Fran Tip 2: Flying bankrupt

hawthornewriter — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 15:33:27 +0000

There is, somehow, a feeling of shabbiness in flying American Airlines this week. Is it just my imagination, that the seats are a little more worn, the employees a little more desperately friendly, in an airline fighting to emerge from bankruptcy? When I flew on American last summer, it didn’t seem that way. I certainly want a unionized airline — and its pensions — to survive. So could American add just a few red-white-and-Jet Blue touches, like snacks? or personal TV sets? It’s not insignificant, what a difference such touches make.

Fran Tip 1: After guilt, what next for the 1 percent?

hawthornewriter — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 15:31:40 +0000

My recent article in The New York Times, concerning how the 1 percent feel about being targeted as 1-percenters, has sparked almost as many different reactions as the 1-percenters themselves exhibit. Many nonwealthy readers agree with the super-rich who say, “ We worked hard, we went to college, we tried to better our lives. Isn’t that what I’m supposed to do?’ Yet even many 1-percenters acknowledge that there’s something wrong in the huge gap between their multimillion-dollar holdings and the vast majority of Americans scared stiff of losing their jobs — if they haven’t lost them already. It’s not that the rich should feel built about acquiring their wealth; it’s what they — and the government — do after the acquisition that is so troubling. Mitt Romney should not pay a lower tax rate than I do; and as one of the 1-percenters in the article, Joel Zweibel, points out, “There is no reason why the 1 percent can’t donate, not just money, but ideas, learning skills, mentoring,” To see the article, you can check the following link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/09/business/color-the-1-percent-99-percent-conflicted.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Fran%20Hawthorne&st=cse