Word: squalorous
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That is to say, it's a large, open, blue-lit space where dozens of young men, operating at the top of their lungs, sell disreputable stocks to people who mostly can't afford them. Phony pharmaceuticals are particular favorites, which compounds the moral squalor of the operation. In their off-hours the young hustlers watch Glengarry Glen Ross to learn the tricks of their trade and Wall Street to justify it. But they don't really need audio-visual education. Not when they have Jim Young so close at hand. He's their recruiter, mentor, goad and ideal...
...film opens with a scene of squalor in the McCourt household in 1935. Angela has just given birth to her first daughter, adding to her family of four sons. Shortly afterward, the daughter dies. Unfortunately the viewer doesn't have time to care whether the infant lives or dies, thus revealing the first of many flaws in the film: in adapting the book to film, the filmmakers tried to cram as much of the book as possible into a two-hour movie, and this simply doesn't work...
...free trade may be true, but it's not obviously true. In fact, it's counterintuitive. If a factory shuts down because of a flood of cheap foreign products, how is that good? If middle-class Americans find themselves competing with foreigners being paid practically nothing and living in squalor, how can this send Americans' standard of living up and not down? If another nation is willing to pollute its air and water in order to produce goods for sale in the global economy, how can America join that economy and still hope to keep its own air and water...
...refugees from the author's novels Idoru and Virtual Light navigate the blurry boundary between terrestrial reality and cyberspace, meeting a new raft of 21st century weirdos as an ill-defined societal apocalypse nears. The ferociously talented Gibson (Neuromancer) delivers his signature melange of techno-pop splendor and postindustrial squalor, but this time his teasing, multicharacter narrative leads only to an irritating head scratcher of a conclusion. Genre freaks: this appears to complete the trilogy. Connoisseurs: just reread Neal Stephenson...
Roche was once something of a legend, a man who brought famous faces and fat wallets to the secluded campus 90 miles southwest of Detroit. To conservatives he was a bulwark against moral squalor and political correctness. Even liberal critics marveled at his gift for persuading donors to support him in his stand against federal money. During his time as president, he raised more than $300 million. Today Hillsdale survives mostly off interest from a $172 million endowment. It was just $4 million before Roche became president...