"How much?"
Rather than write something new, here's something I was sketching on my work PC the last time I took the train to NY in early June.
Also, I may have a fractured bone in my forearm.
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How much?
A few months ago, some neurons in my head did something and I ran a blog headline that said, "THE COMMODIFICATION OF DEBT-->THE PRO-LIFE PROFIT MOTIVE."
I didn't write anything else. You were supposed to think, oh, how interesting. How much is a human life worth to money-removing corporate entities? How much does it cost to feed and clothe a human? To buy it lifetime life insurance? If it subscribes to typical American standards, how much does it spend on auto leasing, gas, repairs, and collision insurance between ages 18 and 80? Housing? Textbooks? Vacations? Music? Tuition? How much money does the Average American spend at McDonald's in a lifetime (figure adjusted for inflation)?
We're worth a lot to those who seek our worth. What amazes me is how many new ways our economy assigns value and then removes that value from our pockets. Today's Globe features an article on forced advertising on school buses. A company called Bus Radio will pay your kid's school district to install its satellite radios. The bus then force feeds your kid "age appropriate" corporate pop culture mixed with ten minutes of commercials per hour.
If you watch television, you can probably tell what a big market kids are. But I seem to only watch "Seinfeld" reruns, so this comes as an even bigger jolt to me.
At any rate, I'm glad my only school commute involved spending 2 1/2 hours on New York City buses and subways. I saw more interesting things in those four years than it's possible for the current big box generation to see in a lifetime. Now that so much public space has been both privatized and commercialized--malls, stip malls, supermarkets, bigger boxes--it's as if we're living in a frigid casino with endless cheap booze. Anesthized by flatscreen smiles, the latest [blank], kids are transported from big box to big box in gigantic suburban deathmobiles, never having to worry about a thing except for where to spend money next.
are kids good for the economy?
where does money come from?
crumbs, crumbs, crumbs [reference to Sherman McCoy in THE BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES, who describes bond trading to his daughter as the practice of sweeping billions of cake crumbs off the floor]
---
Also, I may have a fractured bone in my forearm.
---
How much?
A few months ago, some neurons in my head did something and I ran a blog headline that said, "THE COMMODIFICATION OF DEBT-->THE PRO-LIFE PROFIT MOTIVE."
I didn't write anything else. You were supposed to think, oh, how interesting. How much is a human life worth to money-removing corporate entities? How much does it cost to feed and clothe a human? To buy it lifetime life insurance? If it subscribes to typical American standards, how much does it spend on auto leasing, gas, repairs, and collision insurance between ages 18 and 80? Housing? Textbooks? Vacations? Music? Tuition? How much money does the Average American spend at McDonald's in a lifetime (figure adjusted for inflation)?
We're worth a lot to those who seek our worth. What amazes me is how many new ways our economy assigns value and then removes that value from our pockets. Today's Globe features an article on forced advertising on school buses. A company called Bus Radio will pay your kid's school district to install its satellite radios. The bus then force feeds your kid "age appropriate" corporate pop culture mixed with ten minutes of commercials per hour.
If you watch television, you can probably tell what a big market kids are. But I seem to only watch "Seinfeld" reruns, so this comes as an even bigger jolt to me.
At any rate, I'm glad my only school commute involved spending 2 1/2 hours on New York City buses and subways. I saw more interesting things in those four years than it's possible for the current big box generation to see in a lifetime. Now that so much public space has been both privatized and commercialized--malls, stip malls, supermarkets, bigger boxes--it's as if we're living in a frigid casino with endless cheap booze. Anesthized by flatscreen smiles, the latest [blank], kids are transported from big box to big box in gigantic suburban deathmobiles, never having to worry about a thing except for where to spend money next.
are kids good for the economy?
where does money come from?
crumbs, crumbs, crumbs [reference to Sherman McCoy in THE BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES, who describes bond trading to his daughter as the practice of sweeping billions of cake crumbs off the floor]
---
posted by Rob at 7:07 PM
1 Comments:
from: www.babyeinstein.com/store
The Ultimate DVD Gift Collection
$309.00
* 17 Baby Einstein titles
* DVDs zoned for Region 1 only, which is the USA and Canada.
* All DVD's features bonus language learning with Spanish, French, and English tracks.
what does it do? you put your infant infront of the tv, go to the kitchen and drink your double soy milk latte, and let you infant's still-developing mind watch hours of classical music set to blurs of colors and cycically moving shapes and animals.
the benefits? your kid learns more colors and such academic facts, fails to develop their imagination, fails to learn how to ammuse themselves, and grows up pre-conformed to their Montessouri classmates and becomes a walking widget ready to consume.
children are VERY, VERY good for the economy.
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