Point Proven

Here is another fact to prove my point in my recent postings about the ex-AIG executive and the ex-GM CEO Wagoner: Wagoner leaving GM with compensation worth $23 MILLION

I sure this is taught in business school: Run your company in the ground, get millions. Oh, and in your spare time, make sure you screw over your employees so they don't have a pot to piss in.

GM CEO Forced Out

I don't think this is such a bad thing, GM CEO Wagoner forced out. I know a lot of people admire Rich Wagoner, but he has been with GM since 1977 and CEO in 2000. It may be time for some fresh blood that can do the hard things that need to be done (and I hope they bring in someone other then Vice Chairman and COO Henderson.) They need a fresh perspective to get their act together.

At least Bill Ford realized that he was not the guy to lead Ford during their restructuring, and might be one of the reasons why Ford is in a better position then GM. If you doubt Wagoner had to go, maybe you should check out GM's market share and stock price slide during his tenure...

How they built Stonehenge?

A friend of mine sent this video to me. It is pretty cool. Take a look and see if you think this "solves" the Stonehenge mystery (at least as to how they built it.)

AIG Executive resigns

An AIG executive resigned on the NY Times op-ed page. He has donated his entire bonus to charity. My two thoughts about this are:

1) do you think he would have resigned had he (as an AIG executive) not received as much bad press about the bonus (because he sure did not when he received so much negativity about what a horrible job he did to get the company in that bad of shape in the first place) and

2) I am glad he gave the money to SOMEBODY, but he still did not "get it." He felt he did a good enough job to receive the bonus in the first place, and only gave it up after getting beat up in the news.

I used to want to be a weather forecaster, since that was the only job you could be totally wrong at the majority of the time and still keep your position, but now I want to be a crappy executive for a horribly managed company. You can be wrong and still get a heck of a bonus!

Pitiful.

This adminstration is getting scary

They are only two months old, and already the administration is starting to scare me. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner wants Congress to give him "unprecedented power to take control of a major financial institution and run it."

I wonder where it is going to stop...

What an arrogant attitude

The condescending attitude displayed in this story is unbelievable. From comments like "a mob can be useful in driving a political movement" and the partnerships between AIG and the government must "proceed 'despite anger and outrage' over the bonuses." Plus they feel we can be "distracted by other events in the coming days."

What a bunch of crap! I don't believe that our employees in Washington 'get it." No one is helping me (or anyone I know) with a bail out. And they sure as he*l are not giving me a $1 million bonus for screwing up. This is not capitalism, where inefficiencies are driving out by market competition, but socialism where governments (again my money) prop up failing businesses because they think it might "hurt" our overall economy. There are banks and other financial institutions that did not conduct business so recklessly that are not getting handouts. They should be rewarded with a larger share of the market, and the others should be on the unemployment line.

Fire them all!

Japanese Man Tasering Himself

My last few posts have been kind of serious, so I thought I would show a clip of Japanese manufacture of tasers testing one out on himself.

Kinda funny in a sick sorta way...

Tea Party Protest

Have any of you been reading about the Tea Party protests going on throughout the country? They do not get much coverage from the MSM (Main Stream Media i.e. CNN, ABC etc) so you have do do a little digging. Basically it is grass-roots movement protesting the current state of our political system, specifically around taxes.

They are continually staging rallies around the country, and are aiming for massive ones on April 15th. Instapundit is one of my favorite blogs, and there are quite a number of entries about the protests on this page . Scroll down and read some of the comments and links to other entries as well as checking out the signs some of the people are carrying. My two favorites are the people holding up the signs which say "you can't fix stupid, but you can vote it out," and "don't spread my wealth, spread my work ethic." Perfect.

I am starting to like the idea more and more of a massive anti-tax revolt, especially after filing my taxes this year. In addition to the $6 gazillion I have already paid, I have to send a check to the federal government for even more money. This despite doing everything I could do to reduce my taxable income. For those of you who think "well, I am getting a return this year so I am ok" I offer two suggestions: 1) Look at how much you still PAID, and 2) guess what happens when your little tax-deductions grow up and move out...

Send me my fair share of this bull sh*t bailout, and let me decide what to do with MY money! If they really want to get the economy rolling again, give the money directly to the consumers (who are the ones who EARNED it after all) and not to a corporation who screwed up in the first place.

If anyone in Michigan is interested, the Tea Party web site is Fresh Tea Daily and, this is the web site to find out your local party's web site Nationwide Tax Day Tea Party

And if any of you are wondering, I am not a member of any right-wing neo-con organization (those groups scare me almost as much as the left wing nut jobs) just a concerned American exercising his constitutional rights...

Strikes

It is always interesting to compare strikes in Europe (especially France) with strikes in the U.S. In the U.S. the strikes are almost always about money in some form or fashion. In France, the strike is usually used as political tool to try and force policy change. I can not see the UAW (or any other union) going on a nation-wide strike to protest the cost of milk, or something like that...

I am not sure why the difference exists. I know most unions are pro-Democrat for some reason I can not fathom (NAFTA was signed into law by a Democrat btw) but they don't call for a nation-wide strike to protest a Republican president's policy decisions. Maybe it is the ability to contribute campaign dollars to the candidate of your choice which gives all of us the "freedom" to feel we can have an impact on our elected officials, or maybe it is the fact that most of us are greedy capitalists who only care about money...

Read about the latest strike here France hit by new wave of nationwide strikes

Biden's Comments about the economy

Biden states that the economy is tougher then FDR's (huh? 25% unemployment vs 10%, the majority of the people losing their homes now [at least at the onset of this recession,] should not have been able to buy them in the first place, etc) I would agree that it is bad out there (especially here in good old Detroit) but I don't think it is Great Depression bad. But my favorite part of Biden's speech is this" Congress's approval rating has DOUBLED (emphasis mine) since the Democrats are in office... because they took action.

Put down the crack pipe, Biden. Going from an approval rating of 1% to 2% (with a margin of error of 3%) is not something to cheer about. Besides, you (and the rest of Congress) pissed away a lot of my money, so it will be a LONG time before I approve of anything you people do

AIG

I absolutely LOVE this Senator's thoughts about AIG: Iowa Senator says AIG executives should resign or commit sucide

Yep, either one of them would be fine by me, especially after the bonus B.S. that has been in the news. If there is any doubt we are moving away from a capitalism-orientated society to a socialist/communist one, this should remove all doubt. When you start using MY (taxpayer) money to prop up a failing business, and then that business is allowed to squander (my) money with no repercussions, we are one step away from the Russian economy of the 60s, 70s, and 80s.

And I am giving a pass to the Detroit 3 for the current time for two reasons: One, from the start the money was considered a LOAN, and two, (after the private jet fiasco) the big dogs are agreeing to pay cuts, bonus cuts, etc until their companies become profitable again.

Aging Celebrities

Man, I thought I was looking old, but there ain't no comparison... Check it out here 20 Celebrities that have aged miserably

Funny Clip

If you need a good laugh, check out this clip I received from a friend. The language is a little strong so don't listen to it at work (for those of you that still have jobs!) Lisa Lampenelli and Simon Cowell on Leno

Michigan's Unemployment Rate

Sweet! We are number one in the nation! I am stating for the record that it will be five years before Michigan recovers. I think the rest of the country will be on the road to recovery by early next year, but not us... Michigan jobless rate highest in the nation

How to treat a woman

I received this video in an email and I thought it was pretty funny.

Farewell Email

Some suggestion for those of you who may get the opportunity (I did not) to send out your farewell email to your co-workers... "Farewell" takes new tone

Gitmo Detainees

And Obama wants to close Guantanamo... He better be very careful before he turns these people loose to do it again (but what do you expect from a junior Senator who was not even in office on 9/11???) Guantanamo Detainees say they planned 9/11

"Cheers" Bartender Laid Off

Man, it is getting bad when the guy who was the inspiration for the "Cheers" (for those of old enough to remember) bartender gets laid off. Boston's real-life "Cheers" bartender is laid off

Obama's Middle Class Task Force

Man of the people, my butt. Obama's Middle Class Task Force Has No Middle Class

Ironic, ain't it?

Obama and Gordon Brown

If you get a chance, read the Telegraph.co.uk article on Mr Brown's recent appearance at the White House. The article is interesting in itself, but what I really enjoyed reading were the comments. Read through them. It is fascinating to see what a wide range of opinions the British have about us. You can find the article here: President Barack Obama just plain rude

Baseball Ticket Prices

As I read about Manny Ramirez's $45 Mil for two years worth of work I had to wonder how this will affect the average fan who goes to the game. I guess they could bump up the hot dogs to $8, soda for $7, beer for $10, etc, in addition to raising ticket prices. Hey, I am all for getting what money you can, and if the owners think they can afford to pay top dollar for players, that is great for the players.

Not so good for the fans however, but the owners and players are in for a rude awakening when we remember that baseball (and all sports) is a business and we are their customer. What do you do as a customer when you feel you are paying too much for goods or services? Yep, you don't buy it.

They should all heed what Derrick Hall, CEO for the Arizona Diamondbacks said in a recent Fortune Magazine article titled How the Arizona Diamondbacks are coping with the recession. He said "The big difference between now and 30 years ago is the fan has a choice between spending $15 for a ticket plus drinks, food (emphasis mine) or staying at home and having the best seat in the house ... with the high definition tv... that's scary."

Yes, it is. And with my DVR I can pause, rewind and fast forward through the commercial breaks!

Mother/Wife of the Year Award

And the winner of our Mother/Wife Of The Year goes to an upstate NY women..Upstate NY woman sentenced for poisoning her husband and frame daughter

War on Drugs

I have mixed feelings on the "War on Drugs" having spent a number of months off the coast of Central/South America performing drug interdiction with limited success, but this video is still pretty funny.

Toyota Seeking Bailout

I am not a Japanese car basher by any means, so I do not take delight in this story. Toyota employs a lot of American workers, so their financial woes affect the US as well. But Toyota's problems may quell the critics in this country who are stating that the only reason the Detroit 3 need a bailout is because they can not produce a car people want to buy, and point to the Japanese automakers as proof that all Detroit needs to do is cut labor, eliminate product lines, etc and they would be fine. Read the article here: Toyota Seeking Government Bailout in Japan