Portraits of Privilege

Bank of America!  The new monopolies!  Credit card fraud perpetuated by credit card companies!  Shameless abuse of the tax system!  As if any of those four stories weren’t incentive enough to want to join the apparently consequence-free ranks of the one percent (or corporate personhood – science fiction authors have long written of transference of consciousness from man to machine, but how about from person to corporate person?  Seems like a much more lucrative bet on eternity…), try this one on for size: CEOs of major companies apparently spend an average of twenty working hours per week (out of an average of fifty-five working hours) on tasks like “lunch with spouse,” “going to the gym,” and other “miscellaneous” things.  (Note that I said they spent twenty working hours on these activities.  Because in the corner office, hitting the gym and adding value to the international economy are interchangeable.  WHAT?!)

And after you’ve clicked on that link, go ahead and read this article describing the working conditions of minimum-wage, benefit-free warehouse employees, for whom a too-long bathroom break can lead to termination (in America, folks).  Just don’t expect Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to answer your outraged email about the high cost of free shipping – statistically speaking, he’s probably on a treadmill somewhere!