Face It, The System Is Rigged, And

If Newspapers Were A Baseball Team, They Would Be The Mets - Without The Hope For Those Folks At The Very Pinnacle Of The Financial Food Chain - Who Average Nearly $24 Million A Year In Income - 'next Year.'

The Ability Of The 1 Percent To Buy Politicians And Regulators Is Nothing New In American Politics - Just As Inequality Has Been A Permanent Part Of Our Economic System. This Is True Of Virtually All Political And Economic Systems.

Trends In Circulation And Advertising - The Rise Of The Internet, Which Has Made The Daily Newspaper Look Slow And Unresponsive; The Advent Of Craigslist, Which Is Wiping Out Classified Advertising-have Created A Palpable Sense Of Doom.

The Word Liberal Has Been Employed As The Political Equivalent Of An Untreatable But Potentially Containable Social Disease -- The Kind That Could Be Contracted Merely By Going To A Foreign Movie Or Ordering A Decaf Latte, Or Worse, A Glass Of French Wine.

Apple Is A Wonderful Company For Its Customers And Investors. So, Too, Pixar. (next, Not So Much...) But Apple Is Also An Engine Of Misery For Its Subcontracted Chinese Workers.