Greed Pays
Published March 5, 2009
Suddenly we’ve noticed that John Thain’s $35,000 commode was flushing directly in our faces.
But our affections for the exorbitantly successful have waxed and waned.
Against Thrift
Published February 25, 2009
Yes, it’s great to wave goodbye to the $20 martini and the 20,000-square-foot house. But must we use the recession as a fresh excuse for moral self-flagellation?
Thrift is the new abstinence.
Continue reading Against Thrift »
Poli Psy: What’s Up for O-Nine
Published January 9, 2009
If I can’t keep resolutions, I can make predictions . . .
Continue reading Poli Psy: What’s Up for O-Nine »
Poli Psy: Love in Crisis
Published October 9, 2008
For a girl who grew up in a communist family, this month’s events should be cause for fireworks. As Marx predicted, the self-sown seeds of capitalism’s own destruction are spreading tendrils under the foundations of Wall Street, opening fissures in the walls of marble. Lenin told his comrades the profit-insatiable capitalist would eventually sell the [...]
Continue reading Poli Psy: Love in Crisis »
Poli Psy: Non-Consumer Confidence
Published May 23, 2008
Marx believed that the edifice of capitalism was built upon misery, and misery would bring the edifice down. To increase productivity and profit, he reasoned, bosses assembled workers in factories. Once there, though, the workers would soon notice that they were all similarly miserable — and that they outnumbered the bosses. The workers would organize [...]
Continue reading Poli Psy: Non-Consumer Confidence »
Poli Psy: Why I’m happy to pay my taxes
Published April 15, 2006
There may be no fact of life about which Americans complain more than taxes. Now, I’m not thrilled about where my money goes (my total 2005 IRS bill covered about 3.5 seconds of the Iraq war) nor about the portion of income I fork over compared with, say, Dick Cheney. Self-employed, I deduct the cost [...]