According to on-line music and politics newsletter Rock and Rap Confidential, notorious hypocrite humanitarian Bono, lead singer of super-group U2, has sunk to a new low.
In the past, Bono has made waves for palling around with arch-conservatives and enemies of the poor and art including George W. Bush, former U.S., Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and now-deceased U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms. He's also been rightly criticized for his tax-dodging ways,
But now, Forbes magazine, which Bono is part owner of, has endorsed scrapping the minimum wage.
As Rock and Rap pointed out in a recent e-mail to subscribers:
The September 13 issue of Forbes, the business magazine owned by Bono, has an article by Rhodes College professor Art Carden entitled "Scrap the Minimum Wage."
Carden claims that the minimum wage, which is impossible to live on, "has only destroyed jobs." Surprisingly, Carden doesn't volunteer to work for less than the minimum wage himself. According to his theory, that would create several new jobs in the poverty-stricken city of Memphis where he lives.
When Bono bought Forbes he said he liked the magazine because "it has a consistent philosophy." Little noted when he made the acquisition, this may have been the only time in the 21st century when Bono has been honest in public (e.g. his "African" clothing line is made in China). The "consistent philosophy" of Forbes may be summed up as "It is glorious to be rich."
The same issue of Forbes which calls for eliminating the minimum wage has a handy list of suggestions for the world's wealthy people.
A few highlights:
-- "Commit to extreme wealth. For the super-rich, personal wealth creation is a top priority." (Bono and his U2 band mates put their already considerable fortunes in a Dutch tax shelter to prevent the Irish government from collecting some of it to distribute to the poor.)
-- "Engage in enlightened self-interest. The super-rich are focused on obtaining their goals and objectives, culminating in great wealth." (Bono's handler, Paul McGuinness, has proposed that music fans pay U2 each and every time they listen to one of the band's songs.)
-- "Connect for profits and results. The super-rich are masters at nodal networking." (From Arnold Schwarzenegger in California to Dmitry Medvedev in Russia, if there is a politician doing harm in the world Bono is there. Aside from star-fucking, the purpose is photo ops which keep Bono's products and get-poor-quick schemes in the public eye.)
