I said earlier I shy away from controversial things but something I read the other day blew that out the window.
Here’s my rant about some things I consider obscenities.
When one hears the word obscenities one typically thinks of swear words. For the most part so do I. But, in my opinion, there are other types of obscenities.
A perfect example of this is the current auction price of a mint condition Mickey Mantle baseball card. At this writing an article I read put the price at $6 million dollars. That’s right … six million dollars. Seriously? And the article is predicting the price could go as high as 10 million dollars. Where does that value come from? A piece of cardboard. Yes, a great baseball player. But really?
There are so many other things that money could be used for. There are starving and homeless people that even a small portion of those dollars could help. But no, someone will pay millions for that. Obscene.
And speaking of obscene. Hospitality businesses that charge ridiculously high prices for items on their menu and don’t pay their staff a living wage. As a consumer are you aware that there are still a lot of restaurants paying their staff a touch over minimum wage. Where I live minimum wage is $15.25 per hour. And some of these businesses are paying their line cooks $16 - $18 per hour. C’mon. No wonder they’re short staffed and I bet some of these owners can’t figure out why they can’t find staff.
And how about the cashier at your local grocery and/or retail store. Most make minimum or barely above minimum wage. How do I know this? I talk to them about rising prices and ask how their employer is treating them. You’d be surprised how frank people are.
And another obscenity. Entertainers (actors, comedians, musicians), and professional sports people. In some cases these people are making obscene amounts of money while our armed forces, police, firefighters, nurses, some medical professionals are making a pittance compared to say basketball great Kevin Durant, whom I recently read is in a 3 year contract for 150 million dollars.
And don’t even get me started on oil companies and the price of gas.
Holy hell, what is wrong with our society?
Until the next time.
So very true!!! Just recently had a conversation with my Mom, (91), where she said she feels that the world is 'going to hell in a hand basket'! Technology is being forced on the consumer. For many of us who didn't grow up or work with all the techie devices, progressing along with new developments as they were introduced, we get overwhelmed. We can live with out, but that means we miss out on bonuses/points/bargains etc. For anyone living paycheque to paycheque, or on a fixed income, many can't afford all the 'gadgets', 'apps'. Wifi' et al., which restricts access to anything from a free coffee to basic communication.
The distance between the haves and have nots is ever expanding. As you stated, pro athletes, big name entertainers--actors or musicians--are paid obscene amounts of money. Big oil, developers and pharma demand huge prices for things we can't live without, all for ever increasing profits. for the companies and stockholders, while the 'social safety net' we all rely on is shrinking. As these large companies monopolize the markets pocketing record profits, they are able to minimize the taxes our governments need to maintain the services we all expect to be provided.
In my opinion the root problem of all these power/entertainment/financial obscenities are based in greed! If we buy into the philosophy of bigger is better, more is required, then as my mom said, we are heading to hell in a handbasket.