Weirdly, Google searches have twice today led me to a fun feature called The Forbes Fictional 15. How did this happen? Well, I looked up Daddy Warbucks for this last post, and Jed Clampett for my column in tomorrow’s paper (don’t ask).
Apparently, this is a regular feature the magazine does, but I had never run across it before. Hey, maybe reading up on bidness doesn’t have to be as dull as I’ve always thought it would be. Here’s the most recent list, near as I can tell:
The Fictional 15
- Scrooge McDuck
- Ming The Merciless
- Richie Rich
- Mom
- Jed Clampett
- C. Montgomery Burns
- Carter Pewterschmidt
- Bruce Wayne
- Thurston Howell III
- Tony Stark
- Fake Steve Jobs
- Gomez Addams
- Willy Wonka
- Lucius Malfoy
- Princess Peach
The individual entries aren’t quite as much fun as the concept would imply, so the site is a letdown there. But ya gotta hand it to Forbes for at least trying to be fun.
Taking it another step, the site also lists "the 25 largest fictional companies:"
- CHOAM
- Acme Corp.
- Sirius Cybernetics Corp.
- MomCorp
- Rich Industries
- Soylent Corp.
- The Very Big Corp. of America
- Frobozz Magic Co.
- Warbucks Industries
- Tyrell Corp.
- Wayne Enterprises
- Virtucon
- Globex
- Umbrella Corp.
- Wonka Industries
- Stark Industries
- Clampett Oil
- Oceanic Airlines
- Yoyodyne Propulsion
- Cyberdyne Systems Corp.
- d’Anconia Copper
- Gringotts
- Oscorp
- Nakatomi Trading Corp.
- Spacely Space Sprockets
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Some of you (yes, Lee, I know) may consider the subject of this column to be a bit silly and frivolous.
But is it any more silly than this other Forbes feature that people talk about all the time?
Brad,
Right about now, I’d buy stock in any of those companies comapare to what we’ve gone through the last few months with Wall Street.
At least then, I know its make believe and I’ll end up laughing in the end versus the Wall Street alternative.
You know, Brad, thinking about all the links you provided in the five or six paragraphs above, sometimes you go to a great deal of effort to give us absolutely nothing.
Actually, p.m., I managed to copy it over whole, with the links intact. If it had NOT worked, I would have just given you the text list, without the links.
Even I draw the line somewhere.
And wtf, you know, I had a similar thought — I’d have more faith in some of these fictional companies, if they existed, than a lot of real ones.
But even there, you’re taking risks. Say you invest in CHOAM, which has what Forbes calls an “Enviable customer-loyalty model: One dose of spice is enough to addict a person for a lifetime, continued use extends lifespan by hundreds of years, and quitting is invariably fatal.”
But just when you think you’ve got it made, a renegade Duke shows up with a bunch of desert rabble and overthrows the Imperium…
Why is Hiram Lodge (Veronica’s dad) of Riverdale not on this list?
Speaking of fiction. Here’s an excerpt from a USA Today article that blasts the political ads in this years election but is most critical of Senator “Straight Talk”:
This year “McCain has been a much worse violator of the facts than Obama has been. There are statements that can be disproven that still are appearing … in paid advertisements.”
McCain ads on Obama’s tax plan are a case in point. Factcheck.org has scored McCain for “multiple false and misleading claims” about the plan, citing studies that show families making under $250,000 would fare better with Obama. The group says McCain is engaged in a months-long “pattern of misrepresentation,” most recently with a new ad late last week.
So I ask for the upteenth time, why does the MSM continue, against ALL the evidence, portray John McCain as a straight-talking maverick intent on working for the people? The world wonders.
Is this intended, as was the depression-era game “Monopoly” to allow the public a little fantasy relief from the real misery.
The world wonders? Why, bud, I don’t think you speak for the world.
I’m much more amazed that the MSM doesn’t spend every day picking Obama’s unenviable voting record apart and detailing the stepladder of radicals he befriended over the years to reach his political status.
I want to see Ayers and the illustrious Rev. Wright every day on NBC, but, alas, all I get is such important stuff as “Sarah Palin wore the wrong color shoes today” and “Palin’s position on global warming varies from McCain’s,” when no one in the MSM has ever bothered to compare and contrast Biden and Obama.
The coronation for Hillary Clinton didn’t work, bud, and the coronation by the media for Obama ain’t working, either.
God speed McCain.
Well if Sarah Palin wore the wrong color shoes she shouldn’t be Vice President. Isn’t that obvious.
Seriously, the MSM has a difficult time adjusting to the facts on the ground. Frankly, John McCain was pretty believable as the maverick in 2000. Heck, even as a Democrat I admired the guys spunk and renogade character. But this election cycle he seems tired and desperate. The Palin choice was a pure political ploy that has actually worked somewhat in spite of it’s obvious pandering quality. The MSM should be worried about Palin. And for reasons far more important than her shoes. The woman’s hapless performance on the Charleeeee Gibson show was pretty scary stuff. But the GOP is famous for using scare tactics. Maybe this is just scare tactics packaged differently.
Wake up America. The party of hundred year wars and trillion dollar baleouts has failed us over the last decade. It’s time for real change that only the Democrats can deliver. Don’t believe the nonsense from the MSM that would have you believe the 2 parties are equally guilty of partisan politics. The GOP is the party of fear and smear. The Dems offer the most promising path forward.
WOULD Sarah Palin wear the wrong color shoes?
It’s after Labor Day. Has anyone seen her wearing white? Do people in Alaska EVER wear white, except for camouflage when they’re hunting caribou?
There are so many unknowns, and so little time left to get answers…
As always, the Democrats vote for whomever their party nominates. They don’t even listen to what Obama is saying. Obama is only going to tax the families making over $250,000. BUT, those families making under $250,000, will be required (forced) to SHARE with the have-nots. This is same as a tax. McCain knows this.
Hey folks. Are all of you giving Rep. John Spratt that, sits on the banking committee and now in charge of the $700 plus we will spend to get out of this mess, a free pass?
Have not heard you folks mention is name.
Is the fox now in charge of the hen house?
Ish, you sound like Lee. What in the heck are you talking about? Every fact check organization agrees that working folks taxes will be lower under Obama than McCain. You may want the tax burden shifted around to force a greater burden on lower income people. That would be a policy dispute and something I could respect. But this nonsense of suggesting the Obama tax plan makes working class people pay more is utter nonsense.
Bud,
I feel sure that Obama is a wonderful individual; however, he is not up to the task to be president. He seems to have a playbook written by someone else and he is just delivering the punchlines. He may have a few ideas that belong to him orginally such as saying that he sat in a church for 20 years and did not know what the heck the sermons were about. He may have worked for and been associated with a slum lord in Chicago and not know the guy was a crook even when the crook loaned him money to buy his house. Picking his church for 20 years and picking his friends were his choice.
Left to his on devices without someone pulling the strings that has much more intelligence about choices that have to be made by the president, he will be a miserable failure. I think that he knows this and it comes across when he is trying to deliver a speech without a teleprompter. The hesitation shows a flaw.
Bud. Everybody has to have somebody to believe in. Obama is your man.
I do not happen to believe in him because of many factors. I will vote my way and hope that my vote for McCain will turn out to be what is best for this country.
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