Fed Reserve Report: Some States' Policies Accelerating Personal Income Divide

Domestic concern over America's widening personal income gap has gotten the Federal Reserve Bank's attention. A recent Fed research report, according to a Washington Post story, details states whose tax policies effectively increase the wealth gap between the have-a-lots, the have-somethings, and the have-nots. Regressive tax regimes typically form the heart of levies that hammer the poor and working classes. The dwindling middle class is now discovering the potency of regressive tax schemes (i.e., everyone pays equally, such as gasoline taxes).

The right-wing won't have an easy reply for these findings. GOP presidential candidates, for example, can't smear the Federal Reserve as a tool of class warfare and retain a shred of their credibility. As the draconian GOP regime Kansas has demonstrated, the Republican mantra of "tax cuts" leaves the civic body fiscally bankrupt and its citizens morally shamed. What the Republican Party doesn't really want to talk about is its implicit embrace of a two-class society, although Mitt Romney came close to articulating this position during his 2012 presidential campaign. The common sense reality is that those on the bottom will pay for the luxuries enjoyed by the top, through regressive taxes and give-to-the-rich tax cuts. That scenario sounds more akin to a banana republic than a confident democracy.

Richard Prince's $100K Instagram Art Work

Richard Prince
(Image: Patrick McMullen,
posted in observer.com)

I don't know if the artist Richard Prince's friends call him "Rich." Many others do, but more as a Homeric epithet than an informal greeting. The non-royal Prince has made a staggering amount of money (by art world standards) through appropriating the work of others. He has claimed, and successfully defended in court, that he brings extra value to each "borrowed" work through adding some nuance to it. These additions often border on the insultingly trivial.

Recently, Prince has shifted his aim from the work of established photographers to amateurs posting images on Instagram. Similar to a chef topping cooked fish with a parsley sprig, Prince joins a selected Instagram photo with a comment. And, voila, an "original" work of art is born. (For more juicy details on this episode, including Instagram's public statement on the issue, by all means read a related Business Insider story by Madison Malone Kircher.)

Meanwhile, as reporter Lizzie Plaugic's well-written article in theverge.com noted, Prince's Insta-art sells for $100,000 per piece. The powerful Gagosian Gallery provides Prince's work the marketing and sales muscle and hot client list required to move such high-priced merchandise.

At the heart of the issue is the legal notion of "fair use." Plaugic's piece explores this point without jumping into fair use's deep water. It appears Prince has cynically exploited the intent of the law for selfish commercial gain. He seems indifferent to fairness, never mind "fair use." Between his own financial resources and Gagosian's clout, Prince can simply continue his reverse Robin Hood style of artistic creation. How fair is that?

US Army Reports "Accidental" Live Anthrax Shipments

In 2001, the United States confronted a threat that hypothetically was far greater than terrorists using commercial aircraft as mass murder instruments. Shortly after 9/11, deadly anthrax found its way into postal facilities and a media outlet. Washington's bone stupid reaction to the menace did not diminish its potential for disaster.

Biological weapons have been in the American military arsenal since World War II. They remain on the military's roster of deadly force, with the Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, and laboratories scattered throughout the United States, functioning as repositories and testing facilities for germ warfare. Recently, the Pentagon revealed that live anthrax was "accidentally" shipped from Dugway to labs in a number of states. Live anthrax was also sent to South Korea and Australia. Oops.

According to an Associated Press story printed in The Washington Post, the Defense Department is reviewing its procedures for handling the deadly material. While they're at it, the Pentagon could simply say basta to maintaining and "improving" its biological arsenal.

Well, we all can dream.

Three NYC Real Estate Stories: Laugh or Cry?

Sometimes, I think The New York Times craves real estate stories of a certain kind. After all, Gotham's biggest business is real estate. Recently, the alleged newspaper of record published three stories whose common denominator featured multi-million dollar properties.

The articles included the following items:

• The week's top residential unit sale was over forty-seven million dollars.
• Artist Jennifer Bartlett has put her Brooklyn home on the market for $8.5 million. She'll move to her "second home" in Amagansett. Hey, who said artists don't make a living? (By the way, a shout out to someone's publicist, as the story practically read like press release.)
• The venerable Four Seasons restaurant is essentially being kicked out of its Seagram Building site next year. Why? The landlord wants three million per year rent, plus a share of the restaurant's revenues.

Pool Room/Four Seasons Restaurant
(Image: fourseasonsrestaurant.com)

The Four Seasons piece, while alluding to its clubby atmosphere, notably left out some players' names. Also, it was interesting that not one financial titan was mentioned in the article. No hedge funds, no private equity, no big, bad bankers. Nada. There was nary a hint of the zillionaires who have turned Manhattan into a sort of Monaco-lite. They remain secretive buyers of real estate: we only know what price was right.

Happy Rockefeller -- RIP

Happy Rockefeller
(Image: wikipedia.com)

Happy Rockefeller, whose marriage to Nelson Rockefeller became a Sixties cause celebre, passed away earlier this week at age 88. The New York Times' sympathetic obituary of the second Mrs. Rockefeller noted that she maintained an active, dignified life in New York's philanthropic circuits.

When then-Margareta Fitler Murphy (a/k/a "Happy") and Rocky dumped their respective spouses and became Mr. and Mrs. Rockefeller, the nation (especially Republican voters) was scandalized. Divorce just wasn't done among respectable people and certainly not among people of quality. In a wholly unplanned and unwanted way, Happy Rockefeller led the way for women's emancipation. She quite ably worked political campaigns with her husband. She endured the philistine criticism of her martial choices. She maintained an active public life after Rocky dropped dead, allegedly in the arms of a paramour.

Shirley Chisholm
(Image: wikipedia.com)

Today, American women aspire to the highest political offices. Hillary Clinton found out the hard way in 2008 just how much misogyny exists in the American electorate (and that's among "progressive" Democrats!). Other women, such as Carly Fiorina, Sarah Palin, and Michelle Bachmann, have openly expressed their presidential ambitions. In the mid-1960s, none of these women (nor Mrs. Clinton) would have had a puncher's chance of being taken seriously as potential Commanders-in-Chief. (Ironically, African-American congresswoman Shirley Chisholm did run for the presidency in 1972, and did win votes.)

Happy Rockefeller's experience as a "political" wife seems like an afterthought in the annals of women's political advancement. Her marriage to the "Chase Manhattan Bank made flesh," as Gore Vidal once characterized Governor Rockefeller, entwined with Rocky's lust for the presidency, became a particularly dreadful form of American moral theatre. Smart minds like to assert the nation has "moved on" from those dim days. However, will America permit its presidential candidates. such as Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush, the right to moral privacy?

B.B. King -- RIP

B.B. King passed away, having managed to fully live a full eight decades and a portion of a ninth. The blues legend lived large, sang larger, and played guitar with a unique style. When you heard a B.B. King song, you knew it was his song. His music spoke to human truth and a reality as far away from algorithmic "solutions" as one could imagine.

I never saw King perform in person. However, when I listened to his music, especially his early recordings, I felt his presence. Rest in peace, B.B. and thank you.

Niche Bookstores 'Surviving and Thriving' in NYC

I arranged the media outreach for this event. It took place May 12th, under the auspices of the Book Industry Guild of NY. I'm the organization's media contact.



The moderator and panelists were quite good, and the Shelf Awareness story does a good job reporting the event.



Niche Bookstores 'Surviving and Thriving' in NYC

NY Times Reports That US Honeybee Decline Is Accelerating

Bee Goddess and priest/priestess dressed as bees
from ancient Sumeria

If you lost nearly half of anything, you would be concerned. When the item in question in the nation's honeybee population, the concern becomes elevated. Bees are essential to pollination. Their decline has caught the attention of the scientific and agricultural communities, which have now taken some steps to measure the number of bees buzzing around the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.

According to a report in today's New York Times, a survey of American beekeepers showed a loss of 42 percent of their honeybees in the past twelve months. That loss is roughly eight percentage points higher than in the prior two years.

There are a number of suspected culprits impacting the dwindling bee population. Neonicotinoids, used in pesticides, are prime candidates. Western Europe has notably been vary wary about neonicotinoid use and has banned use of certain of them. A mite has also been cited as a factor in the vanishing bee caper. Of course, the loss of wildflowers in the environment is a disaster for bees, as well as other members of the animal kingdom.

We have bees that frequent our flowers during the warmer months. They're heartening to see and hear. I don't mind that their presence can occasionally be inconvenient. Bees are doing God's work, so to speak. Let the bees be.

Uber Drives Away from Kansas

Uber continues to suffer from uneven publicity. For all the fuss Wall Street has lavished on the app-driven car service, a surprising number of domestic municipalities have frowned over Uber's tactics and apparent distaste for regulations determined by democratically elected bodies.

The latest black eye comes from, of all places, Kansas. The home of extreme right-wing politics sent Uber a clear message that the state, not Uber, would determine driver suitability and insurance requirements. According to a story in siliconvalley.com, both houses of Kansas' legislature overcame Governor Sam Brownback's veto regarding laws pertaining to Uber's services.

Uber's response was to pout and stomp out of the state. Ironically, Uber, whose CEO embraces the free-market mantle, has experienced its share of defeats in profoundly conservative areas, such as Boise, Idaho. Perhaps "free" has its limits.

Who's Afraid of Carly Fiorina?

Carly Fiorina
(Image: mcclatchydc.com)

Today's domestic news items included Carly Fiorina's announcement that she will run for the Republican presidential nomination. She had to share a crowded media flow. Ben Carson also declared his run for the GOP roses. Elbowing Ms. Fiorina's public pronouncement aside was the story about a possible terrorist incident in Texas, a New York City cop passing away after a perp shot him in the head, President Obama talking about race relations, overflow coverage of Kate Middleton's baby, and a media orgasm over the Metropolitan Museum's annual costume ball (run with an iron fist by Vogue editor Anna Wintour).

Poor Carly. Outside of her family and friends, who on earth wants her in the White House? Her resume, which she has the chutzpah to tout, includes ruining Hewlett Packard, a firm that was once the gold standard for tech company class. She ran for a US senate seat in California and got knocked out by Barbara Boxer. Fiorina has no identifiable base, little financial muscle, no pertinent or useful policy ideas. Meanwhile, the comic part of today's event was Fiorina's neglect to secure the carlyfiorina domain name. It didn't take long for someone to snatch it and play a prank on the woman who would be queen.

The Fiorina candidacy is a reminder just how powerful, and intoxicating, ego can be. It's also a wake up call to the nation to consider worthy candidates for the presidency. Let the political entertainers have a ball at the Met's costume ball.