So I was thinking about this whole money thing and hard work and reward what not. Right or wrong, some NOFX lyrics come to mind. First some background: 

General Motors blew other job-loss news out of the water this week when it presented its viability plan to the government.

The 117-page plan, required for the company to get the billions it needs to save itself from extinction, hit every part of the company with cuts, alterations, trims and so on. The big number to come out of it all: 47,000.

and

General Motors Corp (GM.N) Chief Executive Rick Wagoner’s salary and other compensation rose 64 percent in 2007 to about $15.7 million, mainly due to option grants, according to a proxy filed on Friday.

So now for the lyrics:

Frank, the new ceo had to answer to the board.
The board was getting anxious, and the shareholders were
On a bed, legs in air, ass-cheeks open wide
They were about to get fucked like it was their first time.
When one makes 20 million, ten thousand people lose.
What keeps that one from swallowing a shotgun?

And I would honestly like to know how CEOs can continue to justify millions of dollars in salary and bonuses at the expense of their workforce. One guy makes 15 million dollars, and in order for him to continue to do so, 43,000 people need to lose their job. They justify it as “like sports, you are buying talent when you get a CEO” however, this isn’t sports. When you don’t return on your promises and supposed talents, tens of thousands lose their job – in sports some people just get mad that you didn’t make the playoffs.

So I would really like to know how CEOs can make 20 million, and 10,000 lose, what stops them from swallowing a shotgun. NOFX apparently has the answer there too:

The guilty dont feel guilty, they learn not to.

CEOs: If your company is sinking, do the right thing and cut loose your bonuses and your benefits. Hell, you should probably cut loose your salary too, considering you make more in a single year than 100 of your employees combined. I think you can probably afford to spend a year or two without salary to keep a few people employed until this whole mess blows over.

Back from the holiday break with new electronics on hand. Ah, yes… nothing feels more gratifying and more amazing than to open up that Xmas package to find that gadget you always wanted. (Okay, maybe a couple things are more gratifying..)

You tear through the box, instructions go flying(who needs em, anyways?), cables are being wrapped up in your face and finally you get everything plugged in! You power the device on and it gives you the feint hope that all is working to your hearts content. Then, in a blink of an eye, something terrible happens. Something… everything goes wrong.

Suddenly, this coveted piece of technology needs to be slapped into a box and sent back for replacement (*cough* at your charge).

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This is going to be a baaaad item of the week. Not bad like I suck at writing, but bad like I hate this damn product. I’m not writing this so much because I thought it would be a nice review for this week, I am writing this to encourage IT admins, etc. to steer far and clear of this product.

It’s bad… real bad. Worse than you thought, most likely.

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Alliteration ftw, amirite?

In the latest economics move, Ben Bernanke is trying to urge Congress to push through yet another stimulus package with the intent of jump-starting the economy. If Congress goes forward with this, I will lose almost all ability to have any faith in anyone in administration knowing anything about economics or history.

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I have written and said a lot of things before with a lot of emotion and, perhaps even, exaggeration. However, today, I am flat-out mad. Today, October 3rd 2k8, Congress decided that taxpayers were eligible and required to pay COMPANIES for the failures and fuck-ups of Wall St.. Companies did so poorly and took so many risks that they aren’t even liable for their own actions, we, the middle class, are.

Today, the bailout bill was passed, and today the pockets of every tax-paying citizen were reached into so that a companies stock doesn’t go down.

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Big news at CNN today is the announcement of a “several hundred billion dollar” bank bailout that will “attempt” to get financial institutions back on their feet. If you have been living under a rock for the past two years, the story is: banks were giving out sub-prime loans to people for housing purchases. These people defaulted on their loans in mass leaving the banks with property that wasn’t worth the loan and out the money. This spurred a lack of confidence in investors who would not continue to support the loans forcing the banks to stop giving loans. If the bank isn’t giving out loans, people aren’t buying homes. When people aren’t buying homes, our economy (apparently) tanks.

In response to this, there is plans being put down that will attempt to “bail out” the banks by having the government absorb some or all of the debts of these banks: amounting in hundreds of billions of dollars (apparently).

This is bad… here’s why:

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