Another day of news and another heavy sigh. I could just beat my head against a wall, but then my insurance company may not pay for the resulting medical bills. The problem is when god damn cocksuckers screw all of us then nothing happens to them. NOTHING! A President shreds my rights and has lied to my face, a freaking CEO gets a nice bonus of killing his company and the jobs of his workers, and yet some guy gets caught with a bit of weed and gets years in prison. Why do we go down this road every time? I can’t be the only person who doesn’t ride the short bus.
The company I work for has a performance bonus each month if we reach certain quality standards. If we do we get some extra cash and a pat on the back. If not, we don’t get a bonus.
Someone with only half a brain understands how that works – right? I get an incentive to go the extra mile – which in turns helps the company. If I don’t then I don’t get the extra perk(s) and at worst I could lose my job if my work falls below a base level of expectations. My company operates on a “what have you done lately” premise. I have seen people with 10 years experience let go because they failed through all the progressive steps used to help us do a good job. They weren’t paid extra for not doing their job.
It seems the rich and well connected don’t get it. Yes, I have known they are treated differently but it drives me batty that even their ethical values are opposite of what I am expected to follow. Here some examples:
The South Financial Group, South Carolina’s largest bank, announced earlier this week that it had been approved to receive $347 million [1] from the U.S. government. But the bank’s founder and longtime CEO Mack Whittle won’t be sticking around. He retired with an $18 million severance package in late October, two months earlier than had been expected. Because of the timing, he’s free from golden parachute limits that come with accepting bailout money.
The $18 million package “reflected [Whittle’s] 20 year career with [South Financial Group] as its founder and only CEO,” the bank said in a statement [5]. (We called the bank and they referred us to the statement.) In addition to a $4 million cash severance payment and $9 million pension benefit, the plan came with a number of side perks like a $133,920 auto allowance and $75,000 for “financial planning.”
Under Whittle, the bank grew to be the largest based in South Carolina, with $13.7 billion in total assets and 180 branch offices in Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina. But the bursting of the housing bubble has hit the South Financial Group hard. Since the beginning of 2007, the bank’s stock [6] has fallen sharply from above $26 to about $3.50 today. The bank booked a $25 million net loss [7] in its third quarter.
Bank Got Bailout, CEO Got Golden Parachute
A majority of America’s largest publicly traded companies and the U.S. government’s largest federal contractors — including some receiving millions in federal bailout money — use multiple subsidiaries in offshore tax havens to conduct business and avoid paying U.S. taxes, a new report finds.
To illustrate the problem, Levin said the report found that Citigroup has set up 427 tax haven subsidiaries to conduct its business, including 91 in Luxembourg, 90 in the Cayman Islands and 35 in the British Virgin Islands. He said other havens include Switzerland, Hong Kong, Panama and Mauritius.
Bailed-Out Firms Have Tax Havens, GAO Finds
Although [Obama] doesn’t rule out investigations – and appears to be passing the baton to his Attorney General – it’s hard listening to Obama talking of “looking forward” and not to conclude that he’s going to pass on this.
However, the rest of the planet will not forgive or forget what the Bush regime engaged in: Torture.
Nor has Bush shown the slightest regret for his actions. Indeed, he recently argued that Obama must use the same techniques as he did
Bush says two things here which are important. He claims that he checked the legality of his actions, which is simply laughable. What he actually did was engage John Yoo to tell him that these actions were legal, despite the fact that the US has previously prosecuted people for the very actions Bush indulged in.
The second important thing he says is that members of Congress were consulted. This more than anything else accounts for Pelosi and others scrambling to give immunity to the telecoms. There are people in the Democratic party who were consulted and, I suspect, are up to their eyeballs in this.
Obama on Investigating Bush Crimes: “Need to look forward”
Then finally on my local level with a small bit of rational justice – finally:
Ohio’s second-largest public pension system had been linking its bonuses to benchmarks. That meant investment officers still qualified for big checks even in economic downturns, so long as their portfolios performed better than market averages.
Supporters of the system said it has helped minimize losses even when investment markets crash.
Some retired teachers called on the pension board to change the formula in the fall after The Dispatch reported that 21 investment officers earned bonuses of $100,000 or more in 2008, with 10 clearing $200,000. The bonuses came on top of base salaries ranging from $170,000 to $270,000.
In a 6-3 vote yesterday with one abstention, the board approved a compromise that will cut bonuses in down years but not eliminate them, which some retired teachers had advocated.
Payouts will be cut if the teachers’ retirement fund falls
But what really got to me was a final quote later in the article:
The three board members who voted against cutting the bonuses noted that the board had approved them last year, and to change the formula now would be reneging on that promise.
“Philosophically, I am very much opposed to the suspension of the promise we made to the employees,” said Tim Myers, a board member and teacher. “I don’t think I can vote for a plan that goes back on a promise we made to our employees.”
“(The decision) was finally a realization that we’re in unique times and when you’re in unique times, you need unique solutions,” said David Parshall, a retired teacher from the Southwest Licking School System who heads a group of activist retirees. “Promises that have been made to retirees have been broken, and no one has shed a tear.”
Circuit City, for example, will be shedding 36,000 jobs when they close down within days. We’ve already lost hundred of thousands of jobs since the cocksucking rich and well connected stabbed us all in the ass and NONE of the current solutions help us – real Americans – the ones who can’t afford it. The latest is the no strike clause in the recent auto bail out agreement.
I was taught that I will be held accountable for my actions, whatever the result. When will that be happening for the money whores and well connected?
