You know you've made it when...

I read fark.com every day. For those of you unfamiliar with it, Fark is a website that assembles strange stories from all over. Many are downright bizarre, and the funniest part of it is the snarky headlines that link to the stories.

Like this one:

Ex-wife + girlfriend + alcohol + gun in the house. Want to guess the ending? Give it a shot (sun-sentinel.com)

A day without Fark is like a day without, well, without something I really need. My wife knows when I'm reading Fark because I usually laugh like a fool. Well, this morning, I saw a story that made me laugh, but it was more the "sickly" kind of laugh:

California to ban state trinkets. Your move Arizona (money.cnn.com)

I guess our business (or, at least, part of our business) has Made It. We've become a punchline on Fark. Governor Moonbeam (D-ranged) has determined that the path to financial sanity for California is paved with the discarded carcasses of promotional products.

And look at the savings! The CNN story says that almost $7 million was spent between 2007 and 2010 on these "trinkets"! That during a period when CA's budget deficits were exploding, with the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst predicting a $25 BILLION deficit this year alone.

$7 million? This is the textbook definition of "rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic".

I guess you gotta start somewhere, but when you start with a number this insignificant it sorta renders the entire process something of a joke, or at least a Witch Hunt. I'd love to find out how many pamphlets CA printed over those past three years that are in landfills somewhere. Or how many extra forms they printed they didn't use, or God knows what other "wasteful" uses of the taxpayer's dime.

PPAI is mobilizing, as are CA's two major Regional Associations, against this decision. They can speak with some authority, as they mention the numbers of Californians who derive their living from selling promotional products. They may even make some inroads.

But the trend is disturbing for our business--again, we're being seen as a "cost" instead of an "investment". The CNN story mentions that some of the promotional products were urging conservancy--as if it were a contradiction in terms.

We're going back to the "demonizing" of our livelihoods--like what happened when the President declared that all employee/customer events were Evil, and Las Vegas was the Mordor of corporate spending. The incentive travel business is STILL trying to recover from it.

It's sad. I don't go to Fark to hear about my business. I go there to see these gems:

(NBC DFW)

Remember those awesome Naked Scanners the TSA just had to have? An undercover agent was able to sneak a gun through the one at DFW every single time she tried. If only there were some sort of device that could detect metal items (nbcdfw.com)

Pete