Academy Awards for the Real World by Susan C. Walker

Best Picture - Little Miss "Stock Market" Sunshine. Clearly, 2006 was the year for the stock markets that just couldn't stop smiling.

Best Foreign Film - China Stock Market. The Shanghai Composite Index filmed a beautiful screenplay in 2006, rising exponentially from around 1100 to nearly 3000. But there's something to be wary of in this movie,

Best Actor - Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve chairman. Bernanke has done the superb acting job expected of Fed chairmen by making everyone feel good about the economy and inflation.

Best Live Action Short Film - "Bonus Baby" by Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs. Why a short film? Because Blankfein has been CEO of Goldman Sachs for only six months, stepping into the top job after Henry Paulson left to become Secretary of the Treasury.

Lifetime Achievement - Warren Buffett. He's beloved and he's not dead yet (à la Monty Python), but he sure knows how to give his money away, having pledged $30 billion to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Best Costume Design - John McCain. McCain wins for his quick costume change over the past year. He started by wearing the Western cowboy costume of an independent maverick, but now the Arizona senator has donned the mainstream Republican cloth overcoat for his latest role as frontrunner in the presidential campaign drama.

Best Film Editing -All the CEOs who backdated their stock option grants. Film editors know how to look at a long piece of film and cut it to make the action come out perfectly.

Best Makeup - National Association of Realtors. After a few great years of constantly expanding housing starts and higher home prices, the folks at the NAR have had to dig deep into the makeup kit to learn how to paint a happy face on each month's increasingly negative housing statistics.

Best Original Song -"Patience" from Dreamgirls. If you are trying to sell your house in one of the nation's markets that's gone sour, you have got to have patience in abundance. "There's a river to cross, And a mountain to climb, Patience, patience, It's gonna take some time."

Best Director - Gerald Grinstein, Delta Air Lines. When most of the business world figured Delta was down and out in bankruptcy court, U.S. Airways figured it could steal a march on other airlines by acquiring Delta.

Best Supporting Actor - Ted Wells, Scooter Libby's attorney. He injected drama into the end of the four-week trial of Scooter Libby, former top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney. Wells oozed sincerity and caring.

Best Supporting Actress - Secretary of State Condi Rice. She's the rising star in the Bush Administration, despite having to jostle with the seasoned veteran, Dick Cheney, for her own close-ups on camera. The question is, will she take a chance on a bigger role as a candidate for president in 2008?


Read the rest here at The Daily Reckoning

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Congratulations to AL GORE, member of the REAL real world for winning Best Documentary -- AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH!!!