Worse than the Great Depression?

I just came accross this article by Jack Cafferty bringing up and explaining a quote by a leading financial investor, George Soros. Soros claims that the financial crisis we are in is worse than even the Great Depression. Soros said that "The economy went into freefall and is still falling and we dont know where the bottom will be until we get there and there's no sign that we are anywhere near a bottom". He also says that our problems originate in the 1980's with deregulation, and that now is the begining of the end of the free market. As we start our unit exploring financial situations, it should be remembered that each system of an economy has its risks, and that each one controls the ordinary John and Sally. No form of economy is safe from risks, the largest example of Communism failed in the early 90's, and now we, the free market, are in a crisis. Thats not to say that we will plunge into chaos and anarchy, as is mentioned in the article, we have much more safe nets and are no where near the statistics of 25% unemployment of the Great Depression. But no one knows how our example of the free market could turn out after this crisis, it could turn into something we barely even notice. The fact is that there is no perfect form of economy where everyone lives in harmony and peace, People can only try.

The Ultimate Exaggerated Holiday

Recently, that holiday we all love or hate just came and went. Obviously, I am talking about Valentine's Day, the so-called 'Hallmark Holiday'. I think it is fair to call it that, since around this time of year we are bombarded with commercials to buy our loved ones this or that. And I have little problem with commercials for cards, flowers, chocolate, or even jewelry, because this kind of stuff is what people are looking for on Valentine's day. You cant really get angry at marketers for advertising things for a holiday which are in demand, but I think the reason many people hate the holiday is because of those other guys that try and adjust their random product to fit into the theme of hearts and roses and proceed to attempt to sell it with a special "one time offer" Valentine's Day theme. Valentine's day was a prime chance for marketers to sell and exaggerate their products. I really saw an Officemax commercial based for Valentine's Day products. It might just be me who thinks it, but whoever resorts to buying paper and staples for their significant other for Valentine's Day ought to get their priorities straight. In today's world, marketers try and find every reason to convince people to buy their stuff, and it doesnt even matter if their product has no relation to the event to begin with; as long as you can market it to the widest range of people and make it look so much more appealing than it really is. Holidays like Valentine's day are so often used to sell products which are over incredibly over romanticized that we forget the true meaning of February the 14th, which is that other meaning of romanticism, (and of course to buy roses and Hallmark cards). Anything further than that is just ridiculous.

Romanticizing a Blanket

So I know this is two days late, but I thought it was by sunday, not Friday. But anyways, something I find very over-romanticized and laugh at every time I see on TV is infomercials, but my favorite overly dramatic infomercial would have to be Snuggies. The commercial can be found here. Sure we all love a good blanket in front of a fireplace, and who doesnt like being warm when its cold, but the snuggie commercials go a bit far. Is it really that difficult to pick up a phone, read a book, or do simple tasks in a normal blanket? I for one have ever experienced blanket-induced disabilities, and when Im cold at a sporting event, I wear a coat. I usually dont mind a good infomercial, they give a little unintended comic relief, but Snuggies may go a bit far in romanticizing their product. The commercials make Snuggies seem like a necessity, without which you could never be comfortable. And then they even go farther and portray the snuggie as a sociably normal thing. I for one, and I dont know anyone else who would, would never wear basically a bathrobe around town. So although a Snuggie might be warm and nice around the home, it cant be very different from a normal blanket, and the benefits of simply a backwards bathrobe are incredibly over-romanticized and exaggerated. It may not be very practical, but it does work well as just a comedic relief among a million boring commercials

Congratulating the 'Daddy' of all Republicans

When I think of satire, I usually think of "The Daily Show" or "The Colbert Report", and only recently have I begun to think of Mark Twain in that sense too. Satire seems to often be a smaller or less influential figure attacking a larger idea, such as Mark Twain satirizing all of the south. So it me by surprise when I came upon a somewhat influential person taking on another of about equal status. I dont know why, but i found it very amusing to read, even though it doesnt seem to be written with the purpose of highly entertaining the reader. Here, in "A History Lesson for Rush Limbaugh", CNN's James Carvil attack's Limbaugh with heavy sarcasm a dash of juxtaposition and a bit of exaggeration. It would have been easy for me to read over this just a few months ago and maybe only just pick up on a bit of sarcasm, but while reading the article I felt like i was reading what Carvil meant instead of just reading what he wrote. And I have to thank Twain and AmStud for my sharpened satire senses. Now with my super satire senses, I can read beneath the seemingly innocent words and into the sarcasm and mockery which lies beneath.