Supply Side Jesus

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Ali G Confuses Noam Chomsky

How would you like it if I called you bilingual?

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Do We Really Want Dirty Naked People Blocking Traffic?

I mean, it's annoying enough when fully dressed people approach you at a traffic light, once in a blue moon. But dirty, naked people...at every traffic light?!? Even worse...when you find yourself amongst the dirty, naked people, dirty and naked. What will our children think?


Keeping that in mind - our cars covered in bodyprints of the naked and dirty - what kind of economy do we want and/or need? Do we want the kind we have now? Based solely on the calculation of the expansion of gross domestic product (GDP), and gross national product (GNP)? If so, we should ask ourselves what exactly does the GNP/GDP measure? What does the GNP/GDP encompass and what kind of growth does it encourage and/or discourage?

Most economists believe that anything that can be exchanged for money counts as wealth. In the book, The System: It's How the World Works, Andy Turnbull, the author, quotes Alfred Marshall, author of the book, Principles of Economics, who said a little over 100 years ago, "a lawyer's brief is just as real as a sack of potatoes". Since that time, the measurement of these items, and everything in between, is the only measurement that is given any attention regarding the health of our economy.

However, the problem with boiling down the health of our economy to one calculation - GNP/GDP - - is that it counts every exchange or transaction as positive, even when the economic activity measured is clearly negative.

Take the incarceration rate, which has tripled over the last two decades. Every time we add a prisoner to the system, it increases GNP. Then, there is the level of environmental degradation...by omitting environmental degradation from the calculation; it increases the value of the GDP because degradation is often a result of commercial transactions. The 1993 World Trade Center and the 1995 Oklahoma City Murrah Federal Building bombing added more than a billion dollars to the GNP. In addition, the Murrah Federal building bombing generated a continuous increase because of the extra security put in place at the federal buildings.

Then, there is the question of the way we determine and measure value. Adam Smith questioned the fact that some things, such as water, has almost no exchange value even though it has great use value, and in some cases, are necessary to life. In other words, something that has limited or no use may be expensive (jewels) and something that is useful may be cheap. The problem with this type of value system is that it makes it much more profitable to produce useless items (luxuries) for the rich than useful items or necessities for the working poor or disenfranchised. When monetary cost is the only measure of worth, there is very little incentive to protect, produce or distribute "goods" that are vital to at the very least, quality of life, and sometimes even survival.

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Archie Bunker Still Lives on in the American Psyche

Edith tells Archie and Mike how certain names fit so well with the occupation..."Like God", she says.

Mike responds, "That is because we grew up using the word "God"... that the word "chair" could just as easily be substituted, and if that were the case, Americans would go to church to worship chair.” He then pointed out the Chinese use the word, "Buddha" to represent God...

Edith: "I wonder if the Chinese say “Buddha bless you” when some one sneezes."

Archie: "The Chinks sneeze and don’t say nothin’. They don’t speak English."

Mike: "Why can’t they say, “Buddha bless you” in Chinese?"

Archie Bunker: "Because they don't say that, that's why. If they say... Well, if they say anything at all, it's "Sayonara".

Mike Stivic: "That's Japanese".

Archie Bunker: "Same thing".

Mike Stivic: "It's not the same thing!"

Archie Bunker: "What are you talking about? You put a Jap and a Chink together, you gonna tell me which is which?"

Mike Stivic: That's right, because I find out about them. I talk to them as individuals.

Archie Bunker: "Sure you talk to them. You say, Which one of you guys is the Chink?"

Mike Stivic: [yells] "I don't believe this. He's making me crazy!

"Archie Bunker", the lovable, in-your-face bigot, provided Americans with a huge mirror back in the early 1970's, making it hard for anyone watching to deny they were looking at themselves or at the very least, someone they knew. Caroll O'Connor's embodiment combined with Norman Lear's talent and sense of humor not only allowed "Archie Bunker" to survive the Nielson's, but made him a legend and a character that will live on in American history.

"I got a lot goin' against me. I'm white, a Protestant and a hard worker. You got an amendment for me?" - Archie Bunker

Archie Bunker articulates what so many of us think or feel without recognizing, as white Americans, the Constitution, the laws and societal code were all created by us and for us. "White privilege"is something we were born with and it cannot be taken away.

Relegated to our subconscious, Archie is just as relevant today as he was over 30 years ago. The exchange I posted at the beginning, between Archie, Edith, and Mike humorously presents
We, the people's default assumption that it’s all about us. It's very hard to assume otherwise when you live in the wealthiest, most powerful nation in the world, and the truth is, "it" has been all about us, especially since WWII. The United States is to the world what Hollywood is to the United States and like Hollywood, we are somewhat of an illusion and "all that glitters is not gold".

It's more important now than ever to keep an eye on the "Archie Bunker" that exists in all of us.
The only way to overcome the Archie that resides in all of us is to make sure Edith, Mike and Gloria dwell as well.

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White People Whining

"Death and taxes" is not the only sure thing in life...the other is whining. I'm sure if there were a way to measure the "whine factor" in each country, this one, with only 4% of the global population, would out-whine everyone else put together. Moreover, there is a very good reason...we have the most to whine about!

Seriously, what could you whine about living in a mud hut in the middle of Ethiopia? Nothing to drink for a couple days? No food? The whole family has HIV? That's three things! That's nothing compared to the number of things I have to whine about.

Let's see, I have three computers; an ipod, two TVs and a stereo; a car; a house a.k.a. "money pit"; a walk-in closet so full, I can never find anything; a 'fridge so full of food I end up throwing stuff out...what a waste of money; a washer, dishwasher and dryer; a stove and microwave; a land-line and cell phone and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Just try not to whine when you have all that stuff! It's impossible!

White Whine reports "a new white person complaint every day of the week."

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