The breaking news today in the Denver area was that Taylor Swift's private jet landed at about 11:30 a.m. at Centennial Airport, about six miles from our house.
Does that mean I have had a "brush with greatness"? Does it mean that the local media is a bit nutty? Does it mean that there is little actual news to report? Does it mean that Swift's two concerts in the stadium where the Bronco's embarrassed themselves last season are so important as to crowd out reports on climate change, excessive heat, Iowa restricting abortions, and the actors' strike? Perhaps the reason to be riveted is the estimated $1 billion boost to the Denver economy.
All the above? I don't know, but I do know this: I can't come up with a single Taylor Swift song in my head right now... I must have heard some, even as background music, but can't recall a single title. I am officially out of it, that is clear.
Ticket sales for the two concerts is estimated at about $38 million, which is beyond comprehension. Most tickets were sold far above face value, according to numerous reports, due to scalpers snapping up so many tickets using advanced technology to beat your basic 15-year-old who worships the singer.
Ms. Swift will be off to LA Sunday and everyone will recover, but what I will continue to think about is the dramatic split between the rich and the middle class, with the lower class not really even in the economic picture. Not everyone attending the concerts will be what we might call the "rich," and people are entitled to spend their hard-earned bucks as they please. The estimate is that each attendee will spend an average of $1,300 to attend a show.
On the other hand, we had a new induction stovetop installed today, replacing our old standard electric cooktop that was not very efficient at age 15, and that cost over $2,000... Hey, money comes and goes.
And our granddaughter's room, board, and tuition next year at Iowa will top $40,000. It's all relative, I suppose.
I filled up the Camry today and was shocked to see the pump price at $3.96/gallon. I had enough King Soopers points to save a buck a gallon, but holy cow! I still spent nearly $3/gallon.
In one other piece of economic news today, I read that the Biden administration has a plan to save over 800,000 college borrowers about $39 billion. First reactions from the media, of course, focused on how LITTLE that amount is.
Hey, it's a big country with lots of people and lots of money.
There is a famous quote from Illinois Republican Senator Everett Dirksen cautioning that federal spending had a way of getting out of control: “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money." That quote is from the 1960s.
Were he with us today, he might have to amend that to "a trillion here, a trillion there..."
Good news on my personal economic front: we will enjoy a Papa Murphy's pizza tonight that I bought on Tuesday at the special price of $10. I froze it until today and it will bake perfectly. Mostly, I am proud of saving nearly $7 compared to what I would have paid to buy the pizza freshly made today.
My rough calculation is that the $7 saving comes to 0.0000001 percent of the ticket sales for the two concerts this weekend.
I'm doing what I can.
No comments:
Post a Comment