This is a little piece of street art I found in downtown Oakland a few weeks ago… actually framed and mounted (epoxied?) to a corner trash receptacle.

I love this on so many levels… the fact that the artist actually framed it as a piece of fine art; the symbolism conveying greed, and unthinking robotic behavior; and of course, the title, which is sadly sooo true.

I *think* (notice I did not say “assume,” for which I was lambasted last time) it’s by the same artist who does the Nite Owl stickers, one of which I featured ages ago on a pole outside my West Oakland loft (Put on a Happy Face). Note the same owl stencil in the lower left and a modified version on the jacket pocket.

It looks like the artist signed the piece in the upper right hand corner, but I’m too square to be able to read it.  Anyone?

I can’t help but cringe when conservative Republicans chant the disparaging mantra of “Class Warfare” whenever talk of raising tax rates on the rich is proposed.  The disparity between the rich and poor, not to mention the middle class who are far closer to the poor than the rich, has been growing for decades, and most Americans aren’t even aware of it. (Americans Underestimate U.S. Wealth Inequality)

The current distribution of U.S. wealth is about 85% to the top 10 percent of people, with the bottom 40-50 percent of the nation holding virtually no wealth at all.

CEO salaries as a percentage of worker salaries have exponentially increased over the last several decades, while average workers’ incomes have actually declined, once adjusted for inflation. (15 Mind-Blowing Facts About Wealth And Inequality In America).

And while millions of Americans saw their life savings evaporate (or at least shrink substantially) in the wake of the recent banking crisis, Wall Street executives made out with multi-million dollar bonus packages.

Yeah, they f&*ked us alright…