Big Frick Dot Com

Capitalism is probably the most powerful force in the universe.

It truly is the ultimate voting experience where people get to vote with their hard earned dollars for the things that make the most sense.

Voters complain about politicians they don’t like, but somehow they still seem to get elected or reelected. This is usually because some special interest group dumped a ton of cash into the candidate’s coffers in hopes of getting a little quid pro quo once he or she is elected. The recent election of the new Messiah is a perfect example.

Voters bought the promise of hope and change and elected a guy with absolutely no qualifications or background in executive decision making, economics or world affairs to be leader the United States and most of the free world. But they bought the rhetoric because it didn’t cost them anything to buy it.

The United Autoworkers Union and the Teamsters Union are powerful forces to be reckoned with when it comes to getting politicians elected. They certainly proved their worth to the Obama campaign and are now beginning to reap the benefits. But all their money and organization can’t get people to vote with their wallets to buy the products their union members provide. Congress is now looking to bail out the Big Three unionized automakers only because the consumers won’t.

Consumers have the ultimate authority over life and death in a capitalistic society. Products and services consumers like succeed and grow and the ones they don’t go away. A savvy marketing campaign can be the difference between success and failure of a free market product. But even the best marketing campaign in the world can’t make a success out of an inferior or unpopular product. Eventually the law of numbers catches up and its fate is decided. It’s all about the money.

Such is the case as well in the most recent edition of “Rod Blagojevich Superstar”. In Illinois and around the country people are questioning how a guy who just got the heave hoe from the governor’s mansion can be getting a six figure book deal. The answer is simple; it’s all about the money.

Lightning Rod Blagojevich is currently the Illinois version of Monica Lewinski. He is scorned and ridiculed but still somehow like a six car pileup that people don’t want to look at but feel they have to. He also spent time in the office of power until political fallout brought him to his knees.

Illinoisans and folks from around the country are shocked and outraged that he has been give a six figure book deal from Phoenix Books to write a tattle tale tell all “exposing the dark side of politics”. Even the Illinois Senate has been caught up in the frenzy by debating legislation that would prevent the ex-governor from making a profit from his flagitious two terms. The outrage is real, but to me very confusing.

When then ex-president Richard Nixon wrote his first book after leaving office news programs were packed with reports of protests and outraged protesters. But the book was a best seller and even spawned a second book. Conversely ex-governor James McGreevy wrote a book that almost nobody bothered buying after leaving the New Jersey governor’s mansion and his female wife to explore his new found gay lifestyle.

The beauty of living in a capitalistic society is that we as consumers get to decide the fate of the products that we don’t like. Phoenix Books paid Big Rod big money because they think the book will sell. If it doesn’t sell, the company suffers a humiliating loss, both financially and in the public sentiment. The key is does Phoenix Books know what the book buying public wants to read more than the book buying public? It’s all about the money.

If you don’t like the ex-governor and you don’t like the fact that he is going to make some dough from snitching on those that impeached him, don’t buy the book. But if this book is a financial success you can bet there will be a second and a third etc.

The Blagojevich series could be the next Harry Potter. But the public is the ultimate wizard maker in this fantasy.

Because it’s always all about the money.