Crackhouse Marketplace

In formal economics studies, the black market is often cited as the best real-life example of an unfettered marketplace. The black market is viewed as the closest modern man can come to the equivalent of free capitalism as directed only by Adam Smith’s “Invisible Hand.”

One of the most understandable modern day black markets used by economists as an example of a free market is any drug marketplace.

Given the periodic examples set since the beginning of American History by our financial marketplaces, our business tycoons, our celebrity CEO’s from Vanderbilt to Kenny Boy Lay, it would seem that our financial marketplaces and executive suites have many of the same qualities and morality as a crackhouse.

You know, I haven't seen anything from PETA about protecting the Northern Snakehead fish. It seems to me they should be picketing the pond to protect those particular fish, as well as issuing ridiculous press releases. I can harldy wait to see which male star they get to pose naked for the billboard in NYC.

How come some gansta' rapper hasn't named himself/herself Felonious Monk?

I’m "goin’ yard" today sports fans, as they say on Sports Center all too often. That’s right I'm gonna mow the lawn. I'm calling my shot and it's gonna be a "round tripper."...

After going yard, for about 5 minutes, some local (as opposed to someone who is not from here; whether I'm allowed to call myself a local, after my family has resided here for 40 years is another story) in an old Toyota pickup truck with a cap on the back stopped and waved me over.

I stopped the mower to listen and he said, "you better keep your eye peeled, there's a big 'ol black bear heading your way along the Run."

Now I may need to explain: Run is a local expression for what other localities know as a creek, or a crick. The run in my yard is called Muddy Run. A locution which either says something about the dry wit of our local founding fathers, or says something about their lack of imagination. I’m not sure which. It is a small and not unpretty ribbon of waterway.

I like to think, “Only in Huntingdon” would a lovely little stream be named Muddy Run, and the name be kept for 250 years without a referendum to change the moniker in order to enhance property values.

This set me off on a train of thought concerning the use of the term “Only in Huntingdon.” I use it in the sense that the newspaper and media columnists (I first heard it used by Herb Caen in San Francisco in the 70’s): the chroniclers of what-is- going-on in most newspapers in metropolitan areas, as well as in small towns, use the term.

They use it of course, to indicate the special nature of their town, to create a bond among their readers in the warm feeling that there is something unique about the place in which they have chosen (or through circumstance been forced) to live. This helps sell papers and keeps the columnists employed and off the streets. I feel sure that each columnist who uses the term uses it in the secure knowledge that they are the first to have thought of it, and in the certainty that each time they use it, the incident therein described could only have happened in their unique and superior corner of the world.

I have noticed that if one is a member of the community being described, reading this locution does in fact engender the warm feelings described. However, if one is an outsider, at least in my case, reading these items about other localities tends to make me want to gag and question the intelligence of the parochial nitwit who dares to describe anything in this way. But I digress.


Now, I don't hunt, which puts me in the minority hereabouts, but like most people in our town, I do own a gun. I grabbed my old Daisy 22 Winchester Model BB gun, hopped on my discount store brand mountain bike, slapped on my cycling helmet ( one of those Styrofoam things), and began circling the area roads looking for the bear. There I was…Natty Bupkus, The Bear Stalker.

I began wondering...Are there laws about stalking bears? Are there legal injunctions bears can get against people like me to keep me from coming within 100 yards? Is this the logical next avenue of litigation for PETA? Was the cycling helmet a case of fashion overkill?

However, before 20 minutes had passed the local in the truck stopped just long enough to tell me the bear had headed in the other direction. “We’re trackin’ him,” he yelled back to me as he floored the pickup and sped off in hot pursuit.

I returned to goin' yard. After about twenty laps around the yard, using my distinctive home run trot (a slow pace designed to infuriate the pitcher) I remembered to remove my helmet. I don’t know, could have been some atavistic response to the years spent in little league in the 60’s, wearing those enormous blue helmets that always threatened to slip down over the eyes of the smaller players, half blinding them and doubling the danger of getting hit. But for those twenty laps it must have felt right, so I didn’t notice it perched up there.

I did explain, however, some of the funny looks I was getting from people passing by in cars. Geez, I hope I’m not getting a reputation for being eccentric.

I went running (well, really I just jog, but running sounds so much more impressive at my age) this morning. I noticed several male retirees around town wearing suspenders. To my surprise, when I got home my DAD was wearing a pair too.

I jokingly asked Dad if the suspenders were some kind of gang colors for AARP gangbangers. He typically has a ready and sharp sense of humor, but this time he looked at me funny and went out the door without answering me.

There used to be a commercial for something, where these AARP types deliberately picked an altercation with some obvious young “toughs.” I began to wonder where this is going? After all, I live in an area of the country known as a haven for white supremacy, militias, and the Klan. The alarms are quietly sounding in the back of my mind. These guys are smart, have lots of discretionary income, and they have plenty of time on their hands. Sounds sort of like a description of American teens. Sounds sort of like a description of most gangs.

Frankly, I’m a little bit worried.

I don't want to seem callous toward Afghanian celebratory traditions, but shooting off machine guns indiscriminately, in the middle of a war zone, with planes flying overhead, would seem to be a recipe for disaster.

Sports
Being a Pittsburg Pirate ex-fan, I'm looking forward to the second comoing of Mario Mendoza. I understand he's indicated interest in returning to the game. This time he's rested, tanned, and ready to enhance his performance with steroids. The infamouse "Mendoza Line" for batting average will soon be re-established at about 300.

Technology
In a recent article in the Washington Post about the ongoing battle over digital copying and copyrights in the entertainment industry, Jack Valenti, spokesperson for the Motion Picture Industry, is quoted as saying he is “afraid for the future.”

Jack Valenti isn’t afraid for the future, he is afraid OF the future. He is afraid that technology may erode the lifestyles of himself and the other privileged lottery winners at the top of the entertainment/celebrity industry. He is afraid he may no longer be able to live so high off the hog.

So in response to the digital threat to the hegemony of entertainment allowed by the control of the twin technologies of copying and distribution, Mr. Valenti raises his snout from the lobbyists’ trough and continues to oink out more pronouncements about the danger to the entertainment/celebrity industry. This is an industry that is remarkable for its resemblance to the mob and Wall Street in its callous lack of regard for the consumer.

Wouldn’t it me remarkable if entertainers actually had to entertain, instead of sitting back once they hit the jackpot and becoming part of the celebrity culture of the undeserving rich. This definitely includes you, Lars Ulrich.

Other businesses and industries have been forced by the vagaries of the marketplace to remake themselves in the face of changing technologies. Possibly the entertainment industry does not have the creativity and imagination to do so? This may be the case if we may judge based on the product the music and motion picture industry are forcing (yes that is the word) on us.

Wouldn’t it be remarkable if the true conservatives in Washington allowed Adam Smith’s “invisible hand,” of which they are inordinately fond when it suits their purposes, do its thing in case of digital technology.

When Gutenberg invented his printing press, the monks who had “owned the technology” for making copies of books were out of the copying business. They turned to making wine, or whatever else it is that monks do. Going further back, to more tribal times, the keeper of the fire had to maintain the flame, even to the extent of carrying hot coals around as the group moved from place to place. However, once a convenient method of starting new fires (new technology) came along, the fire keeper had to adapt or lose the job someone else willing to work with the new technology.

Actors, musicians, and other entertainers used to have to perform for their supper.
Then along came a new technology, the technology of copying and distributing copies of the entertainment. This made some people incredibly rich.

It is understandable that these people will fight tooth and claw to protect their riches, but it is ludicrous for these people to assume that they have some sort of God (or State) given right to use these technologies to maintain that position forever. Even the copyright laws they purport to be defending have limitations on the number of years they are applicable for a given piece of work.

What Mr. Valenti represents, or more precisely, who he represents, are those who want to remain keepers of the flame even thought the fire has gone out, and we have moved on to new and better means of distribution of technology.

It seems to me that the answer is clear. Remember that these are people who willingly espouse belief in the “invisible hand” of ‘Adam Smith’s free markets. At least they do when it suits their needs. If they truly believe in the capitalist system, these people must let the marketplace and it’s invisible hand guide the adoption or rejection of new technologies.

It is perfectly acceptable within the capitalist system if the same people who control the various parts of the entertainment industry are able to adapt and make money from successful use of new technologies. It is not acceptable for these same people to fight a rearguard action, limiting the development of new technology until they can figure out how to retain their privileged positions as keepers of the flame. They are, in effect, attempting to hold the world hostage until they can figure out how to maintain their golden existence.

You’ll notice that I have avoided attempting to provide any answers to the dilemma of protecting the rights of those who actually write the songs, the books, those who actually create the entertainment. That is because I have no answers. These people need to be able to make a living from their work.

I only know that mass copying and mass distribution and sales represent relatively new technologies in the history of mankind. I know that technologies change and become obsolete. I know that this could possibly mean that the lucky lottery winners who controlled this most recent confluence of technologies may need to get new lives, just like those who used to make clothing and shoes in the United States have had to retrain for new careers. Possibly Mr. Valenti and friends will be eligible for some kind of JTPA government retraining program.

Until then, better get those snouts back down in the trough and scarf up as much as you can while it lasts.