Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Capitalism at its best: Metacapitalism

Meta:
Meta definition number 4 at Answers.com
a. Beyond; transcending; more comprehensive:
b. At a higher state of development:

Example ~ Dada suggested usage:
Metacapitalism

Have you heard of poor Gwen? She's homeless after things went bad between her mom and dad (who deserted them). Soon afterward Gwen's mom lost her job. This led to the loss of the family's home. Gwen now lives in a car with her mom. And each night an armrest is her pillow. (Thank god for the auto industry's ingenuity of cup holders or the carpet would be hideously coke-stained I'm afraid).

Gwen is the creation of Mattel and a credit to the evolution of marketing during what could be the endless devolutionary downward spiral of capitalistic despair.

Gwen, at 95 bucks a pop, is testament to the genius of capitalism; that in these difficult times there are still profits to be reaped at the expense of the growing number of dispossessed in America.


At the moment, as expressed by one young consumer, it is a disappointment there aren't more accessories she can adorn Gwen with. Maybe if everyone owning a Gwen doll tossed a few bucks in her mom's direction, or found mom a job, it might improve the availability of accessories for poor Gwen.

Practice patience, dear consumers! Once we emerge from this growing depression, Gwen may regain her dignity and, who knows, be befriended by Barbie. And, as Sean Hannity loves to remind, the great thing about America is anybody can grow up to be the CEO of Bank of America. In our metacapitalistic society, you never know!




16 comments:

D.K. Raed said...

Gwen has been spotted under that (infamous) freeway bridge you've staked a claim on. Perhaps a turf war is in the works?

Fran said...

In the next chapter, Gwen gets a low paying job, and the employer imposes a wage freeze.

Times are hard & money is tight!
You are lucky to have a job they admonish Gwen, as they spend billions on acquisitions.

The pay freeze comes with a deluge of a heavier workload on poor Gwen.

But this did not stop the employer from sending the e mail, asking the pay frozen workers to give generously to United Way.

Oh wait! That is MY life story.
I shit you not, got that e mail today.

Dada said...

D.K. Thanks for the warning. I've wondered at what point I would have to become more protective of my future home. To save it from neighbors is one thing, but total outsiders is another thing entirely.

So, I guess we've reached that point where I shall have to take little after-dark jaunts down to my freeway overpass. And if I should so much as catch Gwen down there, it will the the blanket and Duck tape that accompany me for her!

All the kicking and muffled screams for help won't do her any good. First thing in the morning, it will be the Good Will store for that little bundle. (That is, if I don't deposit her outside the nearest fire station that very night, ring their bell and run.

Dada said...

Fran: See? See how you manage to inject a little humor into a humorless situation and put a smile on our faces.

Your story has me recalling my initial encounters with United Way as a junior insurance underpaid underwriter. I was just scraping by, yet there was this unspoken pressure from upper level mgmt. to carry my expected share of the load. (It felt like some kind of hazing by privileged upperclassmen. To do otherwise could be hazardous to the image of the co., (i.e., "one's career," being seen as a nonplayer).

And this wasn't even in a Depression with frozen waged employees doing the work of several, job insecurities, shrinking benies and a pool of unemployed circling outside the workplace just waiting for the scent of blood.

Thanks for the aside, Gw.., er Fran.

Fran said...

Ok Gwen's fictional story is a downer... but hey it is in sync with current events, and relates to her staking that claim under the freeway bridge.


But it is a classic & disgusting corporate move to ask the low paid workers to step up & give generously. It takes all I've got to not make some public statement in the mandatory donation presentation.

Yish!

Dada said...

(In the mandatory United Way donation presentation, Fran slowly rises to say:)

"Well, this has been an extremely difficult year for many, my family included. People are suffering. Many have loss their jobs. If they're lucky, they still manage to put food on their tables beneath a roof they, hopefully, still have over their heads.

"As a result, there is a greater need than ever for charitable community support and, despite difficult times for we who still have jobs, I have decided the need is such that I'm am giving $500 this year.

"But to see the maximum benefit is rec'd from this $500, I am bypassing the United Way funnel that siphons off 5% of all donations for management and general expenses (that would be $25 of my $500 - Brian A. Gallagher's salary of $629,950 part of that) and another 9% off the top for fundraising ($45 more of my $500 contribution - for a net benefit of $500 - $70 = $430).

"Instead, I shall donate the full $500 and see that it is given to a family that could really use it -- MINE!"

(Mgmt's United Way donation expectations from families under stress from this shrinking economy is *BULLSHIT*!)

Dada said...

Oh, and this is off topic, but I'd just like to say "Congratulations!" to president Obama for winning the Nobel for peace. (I'd have posted it in a blog on the front page, but I'm a little too embarrassed at the moment.

Hmm, this is one strange Universe!

D.K. Raed said...

Why would YOU be embarrassed, Dada? Obama seems a little embarrassed. Now he's got to earn it! Not to mention finally granting a meeting with that peacenik Dalai Lama fellow.

Loved the way you and Fran have solved the United Way donation dilemma!

ps, I think I saw Gwen last night. Good news! She seems to have gotten a job at Fox cleaning up the acorn-shaped tears of Mr Beck. Pretty soon she will be able to purchase that fwy overpass, kick the resident homeless back out onto the street and begin charging toll fees for the cars driving overhead. Isn't that the american way ... get yours and screw everyone else?

Dada said...

D.K. - Oh, DK, reading your words about poor little homeless Gwen, to wit, "soon she will be able to purchase that fwy overpass, kick the resident homeless back out onto the street and begin charging toll fees for the cars driving overhead. Isn't that the american way ... get yours and screw everyone else," leaves me imagining how very, very happy Sean Hannity is, hearing your words.

(Hearing of little Gwen's achievement of the American Dream, I imagine him soiling himself. Oh, and of course, Beck applying Vicks, so moved is he. OK, OK, so it's Vicks for Beck, Vaseline for Hannity.)

D.K. Raed said...

Dada (or James Dean per your new icon?), Hannity has been soiling himself for years ... vaseline or no vaseline!

hmmm, never thought about Becks and Vicks. naive as I am, I thought he was an emotional bastard. so he is just a bastard ... or a vicks prick.

maybe Gwen should've applied to O'Reilly and gotten the full loofah. garggghhh! that little doll gets around.

Fran said...

Dada~ Wow! that was some in depth analysis about the United Way presentation, a potential response.

I'm toying with a big black thick marker & writing in big black bold print on the official pledge form:

WAGE FROZEN

Similar to a APPROVED stamp.
With no name attached, of course.

A kind of a PLEDGE THIS response.

I see they have me scheduled for a mandatory meeting..... but seriously, I am not sure I can trust myself to attend & not say something that would potentially get my ass fired.

Maybe Duct tape (just like Gwen)!!!!
Or perhaps I should just "forget" to go to the meeting & not risk on outburst.

I swear it makes me rather disgruntled.

Fran said...

And OH! about the Nobel Peace Prize.....
to the guy leaning towards sending 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan in the same week he gets the prize????

Ok.... I wrote a whole post about it.

Suffice it to say he's no MLK jr. when it comes to non violence, Eh?

Fran said...

Dada wrote:

(Mgmt's United Way donation expectations from families under stress from this shrinking economy is *BULLSHIT*!)



>>>>>>Hey! It's all about making the corporation look good!

Meanwhile receives a bill from last week's CT scan for over $200 out of my pocket.

What I have left in my pocket is LINT!

Maybe I should take some lint & tape it to the pledge form???

That way I can claim I am "digging deep"....

Dada said...

D.K. - Now, in all those links around the web showing Beck getting his Vicks grease job and subsequent tears, "Ooooh, those tears -- so real!", why didn't I hear anywhere "vicks pricks". Nice, D.K., nice.

Thanks for noticing the James Dean icon. I was cleaning out a closet Friday. In it, I came across that very early Dada painting there (from 35 years ago!). I took a couple of pictures for the helluva it before scheduling its 0800 hrs ride to the city landfill (-- after slashing it into smaller pieces and removing its creator's name in lower right hand corner, of corner) -- when, shortly after its arrival there, it will become a permanent entry into the Akaschic records.

Dada said...

Fran: I love some of your response ideas to the annual UW drive. I'm sure in all the fonts in our computers, there exists just the right one that looks precisely like a rubber stamped alphabet. You can then just run the off'l pledge form through the printer one pass to print display atop it REJECTED - WAGES FROZEN!

I also liked the idea of an attached receipt for your part of your CT Scan (was this to catch a 'glimpse' of the 'rolling stones'?) to the UW form. But going this route, your anonymity may be a bit less anonymous, right?

Re Obama's NPP, he's, as Gore Vidal says, simply not up to the job of enacting anything like his high minded rhetoric into some form of concrete reality. He's "pushing rope uphill" as noted in my NPP blog and, if he wishes to successfully complete his term of office (something probably on the minds of many but a topic off limits to actual verbalization), Obama will appease the Powers That Be at the expense of the NPP committee's (and our) hopes for him.

In my blog on his peace prize, I said he was joining the ranks of Mother Teresa, the Dalai Lama, MLK, etc. but of course, that was hyperbole. Had I foregone the sarcasm, I would have instead included Obama in with the likes of such recipients as Kissinger, as D.K. so nicely pointed out.

***
And, breaking the thread -- again -- and going off topic, sorta, kinda [grin]: My president lied again to me yesterday morning in his weekly Sat. morn pep talk. Referring to his health care 'pep rally' to wit:

"In recent months, we’ve heard every side of every argument from both sides of the aisle. And rightly so – health insurance reform is a complex and critical issue that deserves a vigorous national debate,.... The approach that is emerging includes the best ideas from Republicans and Democrats (sic), and people across the political spectrum." blah, blah, blah.

This is total BS too. We've seen how a hearing for a single payer option was squelched at every turn. What will result will be a mish-mash. Whether any better than what we have, I don't know. But it won't solve the problem. But at least it will assure the continued prosperity of the health care industry that has paid tens of millions to buy it.

As noted, if he wishes to complete his term in office, the PTB must, WILL, be appeased.

Fran said...

Oh yes..... the singer payer medicos have been shut out. Who better to be in the know about the real life consequences of being puppets on the strings of for-profit health insurance, than Doctors who have been dealing with it for decades?
Single payer means the Wealthcare people don't run the show, and we would have REAL reform.

Public option is a kind of sort of start--- but as others have pointed out... leaves the doors wide open to rate hikes, denials, limited coverage, excluded services not covered, and a whole host of other bad consequences.

While the teabaggers stage their act, the ins underwriters are probably busily writing up new fine print for the next generation of victims, uh I mean clients.

If the Baucus crowd in the Senate finance committee thinks something is good, I am immediately wary of it.
To tie it in w the original topic-- poor little Gwen will need to continue to go to the Emergency room for basic medical care.