Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Economics 101


Welcome to my life. Day 5797. Evening, my Morning Glories. Creeping up on that 6000 mark. Probably due for an oil change. Had a chat with my Dad last night. He works in a bank. He's always talking about getting a promotion. It's like his whole life is a video game. Getting to that next level. Dad has a couple of 'powerful' friends who look out for him, I think. Anyway, he tried to explain economics to me and what little I understood made me sick to my stomach.

Like, right now everyone is all excited cause the Dow or whatever is back at 10,000 points. It went down to like 6,000 last year. It did that cause everybody was selling their stock. The more people want to sell, the less the stock is worth. Well, it basically lost half it's worth. Our country just friggin lost half it's value in like a month.

So I'm like, "what, did somebody notice our smell or something?"

He says, "kinda. A thing is only worth what we collectively think it's worth. And everyone decided it was time to sell." I said, "but why? Don't they know it's going to go up again?" and he said, "that's exactly why."

Huh?

"Yes," he says, "they sell it high and then they buy it back low."

So all that's happened this past year is that all these super rich, greedy fucks just doubled their money! The only bi-product being 15 million American jobs lost give or take. This whole depression (or whatever the hell they're calling it to scare the shit out of us) is really just a great way to fire ten million workers and make a whole lot of dough while you're at it. I said to myself, "Dude, this is some fucked up shit right here." I need to get in on it.

But seriously, there's got to be a better way to do things. I might not be an economist or whatever but even I can see that there's something fishy in this pond. Capitalism works. For the rich! The rest of us are just sacrificial pawns in their little game of world domination. I've decided to check out Michael Moore's Capitalism, A Love Story when it comes out on DVD. I liked his Farenheit 911 though I fell asleep halfway through it. I couldn't believe Bush just sat there reading My Pet Goat while our country was under attack! WTF, man! What was wrong with that guy? Better yet, what was wrong with us for electing him? I mean, I'm not holding out hope for an intellectual to one day get into the White House but you have to draw the line somewhere! That guy was three quarters shy or a dollar. Don't know what that means. I guess it means he had 25 cents. Stupid. Anyway.

Michael Moore is a little crazy but at least he's doing something with his movies. It's like all the other filmmakers just want to make cheesy popcorn flicks. I've been reading a lot of classics lately and there's a great tradition of social commentary in literature. Books used to tell us a lot about ourselves. The only thing movies tell us about ourselves is that we have a short attention span and a general desire to stick our heads in the sand. I don't get it. Even Horror, I think, could be relevant and challenging. I don't see why not. I mean, I love the fact that Horror sucks. That's what makes it so awesome! This absolute lack of pretension. It is what it is and it's not ashamed to be it. But still, it could be so much more. Somebody make a deep horror film. With some real social commentary. Horror doesn't have to suck!

In other news, Helen is talking about running for president of the student council. She'll fucking win, too. And she'll get Homecoming Queen, and Valedictorian, and every other friggin award you can think of. I hate her so much! Clearly I would be a much better choice for president but what chance do I have of winning? Zip! Zilch! Zero! I would get booed off the stage! Even though I'm a writer and she can't string two phrases together without using the word, 'like'. All she has to do is flash those pearly whites and the world's her oyster. God, how unfair!

1 comment:

  1. You should at least try to upset "Helen's" chances of outright victory. It is better to get booed off the stage and make a stand, then not even try at all. Years from now, people will remember your intelligence and courage. Teenage reality is pretty shallow, don't be afraid to put a dent in peoples perceptions and give them some hint of depth.

    Rock, from KillingBoxx.com

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