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"Chin up, greedhead"
December 15, 2000 1:00 PM   Subscribe

"Chin up, greedhead" A discussion of the recent outbreak of affluenza, from the perspective of someone playing "My Heart Bleeds for You" on the world's smallest violin.
posted by frykitty (8 comments total)

"Darling, I'm going to be home late from 'work' today, as I've got an awful case of the 'affluenza.' I do hope the 'doctor' is able to 'cure' me of this horrid 'disease,' or at least 'babble a lot of horseshit' so as to ease my 'wracking guilt' and 'intense self-loathing' that spring from my 'shallow and infantile' 'lifestyle.' Ciao!"
posted by Skot at 1:27 PM on December 15, 2000


Anyone out there suffering? Hey, relax! Just empty your pockets into my pockets and we will both feel a lot better.
posted by quirked at 1:35 PM on December 15, 2000


See also this link, harvested from Rebbeca.
posted by snarkout at 1:50 PM on December 15, 2000


if you didn't read this one to the end -- he reveals that the 500 billionaires in the world [1/3 of them are in the US] have a net worth greater than the poor HALF of the world's population. how do you feel about that?
posted by palegirl at 2:59 PM on December 15, 2000


Was I the only one amused by this copy-editing boo-boo?

"Everyone is entitled to exercise his or her personal demons..." (as opposed to exorcising them).

I can just imagine all the suffering gazillionares taking their personal demons to the demon park, romping with them and tossing the frisbee about. It gets the poor little demons the exercise they need after being cooped up all day in the condo, and keeps the owners' minds off their own troubles, too!
posted by redfoxtail at 3:16 PM on December 15, 2000


how do you feel about that?

Given that...

1) Much of this wealth is on paper, and would vaporize if the owner attempted to cash in on it all at once. (No matter how great your company's stock is doing, dumping a few million shares at once is going to send the price down.)

2) Even if one were to impound all these billionaires' riches, it would be impossible to get it redistributed to third world citizens given the current political structure of the world. (Most of it would end up in the pockets of each country's rulers, just like most of the food currently does.)

3) Even if we could get it redistributed, most of the recipients wouldn't be able to do anything with it. There's nothing to buy.

... I don't feel bad about it at all.
posted by aaron at 3:40 PM on December 15, 2000



...exercise his or her personal demons...
My personal demons have a personal trainer...
posted by wendell at 4:42 PM on December 15, 2000


Aaron, you've got a wacky understanding of wealth and power, especially in the context of the linked article.

Your third point is just infuriating. I don’t think everyone wants a yacht, but lots of people don’t want to be hungry.
posted by capt.crackpipe at 5:38 PM on December 15, 2000


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