![]() ![]() Apparently, few tribe members choose to build lavish homes, though there are a few on the reservation, like the sprawling copper-roofed mansion pictured above. That leaves plenty of time for dreaming up ways to spend all that cash. Crooks, the tribe's current president, claims the tribe has "99.2 percent unemployment." Yes, that's right, one need not even work for it. Best of all, employment in one of the tribe's businesses is entirely voluntary. Better yet, for those who live and work on the reservation, that payment is free from state income taxes. ? According to 2004 divorce court papers, each adult member of the tribe receives a monthly check for $84,000. Considering there are only 480 members, that leaves plenty to go around. The tribe operates two casinos, a championship golf course, a 600-room hotel, and a concert hall, raking in an estimated $1B a year in revenue. A generation ago, according to a report by the New York Times, members of the Shakopee Mdewakanton of Minnesota were living "in a motley collection of beat-up trailer homes, melting snow for bath water when wells froze over because they lacked indoor plumbing." Now, thanks to the ingenuity of the tribesmen, the close proximity to Minneapolis, and their sovereign right to erect a casino, the tribe is absolutely rolling in cash. ![]()
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