Not so long ago, when someone said, "I'm an IBMer," we all knew what he or she meant. That person was smart, well educated and set for life.

With the recent fall of huge companies, such as GM, Bear Stearns - who most of us thought would be around well after all of us - everything has changed.

Branding is the latest buzzword. Just like McDonald's, FOX News or Madonna, individuals have to build their own brand.

Housekeeper, brain surgeon or writer like myself, it's all the same. Youtube, twittering and facebook take us around the world in seconds making resumes and CV's (curriculum vitae - an overview of one's life) so yesterday.

Dickens was right - it is the best of times and worst of times. But, with the help of technology, all of us can build our brand and make ourselves visible.

Like many of you, I am new at this and not comfortable flaunting my skills, but I will.

After all, it is 2009 and this is the ways things are done today. So, are you out there building your brand?

If not, what R U waiting 4?

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Despite Bernie Madoff's 150-year sentence, those he swindled received a far harsher sentence than he did.

Madoff is assured of three squares a day, a roof over his head and medications. He will never have to worry if he can afford to pay a utility bill, pay for a prescription or heat or cool his dwelling.

Some of his victims were very rich and have at least some others assets, but others were middle class and lost everything. Financial recovery is nearly impossible for those who are retirement age or elderly.

Because many charitable organizations invested with him, we'll never know for sure how many people he hurt or devastated.

Madoff's wife, Ruth, recently agreed to give up any claim to $80 million worth of assets so she could keep $2.5 million in cash the couple had (stole would be a better word.)

Instead of jail, why not let the Madoff's live the life many of their victims now have?

Let them find a decent place to live on with their meager Social Security income and buy their groceries with food stamps. Decide which medications they can no longer afford - Medicare does not pay for prescriptions.

Allow them to experience the horror of picking up mail that is filled with bills that are impossible to pay and calls from nasty bill collectors.

In other words - worry how to survive every day. Seems like a better punishment to me. Perhaps, if future Madoffs, know they will inherit the financial ruin they so cavalierly create for others, it will cause them to reconsider, although probably not.

What do you think?

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Is it possible people are more interested in reality TV stars like Kate & Jon and the real housewives of Orange County, New York, Atlanta and New Jersey than the likes of Brad and Angelina?

That thought seems to be driving media people such as, Geraldo Rivera, who rants about everything, and Perez Hilton, famous for ranting against the former Miss California, Carrie Prejean , crazy.

Could it be – horrors - that the general public doesn’t really care about Hollywood and film stars or their multiple marriages or their much-publicized adoptions of children or their political opinions? The sales of magazines, such as People, would indicate that is so.

At Starbucks, I heard five or six men “of a certain age,” discussing Kate and Jon and the impact of their divorce on their eight children. That’s amazing just in itself.

Maybe we’re all more interested in other minions – people just like us. Or at least they were like us before they made zillions of dollars filming their reality series in addition to the many perks that go with it.

I know a former editor of a national gossip newspaper that will go unnamed. I shared with him that I didn’t think people were really that interested in celebrities. Surprisingly, he agreed.

Magazines featuring reality “stars” are selling out, while the others sit there – begging to at least be glanced at as you stand waiting in line to be checked out at the grocery store.

The people who publish seem to be the last to get it. Arianna Huffington of the Huffington Post just can’t comprehend this trend - someone hand the woman a fan to cool herself off.

Is it possible they don’t get it because they don't want to get it? Time will tell.

I think Rivera and Perez’ problem is they see the handwriting on the wall meaning “bye, bye” to their lucrative jobs reporting on celebs that none of us care about.

I don’t know about you, but I’m infinitely more interested in seeing and reading about the millions of minions - not the Hollywood or D.C. crowd.

What do you think?

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