December 17th, 2005
Britney’s #1 … As Far as Yahoo’s Buzz Index Goes
By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews
As in the TechWeb BlogX Awards, in which RealTechNews finished 3rd, the underdog was unable to pull an upset in this contest of popularity. For the 3rd time in 4 years, Britney Spears finished atop Yahoo’s annual list of the most-searched for names on the Internet.
Spears, 24, was beaten last year by prime-time singing contest “American Idol,” but topped the list the two years before that.
Erik Gunther, who compiles the list for Yahoo as its “Buzz Index list guru, said this year’s top 10 were all show-business figures and showed people were fixated on pop culture icons. Source: Reuters
In second place was 50 Cent, followed by Cartoon Network (this is a show-business figure?), Mariah Carey and Green Day.
We Say: Time for my soapbox. While this is certainly no surprise, when I look at lists like this I’m almost ashamed of the way people place so much importance on celebrities and sports figures. Not just this list, but take a look at the Discovery Channel’s Top 100 Americans list from earlier in the year. Tom Cruise? Ellen DeGeneres? Tiger Woods? You mean to tell me there are no greater American historical figures than these? (Take a look at ProfessorBainbridge.com’s commentary on this as well.) It’s a little sad to look at these sorts of lists, actually.
Bob says:
It’s all a distraction. The media/government manipulates us into thinking that Paris, Britney, Madonna, and the parade of the rich and famous is somehow, news.
This distracts from the fact that the national debt is now $8,155,731,348,448.47. Yes folks, that is 8.1 trillion dollars.
The estimated population of the United States is 298,006,382
so each citizen’s share of this debt is $27,367.63.
The National Debt has continued to increase an average of
$2.83 billion per day since September 30, 2005!
There is some REAL news.
December 18th, 2005 at 3:54 am
Pete says:
OK- Exactly “who” does the government owe the money to?
The Euro’s? The World Bank? No- the primary debtor that the government owes money to is -TADA! the US taxpayer, who, through bonds etc “lends” money to the government.
If it comes out that the primary lender is Lithuania, then I’ll worrry!
December 18th, 2005 at 11:03 am
Bob says:
Actually the primary holder of the U.S. debt is private companies here and overseas. Bonds make up only a miniscule 3.3% of total national debt. Nearly a quarter of the debt is held by companies and individuals overseas.
Whoever holds the IOUs for the national debt, it does have to be paid at some point or the U.S. goes into default. Maybe having G.W. Bush in charge of this house of cards doesn’t worry you, but I would like to see some deficit and debt reduction for the future.
December 18th, 2005 at 1:50 pm