Writer's Strike

Artist and worker solidarity; I whole-heartedly support. Unions are an important part of America's economic strength. But Kelsey, you say, Union's are in direct conflict with the goals and efficiency intended in a free-market capitalistic society, how can they possibly be beneficial to the American economy, let alone, part of it's strength?
(For a moment let's suspend the outbursts of "WHAT STRENGTH!?" due to the current recession- and deal in generalities of the last century and America's previous dominance of Western civilization.)
Oh silly, naive, albeit fabricated antagonist- you are taking a decidedly ignorant/simplistic interpretation of the economy. If we are to follow the theory of Keynesian economics- and most of the post-WWII population does, we can logically find that a certain level of government price controls and modes of action designed to monitor and regulate the free-market WILL lead to the most efficient and more importantly, stable economy a modern nation can hope for. Unions being one of these controls, not directly in line with government controlled rate changes and controls, but an important product of American capitalism none-the-less. Disagree? Well you can thank Unions for giving us the 8 hour work day, health care (however much this has been eliminated), vacation time, minimum wages etc. Basically, giving us the "civilized conditions" under which we now live, undermined though they may be, by globalization.
This leads me to my distantly alluded to point. The Writer's Strike. A good idea, in theory. In action, I'm starting to think the meaning is being lost. They made their stand clearly when, striking together, they almost completely shut-down Hollywood. But with recent "cracks" in the wall, so to speak (the reemergence of late night's like Conan, Leno, and Letterman), it appears as if the strike is breaking down.
And with the comebacks of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, it appears ever more apparent that the stars themselves are getting desperate, and, dare I say it, scabby? I don't watch the big late-night guys, so I'm not quite sure at what level they're operating, but I can speak from the perspective of someone who watches Colbert and Stewart like it's her job. Aside from losing a lot cleverness, they appear to be functionally in the realm of normalcy. Now I'm the last person who wants to believe this, but is what Jon and Stephen doing, hurting their striking brethren? Only time will tell, I guess, and I'm trying to give them the benefit of the doubt, but it appears to be a major chink in the armor of the guild- just trying to get just compensation for their intellectual property.
Meanwhile, all of us out there in TV land must come face-to-face with some of the most gruesome reality crap the networks can drag up. Not that I'm not fan of reality crap, (Flavor of Love is a work of art), but it's crap that doesn't know and embrace it's ridiculousness. Most notably, I couldn't help but stumble upon NBC's recent revival of American Gladiator. Remember this one? I seem to recall it only on "off-brand" affiliate networks such as, UPN and PAX, but not anymore. The previously shunned, dead air time-filler (Saturday morning staple), is now prime-time, front and center- with Hulk Hogan himself as host! Our souls may be dying inside, but hey, the steroid industry hasn't gotten a shot-in-the-arm like this in years. (Pun MOST DEFINITELY intended)

Peace, hepcats