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Browsing All posts tagged under »commentary«
Happy April Fool’s Day: The Real Joke Happens The Rest Of The Year
April 1, 2009
So, this is April Fool’s Day. And what have you done? Another year over. A new one just begun. As far as I can tell, there is no genuine consensus on the origin of April’s annual day of pranks. Even so, there is a dominant theme that runs through many of the educated guesses I’ve […]
The Bigger They Are The Harder They Should Fall: Let AIG Die and Let’s Get on With Renewal
March 21, 2009
Just when you think AIG couldn’t look worse, the crack team of greed-parasites (formally known as “the management team”) one up themselves. This just in: after causing a huge furor by admitting they were contractually obliged to pay about $165-million in retention pay “bonuses” to the “we destroyed the company / financial system unit” (formally […]
How Do You Spell Blood-Sucking-Greed-Machine-Parasite In Canadian? NORTEL, eh.
March 21, 2009
Wow. Double wow. Look directly at camera, shrug shoulders, and roll eyes. Triple wow. This just in from the world of corporate executive greed — Canadian stylz. This time the player is Nortel Networks Corp. Another retention plan. More executive “bonuses.” For the very same crazy cats that helped “manage” the company to bankruptcy protection. […]
Two Wrongs Don’t Make A Right: US Government Moves To Tax AIG “Bonuses”
March 19, 2009
It seems the Democratic-led House is moving quickly to capitalize on wide spread outrage at AIG “bonuses”. They are passing a special law to tax the money right back. For Globe coverage, see here. If you want to know why “bonuses” is in quotes, check out Rostockrose’s comment, here. My view, as expressed in a previous post, […]
How Do You Spell Blood-Sucking-Greed-Machine-Parasite? AIG
March 16, 2009
This just in: American International Group [good ol' AIG ] is doling out tens of millions of dollars in new bonuses to some of its executives, after receiving more than $US 170-billion in aid from American taxpayers. But, wait! It gets better! No, seriously. Wait for it. Wait for it. The lion’s share of the payments […]
Let My People Go, Part Deux: I Will Let You Help Me But On One Condition: Bend Over Please.
March 13, 2009
The demands of the auto industry continue to escalate. It really should come as no surprise but the audacity of it all continues to delight and disgust me in a curious way. Auto industry executives who, through their own mismanagement, have killed the viability of their very own industry are now using that outcome as […]
Where’s Moses When You Need Him: Let My People Goooooo!
March 10, 2009
Imagine for a second, there is a ship filled with people and it is sinking. Let’s also imagine, you only have enough time and resources in the here and now either to plug holes which are almost certain one day to unplug again or make sure every person on the ship has a life-vest so […]
How to Knee-Cap Your Grandchildren: A Financial Crisis Round-Up, For Those Of You Playing Along At Home
March 6, 2009
There is a general consensus: the present financial crisis was spurred by the US Fed’s decision to keep interest rates artificially low, which created incentives for investors to find new and, eventually, unorthodox investment opportunities (e.g. mortgages), which created incentives for some companies to circumvent or ignore financial regulations in order to make questionable investment opportunities (e.g. sub-prime […]
The Liberals Finally Have Their King: Here’s Hoping He Never Becomes Our King
May 4, 2009
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Michael Ignatieff was finally coronated leader of the Federal Liberal Party this weekend. Let’s hope that Mr. Ignatieff, and the backroom boys that orchestrated his coronation, never end up running the Federal Government. I say this because all indications are that Mr. Ignatieff is an intellectual yes-man, especially for the guys with the guns. To illustrate this point, […]