Bread And Circuses

During the Roman Empire, when the political structure and societal infrastructure was beginning to decay, politicians managed to distract the citizens with handouts and petty amusements. The latin term panem et circenses, or “bread and circuses”, was used to describe this tactic. Today, it is a term used not only to describe politicians who use distracting gimmicks to gain support (such as negative ads), but also to criticize the general public for giving up their civic duty of holding their politicians accountable.

In the land of the American Empire today, we do not need politicians to provide us bread and circuses. That’s because Hollywood fulfills the role quite nicely. In homage to blue collar comedian Jeff Foxworthy, who coined the phrase, “You might be a redneck,” I have started a list called “You might like bread and circuses.”

If you can list more of Oprah’s favorite things than you can list choices in your retirement plan, you might like bread and circuses.

If you spend more time studying your fantasy sports team than studying stock charts, you might like bread and circuses.

If the cost of all of the items in your wardrobe, including shoes, handbags and sports jerseys, is more than the size of your savings account, you might like bread and circuses.

If you would rather watch an hour of reality television instead of thirty minutes of Nightly Business Report (or CNBC or Bloomberg), you might like bread and circuses.

If you own more infomercial products than you own stocks, you might like bread and circuses.

If you spend more time looking for iPhone apps than looking at the business section of the newspaper, you might like bread and circuses.

If you have an urge to appear in a commercial singing the silly $5 sandwich jingle, you might like bread and circuses.

If you follow the antics of Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, or the Octomom, you might like bread and circuses.

If you are more concerned with the contents of your DVR than with the contents of your IRA, you might like bread and circuses.

If I think of more, I will put them in later posts. Feel free to add more.