Participant Observation

The world has been a cultural blogger's dream come true lately!  Popes are resigning, politicians are whining,  DC comics hired Orson Scott Card to write Superman...and Google made some spiffy new glasses.  I thought about writing about all of these topics...I haven't...except for those...brilliant essays... in my head.  

Would it surprise you to know that the big reason I haven't written about these topics is because I really see a connection between them (he teasingly dangles)?

I'm going to wait on the details of that angle for awhile until I see how these situations develop.  I will say that my own interpretation of the data available to me so far evidences the presence of divisively powerful socio-cultural forces moving behind the scenes in each of these situations.  As usual, the boat rocks to and fro, and the ship continues to steam towards the falls.  I've frankly been feeling a little seasick of it all!

Most everyone I know has seen the recent popular YouTube video about wealth inequality in America.  If  you haven't take a look for yourself. State of the World = Same As It Ever Was.

Superior numbers are all we have to work with...all that we have ever had.

"Letting the days go by..."

Of course let's not forget about the additional $32,000,000,000,000 stashed offshore.  Or, maybe like me, you remember how Forbes magazine trotted out their idea of a perfect solution:

Riiiiiiiiight...how does that joke go again???  I heard it once a long time ago...Oh Yeah!!!:

From the NY Times, March 3, 2013:

"As a percentage of national income, corporate profits stood at 14.2 percent in the third quarter of 2012, the largest share at any time since 1950, while the portion of income that went to employees was 61.7 percent, near its lowest point since 1966. In recent years, the shift has accelerated during the slow recovery that followed the financial crisis and ensuing recession of 2008 and 2009, said Dean Maki, chief United States economist at Barclays.

Corporate earnings have risen at an annualized rate of 20.1 percent since the end of 2008, he said, but disposable income inched ahead by 1.4 percent annually over the same period, after adjusting for inflation.

“There hasn’t been a period in the last 50 years where these trends have been so pronounced,” Mr. Maki said."

That, my dear friends, is what's really going on.

Like I wrote last year...March is here...and folks have started to realize that nothing has changed, and for the moment, nothing is going to:

"Bend Over!!"

Dave ~ Thanks for your time.  I hope we get to know each other better.