2

12/11/2008 11:35:19 AM

Did you get lost on your way to Chit Chat? Let's keep that shit out of here.

12/11/2008 11:58:41 AM

Quote :

" (CNN) -- At this hour Friday, Congress is still fighting over whether to give the automakers $14 billion to try to prevent General Motors and Chrysler from going bankrupt. This is after dragging the CEO's of these companies to Capitol Hill, raking them over the coals, publicly humiliating them and demanding a detailed plan from them on just how this money will be spent. And by the way, I think they should have been raked over the coals. They should account for how taxpayers' money will be spent. But boy, wouldn't it be nice to see a little bit of equivalency for the big banks? Do you think anyone has asked the bank managers if they fly in private jets? Why aren't they being held to the same standard, in particular Citigroup, once the country's largest bank? Citi was on the verge of going under largely because its managers made some really dumb decisions. And yet, with little or no debate, Citi got a check for $45 billion, more than three times what the automakers were offered. You remember Robert Rubin, the former treasury secretary? He is one of the head honchos of Citi. Was he called to Capitol Hill, raked over the coals, publicly humiliated and made to account for how those dollars would be spent? Has he been asked whether he flies by private jet? Nope. No calls for his resignation. Now, I'm not arguing Citi shouldn't have gotten the money. Frankly, Citi's survival may be more important to the economy as a whole, as some have argued. But we damn sure ought to be holding all of these companies and all the managers who have screwed up these companies to the same standards. They are all asking for a government handout. They are all asking for your tax dollars. They all need to be held accountable. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Campbell Brown."

12/12/2008 9:47:03 PM

Yeah, we should hold them to the same standard that our politicians are held to when they spend our money..... oh wait.

12/13/2008 5:05:33 AM

It's crazy that congress is making such a big deal about this when they just dropped 700 billion for direct aids to the banks, and another 1 trillion in loans, but they are wringing their hands over another .014 trillion for the car companies.

It's a farce.

12/13/2008 11:56:23 AM

It is, but it is also understandable. For the $700B there was an election coming, so doing anything (even something stupid) was necessary to be seen doing something.

However, now the election is over, so Congress is returning to some semblance of rationality, I guess.

12/13/2008 12:49:06 PM

yes, very rational not to give some loans to some of the largest employers in the country

12/13/2008 1:04:15 PM

It is. Thank you for recognizing that.

Congress is not a bank. It should not be in the business of making loans.

12/13/2008 1:09:31 PM

if this is a once in a century type problem then i think i can handle the other how many ever years of no congress equaling a bank for this time

12/14/2008 12:10:08 AM

Quote :

"if this is a once in a century type problem "

They will be back before easter asking for a lot more money. This idea of car czar is the most ridiculous shit Ive heard try to be peddled on the american people. We can get blago to run it since lord knows there wont be ANY chance for bribes or kickbacks.

12/14/2008 11:16:51 AM

Quote :

"if this is a once in a century type problem"

People have argued that the banking crisis was a once in a century type problem. However, GM has been losing money since before the collapse of the car market and it will still be losing money after the car market recovers. As such, you are not counteracting a once in a century occurance, you are trying to counteract a permanent truth.

12/14/2008 11:23:49 AM

Quote :

"This idea of car czar is the most ridiculous shit Ive heard try to be peddled on the american people. We can get blago to run it since lord knows there wont be ANY chance for bribes or kickbacks."

12/14/2008 1:05:34 PM

Quote :

"This idea of car czar is the most ridiculous shit Ive heard try to be peddled on the american people. We can get blago to run it since lord knows there wont be ANY chance for bribes or kickbacks"

12/14/2008 9:58:45 PM

for reals or gimmickery?

12/19/2008 12:17:49 PM

Quote :

" Banks that are getting taxpayer bailouts awarded their top executives nearly $1.6 billion in salaries, bonuses and other benefits last year, an Associated Press analysis reveals. The rewards came even at banks where poor results foretold the economic crisis that sent them to Washington for a government rescue. Some trimmed their executive compensation because of lagging bank performance but still forked over multimillion-dollar executive pay packages. Perks included cash bonuses, stock options, personal use of company jets and chauffeurs, home security, country club memberships and professional money management, the AP review of federal securities documents found. The AP compiled total compensation for 600 executives at 116 banks based on annual reports that the banks file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The banks have so far received $188 billion in taxpayer help. Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and a long-standing critic of executive largesse, said the bonuses tallied by the AP review amount to a bribe "to get them to do the jobs for which they are well-paid in the first place. "Most of us sign on to do jobs, and we do them best we can," said Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat. "We're told that some of the most highly paid people in executive positions are different. They need extra money to be motivated." Among the findings: * The average paid to each of the banks' top executives was $2.6 million in salary, bonuses and benefits. * Lloyd Blankfein, president and chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs, took home nearly $54 million in compensation last year. The company's top five executives received a total of $242 million. The New York-based company on Dec. 16 reported its first quarterly loss since it went public in 1999. It received $10 billion in taxpayer money Oct. 28. This year, Goldman will forgo cash and stock bonuses for its seven top-paid executives. They will work for their base salaries of $600,000, the company said. * Even where banks cut back on pay, some executives were left with seven- or eight-figure compensation that most people can only dream about. Richard D. Fairbank, the chairman of Capital One Financial Corp., took a $1 million hit in compensation after his company had a disappointing year but still got $17 million in stock options. The McLean, Va.-based company received $3.56 billion in bailout money on Nov. 14. * John A. Thain, chief executive officer of Merrill Lynch, topped all corporate bank bosses, with $83 million in earnings last year. Thain, a former chief operating officer for Goldman Sachs, took the reins of the company in December 2007, avoiding the blame for a year in which Merrill lost $7.8 billion. Since he began work late in the year, he earned $57,692 in salary, a $15 million signing bonus and an additional $68 million in stock options. Like Goldman, Merrill got $10 billion from taxpayers Oct. 28. The AP review comes amid sharp questions about the banks' commitment to the goals of the Troubled Assets Relief Program, a law designed to buy bad mortgages and other troubled assets. Last month, the Bush administration changed the program's goals, instructing the Treasury Department to pump tax dollars directly into banks in a bid to prevent wholesale economic collapse. The program set restrictions on some executive compensation for participating banks, but it did not limit salaries and bonuses unless they had the effect of encouraging excessive risk to the institution. Plenty of perks, too Banks that got bailout funds also paid out millions for home security systems, private chauffeured cars and club dues. Some banks even paid for financial advisers. Wells Fargo of San Francisco, which took $25 billion in taxpayer bailout money, gave its top executives up to $20,000 each to pay personal financial planners. At Bank of New York Mellon Corp., chief executive Robert P. Kelly's stipend for financial planning services came to $66,748, on top of his $975,000 salary and $7.5 million bonus. His car and driver cost $178,879. Kelly also received $846,000 in moving expenses, the company said. JPMorgan Chase Chairman James Dimon ran up a $211,182 private jet travel tab last year when his family lived in Chicago and he was commuting to New York. The company got $25 billion in bailout funds. Banks cite security to justify personal use of company aircraft for some executives. But Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., questioned that rationale, saying executives visit many locations more vulnerable than the nation's commercial air terminals. Sherman, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, said pay excesses undermine development of good bank economic policies and promote an escalating pay spiral among competing financial institutions -- something particularly hard to take when banks then ask for rescue money. He wants them to come before Congress, as the automakers did, and spell out their spending plans for bailout funds. "The tougher we are on the executives that come to Washington, the fewer will come for a bailout," he said. "

12/23/2008 2:11:44 AM

I almost crapped myself when I heard that the UAW balked at one of the auto-manufacturer's plan to give the union a bunch of company stock in exchange for the unions taking care of half of the pension and health-care obligations. It's like the unions even know they are fucked. Bankruptcy, folks... That's what is needed

12/24/2008 1:22:26 AM

I fear now that (A) with the Dems in even greater power, and (B) with the government now invested in the sinkhole, that they will turn the Big 3 into a giant Amtrak rather than just let them go bankrupt and sort themselves out.

12/24/2008 4:33:54 AM

[Edited on December 30, 2008 at 1:51 PM. Reason : wtf]

12/30/2008 1:29:34 PM

[Edited on December 30, 2008 at 1:51 PM. Reason : crazycode fail]

12/30/2008 1:29:34 PM

[Edited on December 30, 2008 at 1:51 PM. Reason : crazycode fail]

12/30/2008 1:29:34 PM

[Edited on December 30, 2008 at 1:51 PM. Reason : crazycode fail]

12/30/2008 1:29:34 PM

Quote :

"A former top executive at Merrill Lynch who received a $25 million golden parachute after just three months of work has purchased a $37 million Park Avenue palace. Peter Kraus, 55, paid the staggering sum for a five-bedroom co-op on New York's posh Park Avenue after getting a $25 million buyout from Merrill Lynch when the company was sold to Bank of America in September, the New York Post reported. The 15-room apartment — featuring 11-foot-high ceilings, four fireplaces, three maid's rooms, a mahogany-paneled library and a gym upstairs — sold for twice what the previous owners, Democratic fundraisers Carl Spielvogel and Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel, paid for it nearly two years ago, the Post reported. Kraus is seen as a poster boy for the excess and irresponsibility on the part of America's financial institutions that helped drive them into the ground. Although he did not officially start work until September, he hit it big after just a couple of days in office, when Merrill Lynch's CEO sold the company to Bank of America for $50 billion during the market meltdown. And just in case his massive new pad isn't spacious enough, the building also features a squash court and wine cellar downstairs, according to real-estate broker Brown Harris Stevens. "

12/30/2008 1:29:34 PM

Huh. What do I have to do to get a three-month job like that?

12/30/2008 3:11:06 PM

Quote :

"PLZ 2 PWN"

Quote :

"WASHINGTON – The Obama administration is tackling the bailout of the battered financial sector on two tracks: overhauling how the government spends the money while devising new executive compensation restrictions for banks that get it. Administration officials said the pay limits could be announced this week, but said the more complicated task of setting up a new framework for rescuing the nation's ailing banks would have to wait until early next week. President Barack Obama, in a grim assessment of the financial industry, said Monday he would probably need more money to bail out troubled institutions to ease a suffocating credit crunch. Still, he added, "some banks won't make it." The Treasury Department is expected to announce new rules that limit executive pay for companies that receive "exceptional assistance" under the bailout program. Obama reacted angrily last week to reports that banks gave more than $18 billion of bonuses at a time when they were relying on taxpayer money for their survival. Administration officials say rules under consideration would prohibit institutions receiving "exceptional assistance" from giving severance payments to their top 55 executives. Their bonus pools would be reduced by about 40 percent from the 2007 level. Such companies would include Citigroup Inc., insurance giant American International Group Inc. and automakers General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC, all of whom received bailouts under the Bush administration. In the Senate, Republican leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., urged the administration to proceed with caution. "I think we're all appalled by these — some of these executive salary arrangements and bonus arrangements and perks and all the rest," he said. "On the other hand, I really don't want the government to take over these businesses and start telling them everything about what they can do. Then you truly have nationalized the business." Neither Obama nor other administration officials said how much a renewed rescue plan might cost. It is possible that additional help could come from the Federal Reserve, not from Congress. Still, Obama's acknowledgment reinforced what many economists and bank industry officials have speculated for weeks. "We can expect that we're going to have to do more to shore up the financial system," Obama said in an interview with NBC News that aired Monday. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner plans to announce a new framework for rescuing the financial sector in a speech next week. The plans will focus on how to use the remaining $350 billion in the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program that Congress approved last fall. It will include new programs aimed at helping homeowners stave off foreclosure, and efforts to stabilize the banking sector. Officials are considering setting up a government-run "bad bank" to take on the bad debts and investments of financial institutions. In addition, the Treasury could seek help from the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to provide banks with guarantees against losses on assets backed by residential and commercial real estate loans, as it did with Citigroup in November. "We're going to have to wring out some of these bad assets," Obama said. Meanwhile, Senate Republicans sought to ease the clogged credit market by proposing to give banks an incentive to make loans at rates between 4 percent and 4.5 percent. They offered the plan as part of an alternative to a Democratic economic recovery proposal."

2/3/2009 5:49:06 PM

Quote :

" Local bank's no jet-setter Barry Saunders, Staff Writer Comment on this story When Vikram Pandit, chief executive officer of Citigroup, told Congress last week that he'd canceled the order for his $50 million jet, he looked like he expected applause for such a supreme sacrifice. "I 'get' the new reality," Pandit proudly told the con-gressional banking committee. Of course, he only "got" it after newspapers reported his extravagant purchase -- and after he'd gotten $45 billion of our money as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program bailout. Joseph Sansom, a member of the board of directors for North Carolina's Mechanics & Farmers Bank, drives around Durham in a 1979 Mercury Zephyr that has a stick propping up the driver's seat. "One day I was driving and ended up in the backseat," Sansom explained. "It had reclining seats ahead of its time." Sansom's bank didn't get a TARP bailout but, unlike Citigroup, has never lost $19 billion in a year or fired 73,000 people. "We've been profitable every year since we opened our doors," Kim Saunders, the bank's president and CEO, told me. "The bank actually grew during the Great Depression." Sansom's modest mode of motorvatin' seems to typify a philosophy that permeates the Durham-based business. One of the first rules of making it in business -- yet one they probably don't teach you in school -- is to never drive a car that's fancier than the boss's. After seeing Sansom's Zephyr, though, it's hard to imagine employees driving a car less fancy. Still, when I went to Mechanics & Farmers' headquarters on Chapel Hill Boulevard, the parking lot was full of similarly modest rides. Saunders, a graduate of the Wharton School of Business and no relation to me, said the bank's mission has changed little since it was created in 1907 by a bricklayer and eight doctors, teachers and preachers. "Our mission was to provide a safe place for people to put their money," she said. "In that day and age, African-Americans didn't have a place for that." Another part of M&F's mission, she said, was and is to teach its customers about handling money. Only now, the bank isn't teaching unlettered people who are mere decades out of bondage. "I think it's important that we go onto college campuses and teach financial literacy. A lot of kids come out of college strapped with $10,000 or more of debt," she said. Being a community bank "with tremendously loyal customers" is an asset, Saunders said. "Because we're smaller, you know that the decision-making is local and the resources you provide are going back into your community." An M&F customer complained to me about the bank's conservative lending practices. It's a charge Saunders doesn't dispute. "The founders," she said, "were very conservative, and we still engage in conservative lending practices. ... We had nominal exposure to the subprime lending" fiasco that devastated larger banks. "No one likes to hear 'No' when they ask for a loan. We don't say 'No.' We say 'Not yet.' We point out our areas of concern and tell them what it would take to make them more bankable," she said. "We don't just want to help you get into a home. We want you to stay in your home." Or jet, when you buy one. barry.saunders@newsobserver.com or 919-836-2811"

http://www.newsobserver.com/134/story/1408307.html

2/23/2009 8:32:30 AM

Quote :

"total new car sales in the United States declined 31% from the 1957 to 1958 model years"

Yet we managed to get out of that without spending a trillion dollars. Imagine that.
http://www.carlustblog.com/2009/02/edsel.html

2/23/2009 4:38:16 PM

Quote :

"Barry Saunders, Staff Writer Comment on this story"

2/23/2009 4:43:54 PM

what about it?

2/23/2009 4:53:27 PM

also paging AIG

3/23/2009 11:57:47 PM

sounds like this 1 trillion dollar plan is a plan to help a bunch of rich white people flip houses

3/24/2009 12:45:21 AM

To urban hunter, next meal is scampering by
http://www.detnews.com/article/20090402/METRO08/904020395/To+urban+hunter++next+meal+is+scampering+by

"The paw is old school," says Glemie Dean Beasley, a Detroit raccoon hunter and meat salesman. "It lets the customers know it's not a cat or dog."



[Edited on April 2, 2009 at 4:18 PM. Reason : The video is a must see. ]

4/2/2009 4:16:50 PM