There was an interesting little piece in the
paper the other day. There are now 169
billionaires in America. Had anyone asked, we d
have guessed fifty, maybe seventy-five. Not
because we underestimate the naked greed of life
at the top of the food chain, but because a billion
dollars is a whale of a lot of money.
Most of us dream of having a million. A million
dollars is itself a huge bundle of money. If, for
instance, one skipped lunch and managed to save
$50,000 a year, it would take twenty years to
become a millionaire. By reverse arithmetic, if
one spent $50,000 a year in ways that left nothing
to show for it but memories, it would be twenty
years before you were broke. For the average
peasant, a million dollars is a dream worth
dreaming.
A billion dollars is this dream magnified a
thousandfold. A billion dollars is more pictures of
dead presidents than you can count in a lifetime.
A billion dollars deposited in a passbook account
would earn, by its mere existance, $45 million
dollars a year in interest. It is perhaps a measure
of our country's greatness that there are 169
Americans who could make such a deposit
tom orrow m orning.
The existance of so much as one billionaire,
even in America, is a wonder. Being a billionaire
means that, living expenses aside, the sweat of
your cleverness and talent has earned you a
thousand million dollars in sheer profit.
Interesting word, profit.
Profit means making
more than you spend, accumulating more than
you dispense, absorbing more than you emit,
taking more than you give. Among some cultures,
profit is indistinguishable from theft.
But these
are backward cultures and of no consequence.
Mind you we have nothing against profit. We
have, in fact, nothing but praise for it. Like you,
we live on profit. We go to the movies, save our
little nest egg, and plan our quaint peasant future
on the foundation of beating our skull against the
nearest wall to make more money than we need.
If all goes well, we'll retire someplace nice to
have our stroke. Profit is the reward for fiscal
virtue. But no matter how hard you work, how
very good your work is, or how many coupons you
clip, it's doubtful you'll sock away a billion
dollars.
Not even plumbers are that virtuous.
When you get right down to it, it’s hard to
imagine how anyone could come by a billion
dollars honestly.
If something like that happened
in a poker game, someone would get shot. Nobody
but nobody is that lucky or that good. That
America has 169 billionaires means the deck is
stacked and someone's got rules they re not
sh o w in g .
A truth that doesn't make the headlines much is
that at no point in our country's history has its
wealth been less evenly divided. Something like
95% of the chips are passed back and forth
between something like 5% of the players. This
doesn't make for good poker. In fact, it ends the
game. Economists and historians who don't use
the word 'crisis' lightly say we may be in a whole
lot of trouble. To the blind, everything's a
surprise. One hesitates to suggest we eat the rich,
although for many Americans it would mean
upgrading their diet. We'd be happy if they just
paid the sort of taxes that made them millionaires.
Cal, us a communist.
Castle
Carpet
Cleaning
DONALD THOM
P.O. BOX 773
CANNON BEACH OR 97110
436*1114
_Mother Nature's
North Coast Pride Network
P.O. Box 2798
Gearhart, OR 97138
(503) 738-0215
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Manzanita, Oregon 97130
503 • 368 • 5316
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The Columbia Pacific Region's lesbian, gay,
transgendered, bisexual group standing firm
against hate. N C P N now presents...
the Gay Film Festival Galore.
M on - S a t 10 - 5 3 0 C lo se d S u n d a y
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Otis finds his brass fittin g s
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Are you someone filled with
mystery and suspense? Join in
a celebration of fiction that's best
to read at this most mysterious
time of year...
...Nahcotta, the Moby Dick Hotel
on the Long Beach Peninsula,
setting for New Yorker Mary
Bringle’s mystery novel Little
Creatures Everywhere sets
the stage for the third annual
Halloween workshop for
mystery and suspense writers,
published or hopeful.
(D O N 'T BE A V IC T IM O F IN FE R IO R FRAMING)
AWARNING
1287 Commercul St., Alton«, OR 97103 • Phone (503) 325-5221
M y ste r y
W r ite r s ’
w o rk s h o p
at the
M o b y D ic k H o t e l
Nahcotta, Washington
♦
October 28 - October 31
Join special guest NW writer
Janet Smith, creator of “Annie
MacPherson," to launch the event
opening dinner a la Nero Wolfe.
Workshop participants will help
Mary Bringle, workshop leader,
design informal seminars that
focus on all aspects of mystery
and suspense writing. Mary will
schedule individual conferences
and review manuscripts.
Columbian Cafe
1114 Marin« Drlv«
Astoria. OR 97103
503-325-CAFE (2233)
Workshop package includes:
Room, Breakfast & Dinner.
Participation Limited.
Sign Up Early.
Hotvs Han - Frt la m - Zpm
Sat lOam • 2pm
Dfcmart: Wad • Sat. Opmi Spm
Box 502. N. Hemlock St.
Cannon Beach. Oregon 97110
dXMH HULSEY-
503-436 2M1
6 UPPLK LtfT Lbtt WICHST W15
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For More Information Call:
(360) 665-4543