Pranksters
gave unsuspecting New Yorkers a vicious shock today when they
distributed 1.2 million copies of a spoof edition of the New York Times.
The paper -- which was priced as FREE and dated Sarturday, July 4, 2009
-- did a good job capturing the Times' design, but you can take some
relief knowing it's all a big fake. Here are a few of the chilling
headlines that have to do with business:
As we said, a chilling distopian vision of where economic policy could be in a year if trends persist. Thank god it's all a big joke (online version is here)
Of course, the lead article is IRAQ WAR ENDS, so we're not quite sure how that fits with the goal of presenting such a scary future. That actually sounds like something positive.
We should note, unbelievably, that there are a few people out there who have a totally different take on the prank, and seem to think that the whole paper is hopeful and optimistic. Hard to believe anyone could see it that way, but it's true.
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And one of my hobbies is collecting zombie movies.
http://gawker.com/5084164/fake-new-york-times-declares-iraq-war-over-heres-who-did-it
As I said, ending the war is good. I'm all for that. But nationalizing the oil companies to pursue climate change mitigation?
Well, whatever you believe, it's a FAKE PAPER. No need to get too bent out of shape here.
agreed. all i am saying is some people may actually be inclined to think along these lines (of course the prank is over the top a little) and there is nothing scary or dystopian about it. "free market of competing ideas' is a good thing.
They are free to promote these ideas in the market of ideas, but that doesn't mean they aren't scary ideas.
Also, the article about the Maximum Wage law didn't say whether it applies to government officials, many of whom make more than the limit specified. I find this very ironic, as well as the notion of it being applied to the many entertainment and popular culture figures so beloved of the Left.
That whole Atlas Shrugged thing is looking less crazy by the minute. I'm kind of amazed that no mention was made of Diana Moon Glampers, too.
and @apprentice- i feel ya and totally agree
You must have a very limited imagination.
"We should note, unbelievably, that there are a few people out there who have a totally different take on the prank, and seem to think that the whole paper is hopeful and optimistic. Hard to believe anyone could see it that way, but it's true."
Let's see, humanizing corporations or a sane economy, or salary caps is a negative in your view? Wow! Do you know what dystopia means? (" society characterized by human misery, as squalor, oppression, disease, and overcrowding." - dictionary.com)
I'm not suggesting these are workable ideas but as with many Americans, dogma is more important than reality or the search for truth and I suspect the same is true of you.
The message is I believe hopeful though perhaps naive. Your note is ironic in a way because we look back on feudalism as a barbaric system of economic governance yet the powers of the day would have dismissed our current system, which is far more equitable, democratic and productive, as unworkable or perhaps dystopian.
I suspect that in 300 years, people will look back on our current economy as barbaric and very unfair.
You have a very closed mind.
By those with "cold and dark minds" I mean, of course, anyone who sees this future as "dystopian" in any way.
I see it as idealistic, in a sort of hey, this just might be possible kind of way.
To think that putting GWB in jail for treason is a bad idea, to think that fixing a crumbling infrastructure is a bad idea, to think that a national health care system can be nothing but bad, well, that's the kind of thinking that has led us to this abyss.
I, for one, have lived with Regan-inspired economics for far too long, and I'm willing to pay way more in taxes - and I pay a LOT now - if it means I never have to hear about how some rich fucker screwed millions out of their life savings ever again.
The USA is on the cusp of a major economic revolution and it's not going to be pretty for the plutocrats, the ultra-rich and the corporations that have raped this nation until it bleeds.
The faux NYT's idealized near-future offers the same dichotomy. It would create what middle class Americans might consider a utopia, but for the wealthy few, a true dystopia because it would force them to live the same lifestyle as everyone else. And while there are some wealthy folks like commenter Martin who'd be willing to accept that lifestyle, the vast majority of the wealthy would find any loophole to avoid it including leaving the U.S.
At any rate, if you believe this drivel is even slightly realistic, then I have a bridge to sell you. The fact of the matter remains that President-elect Obama will turn out to be another centrist president much like President Clinton was.
agreed- i'm not sure if obama could effectuate change if he truly wanted to- regardless, just listening to his rhetoric, he seems stuck trying to work within the existing paradigm as opposed to creating truly profound reform
That's scary at a micro-level. It shows a brutal, police state mentality and a blood-thirsty desire to punish. On a macro-level, it would simply reduce all stocks to zero and wipe out the economy.
Vive la Revolution!
If we were to train more doctors (and dentists), there would be a greater supply of them available, and thus driving down the prices they can demand for their services. It would break the current 'cartel' mentality that doctors and other medical staff seem to have (I have actually heard that exact word used by doctors and dentists to describe their profession). So, in that way, the article is an idealistic viewe wof how htings could work better if we changed the current system so it had more training spaces for doctors and thus produced a glut of them, rather than a shortage...
Were you born stupid, or are you a product of the Cuban educational system?
By your numbers one in four people in Cuba is a doctor. Even Marxism couldn't produce a supply/demand imbalance THAT big.
In truth, depending on how you count, Cuba does have more doctors per capita than the US, but since the US is not suffering from a doctor shortage (although perhaps a misallocation in specialties) that is totally irrelevant to, well, everything.
The article is idealistic, all right - it pretends that what it proposes would be anything other than an unmitigated disaster. Here I use "idealistic" in its modern sense of "deluded," of course.
Since Cuba's system is so inefficient, they actually need more doctors per capita than we do anyway - our doctors are better educated and have far more resources with which to diagnose and treat patients. Ancient Egypt had a lot more stonemasons than we did, too, but somehow they maxed out at one pyramid a generation and we build a building the size of a pyramid in a tenth of the time with a hundredth of the people. Go figure.
M
If you feel that the oil companies are raping you, stop putting everything in a plastic bottle, stop living in suburbs, and I'll let you go tell the thousands of people just as poor and unintelligent as you that their profitable stock in these companies is evi. Oh and go tell china and india to stop making so much stuff with oil and driving the demand and thus the profit of exxon up. Do you really think you HAVE to buy cheap wares at walmart that put your local businesses out of work for $20 more a week in your pocket?? Obviously you do. You're all socialist thugs. Go read some Adam smith or Friedman. And stop yelling about how you are sending your own jobs overseas with your ignorant electric car and ethanol utopia that is bound to fail just as miserably as every other experiment in socialism when compared to the efficiency you demand as an American.
Eighth grade economics people. Learn it.
Lastly, why can socialist not even spell correctly???