Blog Action Day!

“Shit, life is catching up to jail. Shit, if you live in an old project, a new jail ain’t that bad.”
Chris Rock, Bring The Pain

Wow. You know we live in a fucked up world when you don’t laugh at that quote. I mean, yeah, sure, at first, I laughed at the line. (It was part of the whole bit about the Tossed Salad Man, so that had a lot to do with it.) Then, as I thought about it, I realized Chris Rock was right. Is that the world we’re coming to? People would prefer to go to jail instead of living their lives, free of shackles, cells, and the occasional anal rape?

OK. So the economy isn’t doing so great. People are losing money left and right. But did you ever stop to think that the people who put their money in stock markets aren’t exactly poor when it’s all said and done? The guy that put a million dollars in the stock market probably has millions more to spare, right? (If he doesn’t, and he put all his money in the market, then he’s an idiot and deserves what came to him. Well, not really.)

Think about the poor, disease stricken human being- the guy with no money whatsoever for food, let alone proper health care. Is the plight of Harry Paulson and the people on Wall Street really that serious now? Paulson at least has health insurance and a roof over his head. Plus, he has the federal government to bail him out every time he fucks up. (Really, Congress? You gave 700 billion dollars to the guy who let the economy get into this mess in the first place, but didn’t challenge President Bush’s ruling when he vetoed the child insurance bill because it was unfair to smokers? Seriously? What. The. Fuck?)

I think the number one problem affecting our world today is not Al Qaeda, not global warming. It’s poverty. Rich people don’t kill each other. Poor people do. Why? They need food, and, in today’s world, you need money for food. Shit, you need money for everything. If Congress were smart, instead of giving 700 billion dollars to Paulson, they’d take that money and give it to the poor. Fuck tax cuts. You think a guy who has no income cares about tax cuts? That guy doesn’t even pay taxes since he’s either broke or doing some illegal business that he wouldn’t tell you about. (Drug dealers don’t pay taxes on the drugs they deal do they?)

Ending poverty would go a long way in ending many other problems. Crime would go down, the literacy rate would go up- even the economy would be better because people with money like to spend it. If no steps are taken to end this global crisis, then Chris Rock wouldn’t just be a comic telling a joke.

He’d be a prophet.