I’m coming to the conclusion today that many of the screwups of the
world today is because there are dozens of deliberate disconnects
between what we think something costs versus what it actually costs.
This is prompted by:
* discussions with the Missus on the Sunday morning talk shows about
taxes (including her followup to Grover Norquist’s famous comment about
wanting a government small enough that it can be drowned in the
bathtub: “And what happens when somebody else decides to drown it?” I’d
always looked at it from the inside, and had never considered that such
a drowning could come from an external enemy as well…)
* Marv Wolfman’s comment on Hollywood and the garbage coming out: And
maybe, to help the cost of movies, start keeping honest accounting
practices so most of the star’s salaries can be back-ended based on
profits instead of being upfront. Twenty million dollars upfront means
if nothing good has been offered an A-list actor in a given year, they
might be less choosey about what they pick. But if most of their salary
is based on dollar one gate, then perhaps they will begin to choose
decent movies. And if the money is back-ended, movies simply won’t cost
nearly as much as they do. He’s right– the system is so FUBAR that
the only hope that stars have of getting their fair share is to hold
them up in advance. And why? Because the accounting is horrible.
This is not unique to movies, of course. Music and publishing are often
as bad, if not worse. But it also shows up in hundreds of industries–
software creation, mutual funds, what have you. (Add your own examples
in comments, please.)
* Multi-level marketing. Oy. A little math could go such a long way…
* Bush, the budget, and the huge deficit. See http://www.calpundit.com
for more.
* The difference between what a company reports as profits to
shareholders and what it reports to the IRS.
* FREE!* with three year contract on all children born during that
time.
And on and on and on…
There are so many cases of “the large print giveth and the small print
taketh away” that it really begins to grate. I’m still percolating on
this idea, so this is one big placeholder as a reminder for me to get
back to it later…