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News & ArtsThursday, February 2, 2012
Chow The American Animal
Posted by Charles Mudede on Thu, Feb 2, 2012 at 8:28 AM
During Super Bowl Sunday...
...Americans will be eating chicken wings—more than 1.25 billion of them over the weekend. That's four wings for every man, woman and child in the U.S., according to the National Chicken Council. Wings are three times more likely to be eaten on game day than any other time of year.An estimated 4.4 million pizzas will be ordered from Pizza Hut, Domino's Pizza and Papa John's on Sunday. Pizza Hut says 80% of its pizzas will likely have pepperoni, the most common topping no matter the time of year. Domino's Pizza will have 50 computer experts on hand to watch over the online ordering system.
The Super Bowl is also "the largest single event for carrots." And yet we still want more economic growth in this country. The problem is always slow economic growth. Obama will not be reelected if the economy is standing still. The stunning thing about America is that many of its citizens do not know it is the end of the road. The problem is not growth but the bizarre concentration of so much of its socially generated wealth in a few hands. Poverty is not even real in this country; poverty is fabricated and imposed. The real is actually Romney; the illusion is the person waiting at a food bank or sleeping on the street or being evicted from a home or being drowned by hospital bills. This society's greatest trick has been to make its wealth seem unreal. Poverty turns out to be the American dream.
1
"Obama will not be reelected if the economy is standing still."
Seriously? Take the blinders off.
Romney or Newt will be destroyed by Obama. Newt destroyed himself in the 90s and was even nice enough to destroy Romney already during the primaries.
The only person who had a chance against Obama on a political level was Huntsman, and then you'd have to take away his 0.01%-rich father, his Mormonism, and probably the fact he loves China so much.
Seriously? Take the blinders off.
Romney or Newt will be destroyed by Obama. Newt destroyed himself in the 90s and was even nice enough to destroy Romney already during the primaries.
The only person who had a chance against Obama on a political level was Huntsman, and then you'd have to take away his 0.01%-rich father, his Mormonism, and probably the fact he loves China so much.
2
An article about the staggering sum ordinary people have on hand to spend on celebratory snacks during a throwaway event prompts to you declare economic end times? Or maybe it's something else. Your essays often leave me wishing I'd stayed in school longer.
5
@2: I know the feeling. Charles does from time to time have profound observations. But more often than not, and like this post, he tries to put a bow on it with contorted juxtapositions that only he gets but leaves the rest of us scratching our heads.
6
@ 1, no, Americans will elect Romney if the economy still sucks and people don't have any faith in Obama. Get out to the unhip parts of the city, and the burbs, and the small towns, and the Midwest and the South. Talk to people there, or just eavesdrop on them. They'll tell you what's important to them and how they'll vote.
7
Considering you get paid for writing this and get acclaim for such things as documentaries on "horseplay", I really don't know why you complain so much about the state of this nation.
9
@6 no way people who want jobs are going to elect Mr Bain Capital -- the guy who probably laid off somebody they know.
What an amazing photo this is:
http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/ass…
What an amazing photo this is:
http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/ass…
10
"The Super Bowl is also 'the largest single event for carrots.' "
This research is underwritten by Big Ranch.
This research is underwritten by Big Ranch.
14
@13 ... ok... but allot of people seem obsessed with him. Its wierd but every time I read the comments after his articles I notice allot of the same faces going "Booo" and "His essays leave me wishing hadn't bothered to read them in the first place". It seem many place more interest in him as a person as to the thing he writes, which is a shame because hes a good writer who looks activelly for new angles on known topics.
15
@14, oh, come now. We like Charles. Really, we do. We just wish he'd be a little more coherent sometimes. Or maybe most of the time.
17
I remember way back in the 90s when chicken wings were a novelty item sold at bars that ususally had the words 'buffalo wings' in their name. They've really come a long way in the last 15 years if people will be eating 1.25 billion of them in a single weekend. Americans are gross.
18
"The stunning thing about America is that many of its citizens do not know it is the end of the road. The problem is not growth but the bizarre concentration of so much of its socially generated wealth in a few hands."
This is the crux of the argument. We've grown too much and we've all been shepherded into this idea that we need more. Just wait to see what happens when we run out of oil. There won't be a bailout for that. We're out of band-aids. The top 5 corporations in any line of industry (finance, banking, food production, security, etc) are not just consolidating the wealth, they are consolidating the power in our government as well. The middle class needs better lobbyists.
This is the crux of the argument. We've grown too much and we've all been shepherded into this idea that we need more. Just wait to see what happens when we run out of oil. There won't be a bailout for that. We're out of band-aids. The top 5 corporations in any line of industry (finance, banking, food production, security, etc) are not just consolidating the wealth, they are consolidating the power in our government as well. The middle class needs better lobbyists.
19
@1
Agree with Charles and @6 on this one. Obama is vulnerable. But, it is still too early to tell how. America is pretty fickle when it comes to economic circumstances & voting. Americans that vote tend to vote their "pocketbooks" shallow as that may seem. I believe that is what delivered Obama in 08'.
BTW, from my understanding Super Bowl Sunday right after the game is the biggest transaction of currency in the US. It's because of all the betting. ATMs will be pretty busy.
Agree with Charles and @6 on this one. Obama is vulnerable. But, it is still too early to tell how. America is pretty fickle when it comes to economic circumstances & voting. Americans that vote tend to vote their "pocketbooks" shallow as that may seem. I believe that is what delivered Obama in 08'.
BTW, from my understanding Super Bowl Sunday right after the game is the biggest transaction of currency in the US. It's because of all the betting. ATMs will be pretty busy.
20
"The problem is always slow economic growth."
Halloooo... It's actually unemployment. When it's easy to get a job the concentration of wealth slows down. Growth in the GDP means low unemployment and vice versa. And when more people are working instead of collecting unemployment comp, it's easier to fund government. (And that's also when you cut government spending, not when unemployment is high.)
So go fix yourself some chicken wings and watch some football. (Hint: big bowl, dry wings, spices, egg. combine using your hands. it's kind of slurpy fun. Then shake in a back of flour. then give them a half hour to an hour on a rack in the fridge. If they're goopy, dredge again. Fry in an electric skillet at 350 without crowding until they're perfectly browned, drain on a bed of sliced bread in the oven. Twice as much as you think you can eat is just barely enough.)
Screw the carrots. If you need veggies, make popcorn.
Don't worry, Mitt "Eddie Haskel" Romney ain't got a chance.
Giants by 3.
Any questions?
Halloooo... It's actually unemployment. When it's easy to get a job the concentration of wealth slows down. Growth in the GDP means low unemployment and vice versa. And when more people are working instead of collecting unemployment comp, it's easier to fund government. (And that's also when you cut government spending, not when unemployment is high.)
So go fix yourself some chicken wings and watch some football. (Hint: big bowl, dry wings, spices, egg. combine using your hands. it's kind of slurpy fun. Then shake in a back of flour. then give them a half hour to an hour on a rack in the fridge. If they're goopy, dredge again. Fry in an electric skillet at 350 without crowding until they're perfectly browned, drain on a bed of sliced bread in the oven. Twice as much as you think you can eat is just barely enough.)
Screw the carrots. If you need veggies, make popcorn.
Don't worry, Mitt "Eddie Haskel" Romney ain't got a chance.
Giants by 3.
Any questions?
24
Simply put, if one person is making more money than is reasonable, then someone else is making less than he needs. It is selfish to draw too much in income; this practice should be vilified, rather than celebrated the way it is in the West.
If it were up to me, it would be illegal to draw income beyond some well-determined upper limit. And, if it were up to me, we wouldn't have any millionaires.
If it were up to me, it would be illegal to draw income beyond some well-determined upper limit. And, if it were up to me, we wouldn't have any millionaires.
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