Occupy Wall Street & Taylor Swift

My tank seems to be on empty right now. Just nothing much to write about in a universe of possible topics. And I can’t think of anything worth my effort. I could tap into the Occupy Wall Street protests, but I can’t figure out exactly what they’re hoping to accomplish. I know one of the rallying cries has to do with the uneven distribution of wealth. I just pulled a statistic which, if true, is mind-blowing: The top 1 percent earn more income than the bottom 50 percent, and the richest 400 Americans own more wealth than the bottom 150 million Americans. Let’s see if I have the math right. One percent of 600 million citizens = 6 million, who earn more annually than 300 million. And 400 of those 6 million rich guys have more money than the bottom 150 million of our low-income, impoverished, destitute citizens. Something seems to be wackily out of wack. How can that imbalance be balanced, at least somewhat? Eliminate all tax loopholes the rich now use; increase the taxes on these wealthiest of people; eliminate the ridiculous lifelong salaries and pensions of our congresspeople. The republicans are so vehemently opposed to any tax increases on the wealthy that that fix won’t happen. But without raising taxes, we could at least eliminate all the snakeholes these wealthy people use through their snakehole lawyers. And as for our senators and congresspeople agreeing to give up their preposterous pensions, whoa, that isn’t likely to happen.

Ahh, I just thought of something happier than the state of our economy. In the past I’ve banged the drum for Taylor Swift, but now I have to do it again. She was on Ellen yesterday, her fifth or sixth time on the show, this time not singing but just for an interview with Ellen. When I say “bang the drum” I mean sing her praises. I predicted several months ago that she would one day be as big a star as Barbra, in singing, yes, but mainly as an actress. So, I’ll say it again. Watch out for this one. Compared to too many of the singing sensations of the day, like Nicki Minaj and Lady Gaga and Beyonce and that lackluster squad of rappers we see too often, she is so refreshingly honest and modest and unassuming about her success as a singer. And so poised for her age, only twenty-one, without a hint of ego. I hope I live long enough to witness the success she’s bound to have.