Hollywood: The good One Percent

An actual restaurant receipt + "tip" left by a literal One-Percenter/banker/asshole

Since Rush Limbaugh started taunting President Obama with the moniker "Barack Hussein Kardashian" I had an epiphany.  True, Limbaugh's criticism is nothing new; he said the same thing about Clinton.  Conservatives have always seethed with jealousy over Democrats' close relationship with Hollywood and the entertainment business... and high culture, and pretty much anybody doing creative work.  And the majority of pro athletes.  (Gee, come to think of it, almost all these beautiful, interesting, smart and creative people are unabashedly liberal for some odd, unknowable reason....)

I admit, I find some of the Hollywood activists like Barbra Streisand, Jane Fonda, Tim Robbbins and Sean Penn annoying, sanctimonious know-it-all's at times.  In fact I get downright furious when they steal the show at protests organized by normal groups of liberals and give the MSM an excuse to label it a "Hollywood" event, thereby dismissing it.

Nevertheless, I have realized something important: Hollywood actors are the One Percent.  Less than that, actually.  They are the hyper-competitive free market on glorious display.  They call it show business for a reason.  These people are filthy rich because we fork over our hard-earned money to see their shows, year in, year out.  Nobody has given them anything.  And Hollywood has never, ever asked taxpayers for $14 trillion in bailouts.

And so, to the extent they are the One Percent, they are the good kind of filthy rich privileged assholes, if there is such a thing.  Indeed, most of them come from humble backgrounds.  Most know what it's like to be desperate and unemployed in their chosen profession, and struggle to pay the bills for years before making it big.  The Screen Actors Guild claims 120,000 members.  Yet how many of them do you see on the Big Screen, making $ millions?  The few dozens of people we associate with Hollywood are more like the One-Tenth of One Percent, in terms of true success.  And even those big stars who try to push their children into the business (as many sadly do) more often than not fail because -- guess what? -- nobody wants to pay to see their ugly, untalented, uninteresting kids on the stage or screen just because of who their mommy or daddy is.  In fact, it's amazing how few hereditary dynasties there are in the entertainment industry, compared to other sectors of the economy.  Talk about a level playing field!

Perhaps because of all that, many stars seem to have a sense of noblesse oblige, if you will, that is lacking among other private-sector elites, who think they are entitled to their easy wealth and may avoid giving any of it back.  ("Hey, my daddy spent $200 K on my Harvard MBA, I deserve my millions!")  To be sure, there always seem to be cameras around when big stars are donating money, but so what?  If Jamie Dimon or Lloyd Blankfein want to build schools in Africa or save Darfur, let them bring their sycophants from CNBC along, no problemo from my side.

Indeed, let's compare the Hollywood One Percent to the Wall Street One Percent.  Both get their money for nothing.  And yet what value do most of these big bankers add to the economy, weighed against the destruction they have waged on the world economy?  Hollywood only destroys the world in make-believe; Wall Street did it for real... and threatens to do it again with their now even Too Bigger to Fail Banks.  Wall Street assholes tell the unemployed to get a job at McDonald's, and take perverse pride in their system of wealth apartheid; whereas Hollywood stars, no matter how rich and famous, are required by their profession to credibly live out the emotional lives of average people.  That's partly why we love them, isn't it?  They don't just tell us they identify with us, they show us.  

By comparison, big bankers don't even try to act like they care.  An air of dismissive arrogance toward average plebes -- even to those lower down in their own companies! (google "Wall Street private elevator arrogant culture") -- is part of the required wardrobe, just like their Hermes ties.

Meanwhile, Wall Street assholes spend their free air time on CNBC, FOXBusiness and at Davos-type events complaining how President Obama doesn't love them enough.  It's not about raising their taxes or regulating them -- Obama doesn't dare do either.  They don't like him because he doesn't bow low enough... even after they destroyed the world financial system.  Being filthy rich, arrogant and powerful isn't enough for them -- they need the President's personal demonstration of respect to feel complete.  What babies!   Even Hollywood elites aren't that emotionally needy!  I mean, if entertainers want Obama's attention, they offer to raise a few million bucks for him, just like anybody in our pay-to-play political system.  

So the next time some conservative or Republican starts criticizing Democrats and Hollywood, you just remind them that Hollywood is the epitome of American free enterprise and free competition; and that they have the constitutional right (thanks, Dubya's SCOTUS!) to give their $ millions to any damn politician they please.  Even better, big stars don't expect anything in return for their donations -- unlike some bailed-out assholes we know all too well -- besides some face time and photo-ops.  If only all filthy rich political donors were so undemanding!  Then we might be able to reform health care, the banking system, you name it, and take our country back from the bad One Percent.