Posted on 11/26/2007 7:09:57 PM PST by proxy_user
Tomorrow night I will dining at a soup kitchen in Hollywood. Well, not exactly a soup kitchen. The venue will, in fact, be Campanile, one of LA's fancier restaurants, located in Charlie Chaplin's old office complex.
Under normal circumstances, Campanile is so excruciatingly, don't-even-look-at-the-prices expensive that it charges for olive oil by the ounce. But for striking writers (and those with friends with Writers Guild of America cards), it will be offering a “soup kitchen” special, in the form of an $18 prix fixe menu.
Yes, there are some strange upsides to this strangest of strikes, the result of a dispute with studios over internet royalties, which have been going on for nearly a month now. Just the other day a writer friend of mine — he does the one-liners for a late-night talk show — was enthusing about how much weight he had lost by marching up and down Hollywood Boulevard while brandishing a “They Wrong, We Write” placard.
But here's the strangest thing of all: according to a recent poll, 63 per cent of Americans support these unlikeliest of picketers. So what's next? Striking hedge fund managers? CEO stoppages? Now that the American public has lent its sympathy to one of the tiniest and most privileged elites in modern society, surely anything is possible.
Most astonishing to me is the difference between the public's reaction to the writers and to a man called Pedro Zapeta, a 39-year-old dishwasher in Florida, whose unfortunate tale has been playing out at the same time.
Zapeta, an illegal immigrant, scrubbed pots for 11 years on minimum wage, somehow managing to save $62,000. Then it all went horribly wrong. At the airport on the way back to Guatemala, where he was planning to build a house and retire, the money was seized by US Customs, with a judge ruling that only $10,000 of it should be returned. Granted, Zapeta never paid what little taxes he owed, and he failed to declare his cash at the border (he doesn't speak English). Still, you might have expected this tale of the little man crushed by The System to inspire outrage in a country of immigrants. But no. So far, Zapeta's wellwishers have raised a mere $9,000. Meanwhile, back in LA, the writers — many of whom received cheques last week for several thousand dollars, because of a change in the way fees are paid for TV repeats — continue to be fêted as working-class heroes.
What does this say about America's mood? A lot, I fear. With the dollar owned by the Chinese, the oil supply owned by the Saudis and the labour market owned by the likes of Zapeta, Americans have finally had enough: it's time to look after their own. Protectionism is back. In another era, Pedro the Dishwasher might have been turned into a movie to rival Braveheart. But these days, writers have bigger things on their plate. Like that $18 prix fixe menu down at Campanile.
I am personally opposed to illegal immigration, but see no need for excessive cruelty or harshness to those who just came here and worked. OK, you have to leave, but we're not going to Taser you or take all your money.
I don't believe that.
He wasn't tasered and nobody took all his money.
You’re not going to find a much more rabid anti illegal immigrant advocate than I. That being said, stealing $52 thousand dollars from a man who worked for minimum wages is unacceptable to me.
If we want to get serious about illegal immigration, then do so. Don’t do this.
The federal government has come to the conclusion somewhere along the line that all our cash are belong to them. If I have two gazillion dollars I have earned legally and want to move, it’s none of the fereral government’s damned business when, how and where I move it to.
It’s my money. End of story!
They took $49 of the $59 thousand dollars he had on him.
If the government wanted to fine him to compensate for taxes he didn’t pay, I could understand. Taking $49k of $59k is a rather high tax rate.
Look, I condemn the illegal for what they are doing. The fact is though, our federal government didn’t give a hot hefty until recently, and I’m not convinced they five a damn now.
If this guy would have set up a bank account, and many banks will let illegals these days, he could have wired that money with no problem at all.
That’s just how lame their taking $49k actually was.
It doesn’t say anything about America’s mood. I doubt that 63% of Americans give a rats’ ass about Hollywood writers and their labor struggle over internet royalties. A high-toned meal at a high-toned Hollywood restaurant doesn’t mean squat to any of us.
Pedro’s problem is he broke a number of American laws on his way to his Guatemalan dream home or whatever the real story is.
The author is just using a clever little rhetorical trick by comparing two completely unrelated issues and declaring that Americans hold hypocitical viewpoints and that this ‘fact’ holds some deeper meaning. As if ‘Americans’ have, as a whole, examined the issues and declared, “Save the writers, screw Pedro...” Puh-leeze.
How can Americans persecute poor Pedro and at the same time support a priviledged elite? Who cares?
A high-toned meal at a high-toned Hollywood restaurant doesn’t mean squat to any of us.
Still, $18 is a pretty good deal.
It seems a bit of a stretch to me as well.
Based on an average wage of $5 per hour over those 11 years, he would have had an income of about $866 per month (if he was working full time with no vacations or sick days). After all of his living expenses, he would have had to be saving $470 of that to accumulate $62,000 over the 11-year period.
Could he have lived on about $400 per month in total expenses? While I suppose that it's possible, I'd consider it rather unlikely.
You got me on that one...
Hell, that's only $6000 per year every year for 11 years. That's only 500 a month, every month, of extra money going into savings. What's not to believe? (/extreme sacr)
The guy has been breaking many laws for 10 plus years so far - so let's let him ignore this one, too.
Taking $49k of $59k is a rather high tax rate.
What do you think should be the tax rate of illegal income?
That illegal must never have spoken to another person not to know how to funnel money home. I also find it hard to believe all he ever did was wash dishes for minimum wage. Alot of those guys work more than one job and are always on the lookout for better money. Also, if in 11 years he didn’t avail himself of the many many advocacies for immigrants including free English classes then he only has himself to blame. Besides which if he saved that kind of money after food, rent transportation and other expenses I doubt seriously he was making minimum wage.
Bit on the pricey side though.
A can of Campbells costs about $1.50. A box of crackers costs a buck or two. That’s two meals, at let’s say $1.50 per. I’m having a real hard time feeling sorry for these writers, especially since they turn out trash that rots young minds.
I seriously doubt that 90% of the population even knows there IS a writer's strike.
Why is this so tough to believe? Hillary had minimum wage earning dishwashers that donated $2300 apiece to her campaign. The minimum wage must be great to be able to afford that kind of expense. Even I can't afford that.
You make the mistake he had much in the way of living expenses, illegals tend to have 2 or 3 families for one apartment.
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