Systemic

Theorizing off the cuff, so here goes

It is a bumpy ride, so hang on and like life it has no point.

“It is just a ride.”

– Bill Hicks
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It is a systemic problem to a systematic solution

However, the collective wants it fixed without participation

To my best understanding things don’t work like that

The image/meme inspiring this rant is from Facebook

Of a picture of Ellen Degeneress with words over it saying

Liberals don’t mind her making 35 million a year but scoff

At a CEO making 5 million employing 5 thousand people

A good point perhaps yet it only scratches the surface

Which really has nothing to do with either Ellen or the CEO

Based on the “context” seems to be a tax the rich reference

Or perhaps how is it justified one person makes so much

Fortunately or unfortunately it is based on consumption

Artists and or (I hate to say it) pro athletes, earn their keep

Even those goofballs that drive aimlessly around an oval

“I want to be a race car passenger, just a guy who bugs the driver. Say man, can I turn on the radio? You should slow down.

Why do we gotta keep going in circles? Can I put my feet out the window? Man, you really like Tide…”

– Mitch Hedberg

Or one of my favorites the comedy of the Howard Stern show

All getting paid well for exactly what the market will bear

To my best understanding as I have no income insight

No one is plucked from obscurity and given those careers

They’ve put in their *outlier requisite ten thousand hours

In my perception doing what they’d rather be doing for pay

Likewise the CEO making 5 million employing 5 thousand people

The difference is he or she is not sponsored by consumables

(You can bet some bean counter can explain the high salaries)

Therefore in the grand scheme of things is not “producing”

The revenue justified to make that kind of big 5m money

It is intetchangeable with other people who can do that

Perhaps not always but probably in most ceo cases

Whether it be Ellen, Howard, Oprah, Dale Jr or Brett Farve

The products they move employ a lot more than 5 thousand

All well tracked by statisticians and more bean counters

If you listen and watch carefully, the bigger the audience

The higher the margin there is on the products sold

Paid for by Joe and Jane Q public buying because thought

Is not required to make impulse buys due to clever marketing

The “celebrity” is getting paid more and employs more people

The consumers buy the products sponsoring the entertainment

Take a bag of potato chips (not mine, get your own) thank you

A retail ten pounds sack of potatoes sells for about three dollars

Think of what large corporations get it for wholesale in bulk

A one once bag of potato chips sells for about a dollar give or take

Minus the cost of processing packaging distribution and advertising

There is maybe fifteen cents of actual product in and including the bag

Still there is a whole host of people getting paid in the process

Backwards. The clerk selling it, the stockperson who put it on the shelf

The distributor who bought it to the store, the driver from the warehouse

The driver who picked it up from the potato chip maker who received

The potatoes from the farm after it was grown and harvested

In between all of that, the diesel that was used to move everything

The trailers tractors farm equipment buildings and roads that all

Employed lots of people up and down the line for a simple bag of chips

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This is where it really goes off the rails

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A couple of other products of which their retail pricing

Have me flabbergasted beyond realistic comprehension

Is underwear and bed sheets sold like they were gold

Hyped up to do things unimaginable by simple cotton

Commoditized to the point they can be purchased “cheap”

Say nineteen or so dollars for six pair of comfy underwear

But why do that when a branded pair sells for thirty dollars

Making that one hundred and eighty dollars for six pair whew

Easily coughing up to help pay for the celebrity endorsement

Same goes for the sheets I hear perpetually advertised

What can normally be purchased for about fifty dollars

The ad goes if you act now and mention a tracking code

You can get fifty dollars off, holy #uck, they must be free

Nope, try close to two hundred and fifty discounted to

Two hundred smackaroos on the exaggerated claim

You will get the best sleep ever, like God on the “seventh” day
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Time to get back on track

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I doubt I’m worth the “money” I “make”, yet it is what

“They” pay me for Looking At The World Through A Windshield

Getting paid to sit in an air ride seat in a comfortable cubicle

Listening to the satellite radio, ipod, audio books and comedy

Driving up to 135,000 miles a year and enjoying 99% of it

Storing and compartmentalizing this to write down later

 

“Whatever, don’t do shit you hate. People work jobs they hate. There’s another way. Whatever it is you do… Fuckin’ quit. Go in on Monday and steal a bunch of shit, and quit. If you don’t absolutely love it, if you wouldn’t do it for free… Quit.”

– Doug Stanhope

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As for the participation balance of everyone’s taxes

I think everyone can agree the system is #ucked up bad

Yet it goes on in the illusionary perception that should somebody

Who thinks the system could be revised more equitably

Might might just be able to make that much money

And enjoy the perks of a corrupt system that has people

Watching the homeless on the streets from high ivory towers
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“Life in two dimensions
Is a mass production scheme

So much poison in power
The principles get left out

So much mind on the matter
The spirit gets forgotten about”

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“Grand Designs”

– Rush

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* “Outliers”

– Malcolm Gladwell