Richard Gwyn discovers the Super-Rich

...and when he does, he comes to the realization that they aren't much like you or me. What's problematic I suppose is where the rest the unwashed masses is comfortable at constraining the super rich. Gwyn seems to be pining for the days of the moderately wealthy CEO, but who determines how much is enough? If you are an orthodox neo-liberal economist I suspect that, in order to be consistent, you cannot say that too much is ever enough. So what's the alternative? A more managed capitalism? Socialism? Or do we just cast our lot with the market and let the chips fall where they may? Let's all pray to the invisible hand!

Dystopia? What Dystopia?

Andrew Sullivan takes time today to refer to Sao Paulo as a "post-capitalist dystopia" since the city had banned billboards. I looked at the group of Flickr photos myself and, well, it doesn't look so bad. I mean the light boxes (or whatever they call them) where the signs used to go obviously look empty, but if the boxes themselves were taken down, who would miss them? I wonder what the folks at illegalsigns.ca would say about this "dystopia?" At least no one would be suing them.

For the record, most of the futuristic dystopias produced by our cultural imagination have an oppressive amount of advertizing (see Bladerunner) or at least some kind of massive visual propaganda (see 1984). I also fail to see how this makes Sao Paulo a "post-capitalist" society either. Local governments put all kinds of restriction on capitalism - e.g.: you cannot open a slaughterhouse in a residential neighbourhood.

I do not know how any of this renders Sao Paulo a dystopia.