Wednesday, April 14, 2004
(10:06 AM) | Adam Kotsko:
Life-Changing Decisions
On the way to the grocery store, I was listening to Mancow, and he was outraged by the FCC's attempts to crack down on obscenity. At one point, he said in essence, "If Bush gets his way, there'll be no more Playboy." It would be risky, but I honestly think this is the approach Kerry should take if he wants to go for populist appeal. It seems more realistic than trying to "swing right" to "pick up the Republicans."
I used the self-checkout line for the first time today. Perhaps one way to encourage "job growth" would be to outlaw such systems. I know it would be crappy jobs, but it's better than nothing.
Anyway -- the life-changing decision. I realized that I need to start watching TV again, in order to keep up on the commercials. (We supposedly have cable coming into our house for free, but our only TV has the cable jack somewhat implausibly broken off.) Listening to right-wing radio every Wednesday has been tremendously helpful to me, just for the commercials. Apparently, most of Rush Limbaugh's audience is bald, impotent, deep in debt, and in trouble with the IRS. The commercial that was playing for Mancow as I was getting out of the car was brilliant. It was talking about calling "Kelly," your customer support person for your wireless company. You call her to ask a question about your bill, and she calls your service provider, saving you the frustration -- plus, "you've made Kelly's day, because she got to help." It's like you have the girl from the Shake and Bake commercial at your beck and call.
That could be another sector for job growth: people getting paid to be on hold, trying to get through to major corporations. We'd just have to pray that there aren't enough American-sounding Indians out there to support outsourcing two layers of call center services.
