Politics and Money
I got a political email from some PF Bloggers. I was slightly surprised to find it in my email box. I read it thoroughly as it’s from someone I respect. Otherwise, I’d just delete them without reading.
I am not a single-issue voter, and if I was, I know what that single issue is, and it’s not about the fiscal prudence of our executive branch. If anything, I am greatly alarmed by the erosion of civil liberties in the US. I personally don’t really give a crap if someone wears a seat-belt. If they’re that stupid, I’d like them to exit the gene pool quickly and other such policies that beg me to tell our legislators to “leave me alone please.” I’m not a Libertarian, but I am starting to feel like one in my crochety old age. Color me a curmudgeon.
I’m sorry, I’m feeling a little crass as I write this. I just finished a vile, yet hilarious book by Tucker Max. Yes, that horrible, don’t click the link it’s NSFW, Tucker Max guy.
And another thing about politics or rather, labor practices and the power of unions, what do you guys think of the writer’s strike in Hollywood? I don’t watch TV so I could care less, but now that its making a problem for my creative, non-writer friends in LA, I worry that this is going to be protracted and greatly impact their income.
Just curious.
Mrs. Micah wrote:
I think they should just pay the writers so we can get on with our favorite shows.
Plus, I think it’s only fair that the writers be compensated for any monies earned through online distribution of their shows. Studios seem (at times) to be claiming that they don’t make money on it. Fine, set up a percentage basis and let’s get this lunacy over with.
People are idiots and it should never have gone this far.
Posted on 13-Dec-07 at 12:00 pm | Permalink
Mrs. Micah wrote:
That was meant to have an at the end.
Posted on 13-Dec-07 at 12:00 pm | Permalink
Mrs. Micah wrote:
Augh.
*end crotchety*
Posted on 13-Dec-07 at 12:01 pm | Permalink
lanea wrote:
Writers’ strike–I’m fer it. I have friends in the business out in LA too, and more on their way into it. I know that the strike is hard for a lot of people, but the entertainment business is completely top heavy and entirely unfair to the people who actually do the hard work of making shows and movies possible–even more so now that “reality” TV is ubiquitous. The people who produce that stuff are even worse to the writers who work on it than the rest of hollywood, because they perpetuate the lie that it is neither written nor edited. A pox on their 15,000 square foot houses.
To my mind, we’ve drunk the “unions are bad” koolaid, as a nation. The rich get richer and richer off the backs of the poor and shrinking middle class. Screw that–we need to take back the marketplace and demand fair wages and decent labor protection.
Yes, I know I’m a pinko. And in a cult. And too stingy with my husband. And whatever else some jackhole will accuse me of today.
Posted on 13-Dec-07 at 12:27 pm | Permalink
PiggyBankBlues wrote:
pay the writers already!! i ditto lanea
Posted on 13-Dec-07 at 1:56 pm | Permalink
Sean wrote:
I’m for the writers, that’s for sure. Mrs. Micah hit the nail on the head: if the studios aren’t making money on online distribution (or DVDs for that matter) then fine they don’t have to pay the writers for it. The problem is, they clearly ARE making money both on DVDs and online. So they should pay the writers. Duh.
More importantly, I followed your Max Tucker link, and after using a proxy to get out of my work’s safe-internet-box I read “The Famous ‘Sushi Pants’ Story” and laughed. A lot. Thanks.
Posted on 13-Dec-07 at 2:32 pm | Permalink
TF Miser wrote:
I was surprised to see you read a Tucker Max book. I came across his site when researching law schools. It is pretty funny but you have to hope there aren’t too many like him in law school.
Posted on 13-Dec-07 at 4:24 pm | Permalink
Andrew Stevens wrote:
The problem with giving the writers a percentage of the net is that the studios can make the net look like anything they want it to. So the effect would be that the writers would continue to get nothing, even if they deserve to get something. I’m not saying that the studios are making money off of it (I have no idea), just that the accounting makes it very easy to claim they aren’t making money off of it when they are.
So the writers cannot afford to agree to Mrs. Micah’s compromise.
Posted on 13-Dec-07 at 5:15 pm | Permalink
Andrew Stevens wrote:
By the way, if you are a single issue voter for fiscal prudence, the only logical solution is to vote for divided government. Even that doesn’t work all the time, but when Congress and the Presidency are split between two parties, fiscal prudence always improves. I’m curious whether the PF bloggers who emailed you realize this, or if they foolishly believe that one party or the other is likely to be more fiscally prudent than the other one. (Evidence does not support such a position.)
Posted on 13-Dec-07 at 5:20 pm | Permalink
Ted wrote:
lanea:
“The rich get richer and richer off the backs of the poor and shrinking middle class.”
You make it sound like a zero sum game. Even our ‘poor’ are relatively well off, with many (most?) owning televisions, cell phones and microwave ovens. Yes, the rich are richer, but so are the poor and the middle class. And that middle class is shrinking as much from people becoming wealthier as they are from people becoming poorer.
I don’t think unions are necessarily bad, but most are corrupt. They’ve gotten political and way too many are more interested in protecting their own power and/or cashflow than they are in advocating for their members. Many unions are unabashedly hypocritical too, perfect example being the ones setting up picket lines with hired day-laborers to walk and carry signs.
Posted on 13-Dec-07 at 11:48 pm | Permalink
Money Blue Book wrote:
As long as the strike doesn’t affect ESPN, the NFL, or Ultimate Fighting I’ll be perfectly okay.
-Raymond
Posted on 14-Dec-07 at 11:57 am | Permalink
misskate wrote:
I agree with Lanea. I’m pro-union anyway, but it seems to me that WGA is the first line of defense. If they break, it will be so much worse for the below-line workers who are already suffering and for SAG whose negotiations come next. If you want to support the strike, I suggest visiting http://www.fans4writers.com Battlestar Galactica fans and of course, Joss Whedon fans as well as those of so many other shows and writers have come up with great ways to help *everyone* negatively affected by the strike.
And Tucker Max is a guilty pleasure.
Posted on 16-Dec-07 at 8:10 am | Permalink