Not that there's anything wrong with being rich, mind you. The problem is that when us common folks eking out a living doing either what we love (because we like to) or what we hate (because we have to) are constantly bombarded with it, it gets a little sickening. One of the gag stories of the week is that so many newly bankrupt airlines are paying their attorneys millions of dollars while those who invested in their stock get an empty seat. And I haven't even started on how it affects the employees. You know, those people who foot the bill so the company can get back on its feet just in time to promptly fire them as a cost cutting measure. It's a shame when the nation's largest companies run by what are supposedly the brightest minds in America would rather file for bankruptcy than respond to the marketplace with innovative ideas and concepts. You know -- compete.

Today's USA Today says that Delta Airlines' attorneys bill up to $785 an hour. If they work the way most law firms do, the ultra-highly paid attorneys are delegating most of the work to the merely highly paid attorneys, and then laughing all the way up their own corporate ladder.

Get my drift? While your goal may not be to become a millionaire or get paid $785 an hour, let's face it, if you don't own something, you are at the mercy of a lot of people who you don't know. And don't care to know. Consider building your own corporate ladder, not so you can be the gag story of the week but so that you can build your future on the only solid economic foundation there is -- you and your own abilities.