The Rich Got Richer

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

From the Street…

The richest Americans are getting richer, according to the latest release of the Forbes ranking of the 400 richest Americans. At a combined wealth of $1.37 trillion, the 400 richest Americans saw their wealth increase by 8% over last year.

Hurrah!

But on the downside, the market for movie stars is collapsing!

Today the actors who used to make $15 million are making $10 million. The filmmakers who used to make $10 million are making $6 million.

And why have salaries for all varieties of Hollywood “talent” declined? Some people blame a 25% decline in DVD sales, and many Hollywood insiders look all the way back to the writers’ strike in 1988 as an epiphany for studio moguls, who suddenly realized that money could be made without any talent whatsoever, and the first “reality shows” were born.

Whatever the root-cause or causes may be, the no-talent paradigm of Survivor Vanuatu now extends all the way to major releases!

The end result is a huge recalibration of the money being paid out to talent, especially in an era where a surprisingly large percentage of the biggest hit films, from “Up” to “The Hangover” to “Star Trek” and “Transformers,” are star-free movies, potential franchises that involve interchangeable parts.

But when even movie stars have been degraded into “interchangeable parts”…

What kind of individuality remains for you and me?