Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Five Billionaires Who Party Harder Than Russell Brand’s Arthur

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Five Billionaires Who Party Harder Than Russell Brand’s Arthur

by Jamie Johnson from Vanity Fair.

Once again Jamie leads us on an excursion in the lives of the one-percent, among people whom you and I would never meet in our hum-drum lives. Here he introduces us to some of the biggest spenders among this segment of our population that rules the empire. Well, not directly--they are too busy having fun to do that. They hire that out to political operatives like John Boehner, Newt Gingrich, Governor Walker of Wisconsin, and super-salesmen like Barack Obama and Ronald Reagan.

I'm sure there are some people (spoil sports) out there who are envious and feel that the ostentatious display of wealth is in poor taste. Well, as they say, if you've got it, why not flaunt it? What is the point of getting rich if you don't enjoy all the good things in life? And, isn't it good for the (capitalist) economy to consume? It boosts our economic scorecard (GDP), gets the money circulating so that some of it trickles down to us folks--it's downright patriotic!