Plans for a National Museum of Hip-Hop have already hit a major snag: the old school founders of the culture want to get paid. Does the world owe anything to the innovators—who were screwed as subculture became pop culture?

The Way We Live Now: Engendering hopelessness in our best and brightest. Our youngest and strongest and most optimistic job candidates are the ones we crush first. Then the children. Then we give everything to the old, who soon croak.

Sick of all these rich guys' crap, Thai protesters went ahead and set the country's stock exchange on fire today. "Earlier in the day, Thailand's benchmark index finished up 0.7% on hopes for a quick resolution." Efficient-market hypothesis: disproved. [WSJ]

The Way We Live Now: Like newborn nationalists. Forsake the trap of globalization, quick! Trust not in the shifty promises of the inscrutable Chinee, nor in the Indian, nor in the deceptively stout German. USA, we keep our profits here!

The Way We Live Now: Looking at the big picture. It lifts our battered spirits to think not just of our own poor circumstances, but of the bigger losses suffered by Jay-Z, and other rich folks. It's economics, or something.

The Way We Live Now: Realigning our expectations with reality. It's better to say that than to say that we're finally resigning ourselves to the soul-crushing exigencies of fate. Only Wal-Mart can save us now.

College was once regarded as a place where no-good kids could smoke weed for four years and come out technically qualified for a high-paying career. Now, its regarded as a place you can't afford. But is three-year college worth it?

We chuckled derisively when Goldman Sachs announced it had a perfect trading quarter without a single day of losses; now, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Citigroup have said they also had perfect quarters. How easy are their jobs? [NYT]

The Way We Live Now: Embracing the dark side. When evil is the only path to survival, then evil is the path that we shall trod. Whether that means stealing from neighbors, taking your livelihood, or wearing an ugly sweatshirt.

The Way We Live Now: Commuting the old fashioned way. Imaginarily, because who has an actual job? Who can afford cabs? Who can afford nickels? Who can afford homes? Who can afford spas? The homeless, that's who.

Goldman Sachs reports that they didn't lose money on a single trading day in the first quarter! And on more than half of the days, they netted more than $100 million! Goldman Sachs can't be beat! [BusinessWeek]

The Way We Live Now: Getting kicked while we're down. The schools are crumbling. Even the military ones! The jobs are scarce. Even for smart people! The rents are rising. The babies are crying. We ain't got much.

All those problems in Greece are real, apparently: the Dow Jones fell nearly 1,000 points this afternoon before rebounding somewhat. Currently it's down nearly 450 points on the day. Hey, let's not do this again, okay?

In your enriching Thursday media column: someone in the media finally strikes it rich, everyone blames Jon Meacham, Les Moonves is wildly overpaid, and you better not buy what he's selling.

The Way We Live Now: Just trying to keep the olds in one place. As if we didn't have enough troubles, what with our money and our nation and our companies going up in flames. Grandma's in the yard—angry.

For two decades, Charlie Sheen's personal life has been a battlefield of bitter ex-wives, broken engagements, porn stars, hookers, drug-fueled orgies, and domestic discord. No wonder his prenup—which we revealed yesterday—is so obsessed with minimizing risk.

The Way We Live Now: Searching for scapegoats. You can't indict someone as a villain based purely upon the ravings of the populists, you know. Congressmen are not the enemy. Nor are airlines, or free Kiehls samples. Nor is sex!

The only way to "make it" in the media now is to pay a huge bribe to secure a coveted "intern" slot at a failing media outlet, where you can begin sleeping your way to the top. The going rates?

The Way We Live Now: Taking all those negative thoughts and shoving em where the leading economic indicators don't shine. Auctions are back! Crime is back! Torahs are back! And the only broke ones are the jerks, in Connecticut!

In your magical Monday media column: Media CEOs earn Monopoly money, a fine White House Celebucocksucking Dinner roundup, CNN gets a new toy, and the Arizona Republic finds a use for editorials.