sweet and know we all have work to do.

Floyd smiles before beginning

Good Morning  my fellow mafioso's!! For those of you who wish to indulge, I pose a question: Dose money equal power or dose power equal money? While both points are easily argumentative, I am nonetheless curious as to how each of you feel on this subject.

Floyd steps back, dumps the ashes off his cigarette, and waits on those interested to respond

Money is a temporary fleeting substance, power isnt determined by wealth its by capability, although money is often a buy product of power, money alone does not equal power

Curious...So do you not think a individual possessing a large amount of money can't buy themselves into a position of power?

Floyd pulls off his cigarette and waits on a response

Tanda approaches the small gathering around Cowboy_Floyd with an answer he has formed on a sheet of paper, before stumbling back a space.

I had a more elaborate reply for you to be honest, but I seem to have forgot what I was going to say when I fell back just there.

I agree with Eighteen though. As soon as somebody thinks they are something special because they have money, they're asking for trouble. On the other hand, somebody that has the power and support will always attract money.

With that said, Tanda takes a step backwards and disappears into the busy street traffic.

Quoth laughs mirthlessly, then stops suddenly.

Erm, no. Money equals Power. Without money, power cannot stand on its own. It takes money to effectively train your gun. Sure you can train it the old fashioned way, through time and dedication, but with people prepared to spend millions to get a good gun it would leave you at a great disadvantage.

Once you have the great gun, uts useless if you don't have the defence to keep you alive. Doesn't matter who you can kill if the first Capo with a half decent shot pits you in the grave. Would Diemne have lived so long without his defences? Obviuosly not as he was constantly having them challenged. Buying those defences and paying for their training takes millions upon millions.

Cheating can help reduce the cost, that handy demotion to thug allows for 100 Bodyguards to be purchased for a mere $75 million as opposed to a hefty $375 million at Capo for instance. However, there is no cheat for the food and drink and training costs per man, possibly paid every 5 days to keep them fighting fit.

It doesn't matter who you are. TheDean, Roman, Captain Stubbing or even myself, stop our money and what power we have will slowly start to drain away.

Cowboy_Floyd nods his head in aggreeance

Quoth_the_Raven I'll think i'll have to agree with you on that.

Well I would go as far and commit to saying 90% of all things powerful equals money, but I wouldn’t commit to saying its the only factor in becoming this powerful being. You need intellect, man management skills an impeccable knowledge of how things run around here, among many, many other things.

A prime example of this is, just because a made man or above is extremely rich does not mean he warrants being a powerful member in this thing of ours, this average joe could be a complete idiot but got lucky in the casino or have somebody come good on a loan that their father had. The old saying is; “money makes the world go round”. Indeed it does but how many times have we seen this average joe get the chance to shine, he is rich and in a powerful position but he is not, infact a real powerhouse around these parts. Looking at his suite he boasts this power and the cash but underneath he is just a rich, protected Captain.

Its an interesting subject, one that has many variables and one that is open to debate all day long. So ill leave it there. Good day.

Quoth_The_Raven

whilst i agree you need money and all the trappings of power do require money, money does not buy influence is in where true power lies.

for example i just started today, if i had all the money in the game i would still be a nobody id be rich, but i wouldnt truely be powerfull as afterall i wouldnt have influence over anyone so it would be me rich and nothing else, True i would be logistically powerfull, having enough money to pursue any goal i wanted. but i would not be able to influence people outside of my sphere. so while money is needed to maintain being powerfull, i would argue that money alone would not mean power, it would be contributary perhaps but money alone does not make someone powerful

Power and Money can never be compared for they stand on different purposes...

says Auset handing Floyd a cigar

Let me put it this way...

how hard is it to kill a man standing right in front of you holding a bag with 50 million dollars in it?
and how hard is it to kill that same man but in a position were he has no money at all?

yes, it's absolutely the same thing, you can kill the first just as easy as the second, the first has money but it only give you power when it is used to fulfill the need aka desire of others.

then again, how can you really define power?

is it by having a lot of money?
is it by having a large number of people doing what you want?
is it physical power? as in gun use or certain abilities?
is it the power if influence?

from my experience yes. all one would have to do is continueously send up 200-300k each day and obvously know how to play the game and most families will do pretty much anything to keep that person happy. ive found they are more likely to get there button being a good earner. so by buying credits you can do it the easy way instead of grinding all day to make the 200-300k. also if you have bg's and your guns trained then you look pretty damned good to management. as long as your not retarded having money and knowing what to do with it and which hands to grease will get you pretty damned far up the ladder.

Money = Power which = money = power = money = power. It jsut keeps going on and on and on and on. But like me,

It's an endless questions although one thing is sure...

Power needs money.

Thats all I need to say.

money and power is closed circle, seem people seek the power throught the money, and others seek the power, for the power itself, and they hit the fact they need the money.

anyway, money and the family, are the power of the human in his society.

Money definitely equals power.

As someone else mentioned, there are other mental strengths you need to hold the power but even the most idiotic of idiots can hold power for a period through money alone. Some brains and balls will ensure you hold it for longer.

Everyone wants money. People are willing to disturbing things for money. Cops on your back? Pay them off. Someone pissed off at a decision you made? Compensate them financially. Someone get caught up in the crossfire? Pay off the witnesses.

People will also go out their way to cheat, steal and kill for you for no money at all - just with the long term plan of eventually getting close to some of your money.

Now if you come in to power without money what happens? Someone pays someone else off and you take a fall for something you didn't do.

Money=Power

Lets take a closer look at this people. Money can buy you tons of bg's which is the first step in establishing power. Money can also buy you power. You got a problem with some gun happy crewleader with 700 kills and 28 bgs?? Easily call in a friend, write a nice large check, and check the obits. Money is everything around here. With money you dont need a gun, just connections.  On the other hand, someone with the most powerful gun will find it hard just being able to take private flights.

Pretty much money can buy you all the privilages of power.  Just take a look back at the most recent wipe out war with Philly and NY.  Roman couldn't fall no matter how hard the enemy tried. Roman had money! Roman's still alive.

That example using Roman should answer this question for everyone.

I don't think that any hitter worth his or her salt will jump at the chance to knock down a crew leader just for money. For those that are tempted, I doubt could put in the time and effort to get skilled enough with a gun to try it. Or know exactly how many kills would be needed.

Also, the retaliation against the shooter's city would be severe which serves as another deterrent.

Money can't buy everything...

walking along x-ta-c stumbles upon an open discussion only hearing the last few words

excuse me gentlemen but i do so oppose that fact it is true that money can not buy everything but money could purchase power if the price is right although assassinating a crew leader is not the smartest thing that can be done there have been instances where some have been greedy enough to do it never the less not being able to indulge in said wealth before revenge swept over them in a brooding rage 

With money there is always the options of power and with power there is always the option for money. They each come hand and hand. In our line of business the option is usually always taken and used to it's full advantage.

There are many different ways to gain power. With respect comes power. If you were to impress your boss not with your cannon, but with the way you give speeches to our streets, mentor others in your family or just over all be an all star in your family you have a good chance of gaining some sort of power. Or you may rise to power by killing a whole bunch of people, making a name for yourself and taking over a city. Yes, you need money to buy a gun, but do you specifically need money to learn how to use that gun? No.

When one has power, it's much easier to keep that power by paying off the local police department, judges, congressmen or anyone else who may have a political or social connection. You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours type of thing. Bribery wouldn't be possible without money. One may say that you may be able to bribe others with goods, but isn't money just another form of goods to trade?

In the end though, if you are a thug right off the boat and someone hands you millions of dollars to protect yourself and the family that has given you shelter, you have a much greater opportunity and chance to gain the power that is craved for among most men and women in this thing of ours. Money does equal power.

Eighteen, whilst I agree that Influence is a source of power, it is not the end all and be all of power. 'Power' in this thing of ours comes down to 2 basic units. Is my gun good enough to kill you, and are my defences good enough to avoid being killed. If you can answer yes to both you have the power.

Johnny no mates comes along and spends 100's of millions on BGs and Training his gun. he bids his time and ranks to Don, pretty much keeping himself to himself. At least he siezes his moment and buys out of his crew, sets up in Chicago and wacks Roman in the dead of night with only a handful of mafioso awake. Next he takes out TheDean. Next on the list is Augustus... and so on and so forth taking out the big guns. Eventually he gets to the point where no one is left to oppose him with a half decent gun.

Now as the only Don alive, he kills off everyone above Wise Guy and reigns supreme. Sure he's hated, sure he has no inflence, but he did it all with only one thing, dedication and money. Whilst it is unlikely that a scenerio like this would ever come about, it is still within the realms of possibility. For true Power all you need is Money, drive and oppertunity.

IF ITMIS IN REAL LIFE IF YOU HAVE NO MONEY YOU DONT HAVE POWERS