Contact with Reality

In 1936, soon after California adopted its first income tax a group of people from the movie industry sponsored an initiative to eliminate the hated tax. One of their arguments against the tax was that it would reduce employment in the state. (And indeed there is some credible evidence that some income taxes can reduce some employment.) But they then went on to guild their arguments a bit. They suggested that employment would be most reduced for "cooks, drivers and maids" for the swells in the industry. That suggested that the movie people were a bit out of touch with the rest of the state during the middle of the depression.

NBC/Universal's general counsel Rick Cotton seems to have taken a page out of that book when he argued recently that "In the absence of movie piracy, video retailers would sell and rent more titles. Movie theatres would sell more tickets and popcorn. Corn growers would earn greater profits and buy more farm equipment." The only thing missing from his comments is the laugh track.