The wealthy dead

One of the many inconveniences of being dead is that, in the words of the old saying, you can't take it with you - the "it" being wealth.

If the dead still do have some consciousness, a worthy topic by itself in the week of Halloween, it must be doubly galling for them to accumulate money after dying and have no way of spending it. Of course, I am assuming most of the equipment you need for being dead is provided free on-site - wings, halos and harps for the saints, pitchforks for the sinners (plus a TV that plays only WQED pledge drives).

The wealthy dead were the subject of a front-page story in the Post-Gazette this morning under the headline "Gone but Not Forgotten." Among those who continue to earn the big bucks while deceased are Yves Saint Laurent, Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley and Pittsburgh's own Andy Warhol. They occupy different positions on the Forbes list of dead celebrities.

If earning power in life is any guide, this is one list I expect not to be on when I go to the Great Newsroom in the Sky. While I am not jealous, I do think this is unfair - not to the dead but the living. We are here working our butts off while all they do is lie about.

That's capitalism for you, a necropolis of inequitable human endeavor, make no bones about it.