Let's do a quick summary of how the 'bailout' situation is unfolding: Back in October Hank Paulson, Ben Bernanke and Greenberg put a gun to congress head and said "give us 700 billion now or the economy dies!!!! Don't think about it, we're only a few days away from the acopalypse, do it, do it now you idiots!!!" (imagine an Arnold Schwarzeneger accent for extra emphasis) We do seem to buy that 'end of the world' bait hook, line and sinker everytime don't we? The last time...
Obama winning the presidential election is the greatest thing going for the Republican party right now. In fact, the absolute BEST outcome possible for the Republicans is if they are not in power, or hold any majorities in any branch of government over the next 4 years. If anything, everyone who is wailing and moaning that Obama is going to destroy the country should be thanking him for taking power in the near future! Why? Please allow me to explain; If...
Let's take a quick look at the day in recap; Circuit City filed for bankruptcy, with guaranteed massive job losses on the way.... HAW HAW!!!! DHL is cutting 9,500 jobs in the U.S.... HAW HAW!!!!! GM is burning through cash and anounced today 5000 more cuts.... HAW HAW!!!! Nortel..... HAW HAW!!!! Sorry, had to get that out of the way first... Nortel is cutting 1200 more jobs Motorola recently anounced 3,000 job cuts... HAW HAW!!!! Fannie May posted a 29 ...
So far this year more than 110,000 workers on Wall Street have lost their jobs. Most estimates agree that by the time the bloodletting is done we could end up with almost 200,000 financial sector workers joining the ranks of the unemployed. But that isn't all. Manufacturing is still shedding jobs, especially anything to do with autos or auto parts. Construction workers -and- the many industries that support them are also looking grim. And let's not forget the front end of a...
The CEO of a capital management company in L.A is quitting his job. He's walking away with a ton of money (made legitimately, and his company is doing fine) but he's decided he's made his coin and it's time to go. He sent a farewell letter that you've gotta read- http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/oct/18/banking-useconomy And I quote; "The boss of a successful US hedge fund has quit the industry with an extraordinary farewell letter dismissing his ...
We keep hearing about the bailout plan and how we need to "re-capitalize" big banks to make everything better. I can't help but stand back, and look at the fact that the reality on the ground is being ignored; 1 in 6 homes are currently underwater. This means that the amount owed on the mortgage is greater than what the home could be sold for. Average consumer is tapped out, between car loans, home loans, student loans and credit cards the average joe has been living beyond his means for y...
Yesterday was the Canadian Federal Election. I cast a ballot and the fellow that I voted for got into office by only a 500 vote lead, so I'm glad I contributed my little slice to the democratic process. This was the third time I've voted federally. The first time was when I was 18, and I voted conservative. The next two times, my opinions had changed and so did my vote (one thing I can indeed thank George W. for, who I was a big fan ...
What's all this ruckus about voter registration and election fraud? I'm asking because in Canada, our elections are run a little differently from you fine folks in the U.S and quite frankly we don't go through the kind of ridiculousness I'm seeing in the news. In fact, we're having our own federal election on tuesday, the day after our thanksgiving and I can pretty much guarantee it's going to be a far milder event than the pomp and pageantry tha...
I'd like to share with you all an event that transpired this past weekend. Normally, I don't like to blog about my personal life, because well, it's my personal life. But this particular story is a microcosm of what's going on in the bigger picture, and why our society is so utterly screwed up. On saturday, my girlfriend and I went to a local car dealership. She's looking to buy a new car, as she has an old beater she picked up a while back and it's time to part ways. In this parti...
A letter from Michael Moore, on his website here- http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?id=237 Because, well, I think it's interesting, and I know he gets people's blood boiling on this site!! neener neener, Artysim Friends, The richest 400 Americans -- that's right, just four hundred people -- own MORE than the bottom 150 million Americans combined. 400 rich Americans have got more stashed away than half the entire country! Their combined net...
Wanna make a quick 19 million bucks? All it'll take is 3 weeks. Cause that's what hapenned to the last CEO of Washington Mutual (WaMu) He worked there for three weeks, during which time the bank nosedived and is now being snapped up by JP Morgan at firesale prices. Okay, well, he's still technically working there. He has to stay on the job for a little while longer while JP Morgan consolidates it's takeover of assets, but comeon! Let's look at this this way: Th...
I've decided that for the most part I'm going to stop commenting on and posting about the ongoing financial shenanigans. My reason? It's become so ridiculous that satire is no longer necessary. It has become pure satire by it's very nature. Quite possibly, decades or generations from now this whole episode will go down in the history books as one of the biggest gag-reels of all time (next to of course, the creation of man and all the havoc we've visited on this once slee...
The other night I was watching The Office, one of my favorite shows. In this particular episode, the HR rep Toby was quitting after several years. The boss, Michael Scott could hardly contain his glee that Toby was going as he has always hated him for no particular reason, in several episodes calling him "satan" and "judas" whenever he would make any comment. Anywho, Michael confides to the camera that he's been relishing the exit interview for years now and is well prepared to dish...
It's time for the U.S to give peace a chance. "what the hell are talking about boy?? Don't you know those terrorists are gonna kick down our doors and chop our heads off at any minute!?!?" Without expounding further on the fact that you have a much higher chance of dying in a car accident or a heart attack from eating too much high calorie junk than you do from getting killed in a terrorist attack, let's look at the current U.S situation on the world stage. Namely, let's look at all the cu...
Everyone rejoice! All of our economic problems are solved! You know all of that doom and gloom we've been hearing about liquidity problems with major banks not having enough capital to cover their losses and keep running? Well it's all taken care of. Big papa government's stepped in and says they're gonna make it all better. They're going to set up a special corporation that is going to take all of the bad debt that is killing the banks, and at the same time they're going to give money...