{"id":954,"date":"2010-06-03T04:34:00","date_gmt":"2010-06-03T04:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beltdrivebetty.com\/wyzwmnsworld\/?p=954"},"modified":"2010-09-29T18:24:37","modified_gmt":"2010-09-30T01:24:37","slug":"its-all-about-the-benjamins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wyzwmn9444.live-website.com\/?p=954","title":{"rendered":"it’s all about the benjamins…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
<\/p>\n

you know those commercials you see<\/span>
for gamblers anonymous?<\/span><\/p>\n

think of how we all feel <\/span>
such a tug at our heart strings<\/span>
when we hear stories <\/span>
about people <\/span>
who are addicted to <\/span>
“the thrill” of the win<\/span>
so much so<\/span>
that they <\/span>
leave their kids <\/span>
in the car<\/span>
for hours on end?<\/span>
or they spend <\/span>
their whole pay check<\/span>
on gambling<\/span><\/p>\n

now think of how business in general<\/span>
manipulates us<\/span><\/p>\n

now think of business <\/span>
as it relates to<\/span>
having made a practice<\/span>
of planned obsolescence.<\/span><\/p>\n

lets start with the example<\/span>
of cable tv<\/span><\/p>\n

say you can only afford<\/span>
basic cable<\/span>
and you subscribe to same<\/span>
you are subject to the whims<\/span>
of the corporation<\/span>
over time<\/span>
they change the channels<\/span>
and what used to be <\/span>
a fun evening at home<\/span>
is now populated <\/span>
by re-runs of shows <\/span>
you watched 10 yrs ago<\/span>
movies on the local channels<\/span>
that are more than 20 years old<\/span>
cos the cable co<\/span>
has moved the good stuff<\/span>
the new and hip stuff<\/span>
to HD or Digital<\/span><\/p>\n

that’s fair from the standpoint <\/span>
of the corporation…<\/span>
because they can entice you
to <\/span>greater expenditure<\/span>
should you want to watch<\/span>
any kind of tv<\/span>
that requires <\/span>
more than one <\/span>
active brain cell.<\/span><\/p>\n

so when you leave home<\/span>
as a young adult<\/span>
you start out with a small tv
in your first apartment
<\/span>all to soon<\/span>
it’s not big enough<\/span>
so you upgrade to a larger one<\/span>
then you upgrade to an even larger one<\/span>
then a flat screen<\/span>
then digital<\/span>
after all<\/span>
you have to have digital tv<\/span>
if you want to properly see<\/span>
the digital cable channels you now<\/span>
pay for monthly
and you end up having to move home
cos you can’t cover your debts
<\/span>
but…what happens to the old ones?<\/span><\/p>\n

now think of movies<\/span>
first it was theater only<\/span>
then beta<\/span>
then VHS<\/span>
then dvd<\/span>
then blue-ray<\/span><\/p>\n

what happens to the old ones?<\/span><\/p>\n

now think of<\/span>
AM\/FM radio<\/span>
then the turntable<\/span>
soon your vinyl albums<\/span>
are passe<\/span>
so you upgrade to cassette<\/span>
then to DVD<\/span>
then to MP3<\/span><\/p>\n

now think of pictures<\/span>
first it was 110<\/span>
then Polaroid<\/span>
then 35mm<\/span>
then digital<\/span>
then 2MP’s<\/span>
3MP’s, 5MP’s, 10, 12, 18MPs<\/span>
then zoom, then SLR<\/span><\/p>\n

what happens to the old ones?<\/span><\/p>\n

now think communication devices<\/span>
household phones with a dial<\/span>
household phones with a keypad<\/span>
household phones with caller ID<\/span>
cell phone in a bag<\/span>
big blocky heavy cell phones <\/span>
flip phones<\/span>
slim phones<\/span>
phones with camera’s<\/span>
phones you can get online with<\/span>
smart phones<\/span><\/p>\n

what happens to the old ones?<\/span><\/p>\n

and then the almighty computer<\/span><\/p>\n

starting with the abacus<\/span>
the astrolabe<\/span>
the slide rule<\/span>
teleprinters<\/span>
keypunch machines<\/span>
then typewriters<\/span>
and calculators<\/span>
moving on to word processors<\/span>
and pocket calculators<\/span>
to programmable devices<\/span>
and on to the current <\/span>
version of windows or mac<\/span><\/p>\n

each type of sound or picture or tool<\/span>
requires a new device<\/span><\/p>\n

what happens to the old ones?<\/span><\/p>\n

back to tv<\/span>
think of the caliber of tv we watch regularly<\/span>
what happened in society <\/span>
to allow us <\/span>
to be dictated to <\/span>
by business in general?<\/span><\/p>\n

big business decides that <\/span>
reality tv <\/span>
is better than tv that tells stories<\/span>
big business decides that <\/span>
informative, useful, intelligent<\/span>
shows come off the air<\/span>
in lieu of re-runs and pap<\/span><\/p>\n

big business comes up with <\/span>
quick foods that make us fat<\/span>
tv has reality shows <\/span>
to embarrass us into losing weight<\/span><\/p>\n

big business comes up with<\/span>
concepts for good tv<\/span>
but you can only watch them<\/span>
if you pay more money<\/span>
and subscribe to a dish<\/span>
or a better cable package<\/span><\/p>\n

big business <\/span>
designs all the tools<\/span>
to watch better tv<\/span>
to listen to better music<\/span>
to see better pictures<\/span><\/p>\n

now think of houses<\/span>
in the 40’s a family home <\/span>
consisted of approx 938 sq ft<\/span>
had no tv<\/span>
had no garage<\/span>
had no car<\/span>
had little or no lawn<\/span><\/p>\n

now the average home<\/span>
consists of 3429 sq feet (2004 consensus)<\/span>
has a tv\/phone\/stereo\/computer<\/span>
in every room<\/span>
has several bathrooms<\/span>
and a couple of acres to mow<\/span><\/p>\n

there is no original thought <\/span>
big business has made it all about the benjamins<\/span>
and they’ve made it a culture <\/span>
of walking poor<\/span>
of people that don’t have all of the above<\/span>
feeling like losers <\/span>
and less than<\/span>
cos they can’t compete<\/span><\/p>\n

so big business is creating a culture<\/span>
of people <\/span>
that like the gamblers<\/span>
I spoke of earlier<\/span>
are addicted<\/span>
to their crack of choice…<\/span>
to “keeping up with the Jone’s”<\/span>
to not feeling less than<\/span>
cos they are have not’s…<\/span><\/p>\n

big business has made a practice
of tugging at our heart strings
to make us involve our wallets
or in most cases
our credit cards
and debt load…<\/p>\n

big business is destroying the planet<\/span>
and the people that live on it <\/span>
have become sheep<\/p>\n

now….don’t get me started
on the subject
of the royal screwing
that the farmer is getting
by big business.
<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

you know those commercials you seefor gamblers anonymous? think of how we all feel such a tug at our heart stringswhen we hear stories about people who are addicted to “the thrill” of the winso much sothat they leave their … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wyzwmn9444.live-website.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wyzwmn9444.live-website.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wyzwmn9444.live-website.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wyzwmn9444.live-website.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wyzwmn9444.live-website.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=954"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wyzwmn9444.live-website.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3996,"href":"https:\/\/wyzwmn9444.live-website.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954\/revisions\/3996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wyzwmn9444.live-website.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wyzwmn9444.live-website.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wyzwmn9444.live-website.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}