Selfishness

Does a level of one's selfishness, their ego or narcisim determine their political platform? Could it be that our self love determine whether we support the neo-classical economic approach to politics?

If you're one of those individuals who is willing to make sacrfiices for the greater good of your community, then you probably would oppose the very basic capitalistic structure of our free market economy.

Sledding Hill

Chicago is flat as a pankcake which makes the winter season so miserable. No places to go skiing, sledding, or engage in any other outdoor sporting activity. So in the lovely town of Oak Park, just outside the city limits, the local government is contemplating to bull doze one of the very few sledding hills in the area. Importantly to mention here, Oak Park is the very same town where "hugging" was banned in the local public school. The mentality of the decision makers in this community is questionable when it comes to using logic and reason to reach conclusions. Basically listen here parents: Don't let your children hug their friends and keep them indoors!!! They are much better off on FB or YouTube! 

In interviewing prominent individuals it is often asked what inspired them to do what they did or become who they became. It's almost ridiculous to ask such a question as those who read such interviews, are already inspired. Perhaps a better question should be: "What do you do to stop yourself from being carried away?"
The question of inspiration is better left for those who are uninspired.

I work with people who have been in their same positions for over 10 years and don't aspire to do anything else or move beyond their designated roles. They ride the train into the city, sit in their cube for 8 hours and stare at the screen. They take direction from those who ironically make no effort to make the workplace a better environment. They eat bland lunch their spouse packed them or they made themselves the night before and sit in the fluorescent cafeteria hoping to catch a conversation about which sports team is better than the other. They fail to recognize such conversations are irrelevant because who are they to judge? They ride the train back home, catch the evening news or the latest mini series and then go to bed just to get up in the morning and do it all over again. Their lives become empty and mundane. Yet, they don’t do ANYTHING to improve this.
Why is that?

Buffett

I sometimes wonder whether the French would pronounce Warren's name "Buffet".

Greed

A recent topic in the media transpired relating to CEO compensation. There is all this talk about whether they deserve it or don’t deserve it. From one side, they are risk takers and they give people an incentive to aspire to their cushy positions. On the other side, and also the preference from the media perspective, the movement is toward equal distribution of wealth where the greedy C level executives don’t walk away with profits that are thousand times greater than the workers who more often than not work harder than their superiors.
I personally don’t think it really matters whether they deserve it or not. However they got to it, they worked hard for it and that’s all that matters. Does it seem fair that Hollywood celebrities make millions for movies that (other than dull entertainment) don’t really supply economic value to the viewer? There are, after all, numerous people employed at the studios ranging from writers to sound technicians who don’t equally share in the profits generated from any successful film.
Is it fair that a select number of sports figures who, despite the plague of scandals, serve as role models for our children and make unbelievable amounts of money and likewise don’t improve the viewer’s lifestyle?
I’m confused as to why the C’s or I-bankers have become the media target, where technically they are vilified for just being good at what they do. Unlike Hollywood celebrities or sports figures, they directly contribute to individual’s wealth. They add jobs, provide health and retirement benefits and make sure corporations operate, grow and compete.
Perhaps it’s the economy that brought this focus on to them? As our politicians, conservatives and liberals alike, look to point a finger they should really focus their time on making policy improvements to diminish the deficit and promote domestic production. Perhaps instead of lobbying the media, they can lobby the CEO’s or the I-bankers to figure out how to better run our country?

The Hood

The last day of March was marked by a beautiful day in Chicago with temperatures above 75 degrees. Kids are on spring break so mom decided to take Pie for walk to the grocery store. Before leaving on their little excursion, my 10 year old grabbed a knife from the kitchen and assured my mom by saying “Don’t worry grandma, I know where to keep this so no one will be able to see it.” When I came back from work I couldn’t hear the end of it: “What is wrong with you? Scaring a child like that!!! Sure there are kidnappings, but you can’t live your life like that everyday!!!” On the inside I was quite pleased with Pie taking the extra precautions, but on the outside I cringed about the unpleasantness of the situation that escalated into an amicable argument. In my defense there was abduction in our town only a year or so ago. Also, one of Chicago’s worst ghettos is only a few blocks away with the fallout spilling in everyday. To substantiate my precautionary initiatives, I decided to play Mrs. Kravitz when I came home. Although, I didn’t find any of the usual hood looms wobbling over to Mickey D’s, I did spot my neighbor’s boyfriend washing his car with paper towels and a bottle of Windex. I realize that Windex hardly qualifies as a dangerous weapon, but it does goes to show what type of people live around us. There is serious doubt in my mind that any normal guys who live in the posh North Shore suburbs would ever pull as stunt like that.

The first Day

It's not really the first day. I deleted the previous blogs. The challenge this time? Name of the blog!!! Every word I came up with seemed to be taken. So "Schmears" will have to do. The nice part, is that this Blog is just for me this time. I realized that I don't like when some FB friends treat FB as Twitter. Honestly, I don't need to know what people do every stinkin' minute of the day. Same reason I don't like Twitter. I also feel that communicating via either one of them can get a person into trouble- especially those who are somewhat opinionated. Forget about criticizing someone at work and forget about complaining about friends or family members. That leaves very little to discuss on FB. This Blog is intended just for that. To constructively schmear everyone and everything whenever schmearing is necessary.