« Previous | Ain't too proud to blog | mail it | Next »


Posted: 02.28.2003
Greed, for lack of a better word, is good?
Good for these schoolgirls who wrote actress Catherine Zeta-Jones, asking her to put her money where her big mouth is and donate to their charity drive! Zeta-Jones recently testified before a London court and boasted that $1.5 million [paid for their wedding photo rights] was peanuts to her and hubby Michael Douglas. "It is a lot of money maybe to a lot of people in this room, but it's not that much for us." Douglas, supporting his wife's statement, called the amount a "pittance"...

From UPI: But the Douglases [Michael and Catherine] are people who occasionally do go to work, on movie sets, where they're likely to notice some minimum-wage production assistants bringing them coffee. They presumably have a state-of-the-art entertainment center that does receive CNN. I presume they've occasionally been sent a script that has actual working-class people in it. In other words, they must know, at some level, that "some people in this room" who think $1.6 million is more than a pittance represent approximately 99.9 percent of the people in the world.

To put that $1.6 million in perspective: If you placed that money in the lowliest passbook savings account, the kind the Douglases will never have because it's for people who only have $500 to start with, and you get the lowest interest rate paid anywhere in the world -- currently around 1.8 percent -- you earn $28,800 a year, enough for some families to survive on.

The idea that 1.8 percent of what they call a pittance is a living wage somewhere, and that they don't realize it, is a testament to just how divided by class we've become.
(More also found at "The Daily Dish".)
I'm certainly not putting my money on her winning an Oscar now after reading this, and all of the above! Sounds like The Douglases are in very real danger of becoming The Gekkos.



Hey boy take a look at me...let me dirty up your mind...



These are the same people who like to bash "the rich" at their gala political fundraisers.

But if you really want staggering numbers, think about Bill Gates' wealth: estimated this week at only $42 Billion (he lost over 20% last year-yikes). Without a calculator, I'm guessing that 1.8% of that would come out to about $750 Million in interest. Of course, he could put it in government bonds and probably get around 5% with no risk.

¤ ¤ credit: dave | 02.28.03 at 10:11 AM | link--this ¤ ¤

They can send that "pittance" my way. I hope they lose the lawsuit for being arrogant assholes.

¤ ¤ credit: Mandy | 02.28.03 at 02:32 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

well didn't gates donate a billion to charity last year?

damn. too bad about CZJ tho. i used to like her. what a snob.

¤ ¤ credit: mikey | 03.01.03 at 02:12 AM | link--this ¤ ¤

Yes, Mikey, Gates donates about a billion to charity annually. That's a lot of money, but it's also a huge tax write off for him. And percentage-wise, it's no more than my wife and I give every year. I didnt mention him to portray him in a negative light- I admire the guy, personally. I was just using him for a numerical example.

¤ ¤ credit: Dave | 03.01.03 at 06:51 PM | link--this ¤ ¤




URLs that have pinged me for this entry:



All old ping links have been removed from this blog. Die spammers, die!




Hey pretty, don't you wanna take a ride with me through my world?


Psssssst...pass it on!
email this entry to:


your email address:


additional message (optional):