Redistribute, Baby, Redistribute!

Here's how the Yahoo News Feeder appears right now:

• Economy shrinks 3.8 percent; biggest drop in almost 27 years
• Exxon Mobil breaks its own record with $45.2 billion profit
• Obama slams $18 billion in Wall Street bonuses as 'shameful'


Where's the headline saying,
"The rich are STILL getting richer. Those poor assholes who are now unemployed or underemployed? Hold on! We'll just throw money around until something sticks. Remain calm and please don't kill yourself and your entire family."

So many folks seem to worship Reagan. Isn't he the guy who made trickle down economics famous by cutting taxes for the wealthiest few? See how that's been working for our society? Not so much.

The argument that these rich folks work hard for their vast amounts of wealth is bullshit. Somehow I don't think that if you matched up these fat cat Exxon Mobil executives with a blue collar worker you'd say the former is busting his ass so hard he needs to be compensated millions. Sure, these execs have stress. Stress is relative though. They might be stressed because that Eames armchair doesn't come in powder blue to color coordinate with their house in the Hamptons. The blue collar worker is afraid his sick wife won't be able to go to the doctor because he can't afford the copay AND groceries for the week. Different kinds of stress, don't you think?

Saying this greed is shameful is like saying filling a cavity without Novocaine hurts for a second. Woefully inadequate for the severity of the situation. How about some real reform? How about doing away with tax cuts and tax loopholes for the billionaires - not just admonishing them. Take back these fat cat bonuses and use that money to stimulate the economy. Distribute it to those who have nothing but work their asses off. No one should have more than they can use in a lifetime while so many struggle to survive.

Say What?!

People still have rabbit ears for their TVs?





Really?

Tagging Ad Nauseam

The other day a dear friend commented on how Facebook is both wonderful and evil. I can see her point - there's something extremely gratifying about locating old friends (or even simple acquaintances), seeking out a friend request, waiting for its arrival and then holding your breath to see if they'll comment on how you haven't aged a bit in the fifteen years it's been since you last saw each other.

There is a flip side, however, to this giant virtual reunion. It can get a little dicey when former loves are found, especially for people who currently reside in a state of existential crisis. So much more can be said in an email than on the phone or in person. Mouths and telephones don't have nifty delete buttons like keyboards do. There's something inherent with email that allows people to be incredibly daring, to seem infinitely more cool than they ever would face to face. And this can spell trouble.

But what really interests me is that my generation will undoubtedly be the last to have this unique experience of googling old flames, former best friends or incommunicado relatives. We're all so tune in now, so open to sharing every aspect of our dull lives online that it will be nearly impossible to remain anonymous in the years to come. Six degrees of separation has been chunked in half by the advent and popularity of social networking sites and it will make the old adage "keep in touch" obsolete.