A Fantastic Little Corner

Do y'all remember when crazy cons like me were all outraged at the idea that the government would be controlling the salaries of corporations and the liberals were all like, "Oh, you fearmongers. It's only for companies that took the bailouts. It won't ever go any farther than that. You conspiracy therorists..."

Of course, they conveinently ignored the quote from... Barney Frank, was it? Who said that he wanted Congress to have oversight over all executive salaries and bonuses.

Well, the Fed - oh geez, I think I have libertarian-like knee jerks to just mentioning the Fed now... - is now stepping up to the plate with a plan...

Fed Outlines Plan to Police Bank Pay

The Federal Reserve would police banks' pay policies to ensure they don't encourage employees to take reckless gambles like those that contributed to the financial crisis, according to a proposal unveiled Thursday.

Unlike a Treasury plan to slash pay at certain companies that were bailed out with large sums of taxpayer money, the Fed proposal would cover thousands of banks, including many that never received a bailout.

The Fed would not actually set compensation. Instead, the central bank would review — and could veto — pay policies that could cause too much risk-taking by executives, traders or loan officers.

Okay. Exactly how FAR does this administration have to go before liberals finally say, "Uh... Hey... What? Now wait a second..."

You're going to tell me the only way you can ensure that this kind of economic recession won't happen again is for the federal government to control how much executives are paid?! You're going to tell me that such will even have an effect on preventing recessions?!

And it has to be the FED??!!

I thought we believed in freedom in this country!!

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE CONSTITUTION?!

...like the old school.

Or Schoolhouse Rock, which my parents played for me growing up. We were watching it the other day, and I've been singing different ones ever since. I'd forgotten about Tyrannasaurus Debt. This one isn't my favorite, but it DOES make a pretty good point!



GLOBAL WARMING UPDATE

Sorry for the caps. Just.. you know, when we're talking about Global Warming, we're talking about saving the planet! And I want to feel important.

A little Googling... Well, actually a lot of Googling produced this intriguing nugget:

EPA Suppresses Global COOLING Report

Wha- What's this? The EPA? CBS, you don't mean the... Environmental Protection Agency? Suppressing reports that disprove Global Warming predictions? NO! Why would they do something like that???

The Environmental Protection Agency may have suppressed an internal report that was skeptical of claims about global warming, including whether carbon dioxide must be strictly regulated by the federal government, according to a series of newly disclosed e-mail messages.

Less than two weeks before the agency formally submitted its pro-regulation recommendation to the White House, an EPA center director quashed a 98-page report that warned against making hasty "decisions based on a scientific hypothesis that does not appear to explain most of the available data."

Well, gee, that sounds really important. Whether carbon dioxide should be regulated... before making hasty decisions...? HEY!! Do you think that maybe this had something to do with the Cap and Trade bill coming up in the House?

Noooo! I must.... I must be completely out of my mind to draw such conclusions. No one in Washington or the EPA has any outside interests in the passing of that bill! They just want to, you know, save the planet!

Clean air.

Clean water.

Hug the Earth.

Democrats and Congress have a monopoly on this stuff, you know. They care.

Well... Okay, so maybe there are a few Representatives and Senators that have some pretty questionable alliances with corporations that stand to make a lot via Stock up-ticks from either new market securities or new technologies, but hey! It's all a coincidence, right? Yeah. Yeah!! Of COURSE it is! Because they care. This isn't political!

The EPA official, Al McGartland, said in an e-mail message to a staff researcher on March 17: "The administrator and the administration has decided to move forward... and your comments do not help the legal or policy case for this decision."

WHAT??! WHAT did he say??! The comments don't help policy decisons? But I thought... I thought this was science?? Pure, unbiased, facts-only science!

The EPA is political??!

NOOO! I don't... I WON'T believe it! I just... the outrage! Clearly, this is all right wing spin! It's talking points and just... flat out lies!! CBS is obviously a skewed right-wing talking points media machine. Just like that evil Faux News!

YES!! He's saying no at the current moment to more Auto Bailouts!! He even mentioned the naughty "Bankruptcy" word that everyone in Washington has been trying to practically eliminate from the English language! (I've just been waiting for some stupid Senator or Representative to come out and say, "Bankruptcys are a thing of the past. We can't afford to have bankruptcy in America anymore.")

He demanded concessions from creditors and the unions!!! among others in order to consider anything. This is actually a process called Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, but he's calling for it before they do reach that limit. - But if they do hit Chapter 11, the government will "help them," whatever that means. - Which is backwards, and I'd prefer if he'd just not consider anything at all. - Hey, I love GM. American made. They're heavily tied to the company I work at, but no company is too big to fail.

White House Questions Viability of GM, Chrysler

The most recet update includes the possibility of a $6 Billion bailout of Chrysler if they merge with Fiat successfully. But hey! I'll take what I can get! GO PRESIDENT OBAMA!!

If he really does stick by this, I will send him a letter of thanks!

Edit: This story link is changing. Rather than post new articles, they're updating and deleting previous bits of information.

That bit about the govt being able to "pull the plug" on a business in America? It would be far less creepy if he wasn't referring to more than just the bailouts... That, I am not pleased about. At all. No silver lining.

I received this e-mail from a co-worker. I couldn't help editing it a bit, but it has some very good information in it relating to stores and closing. They say it's for the purpose to prevent purchasing invalid Gift Cards this Christmas Season, but I'd say it's good for sales, too. ;)

It's important to note that not all of these companies are filing for bankruptcy or ceasing to exist; several are simply closing a few stores, and while it may be indicative of the future on a larger, darker scale, I doubt companies like Starbucks really face a completely dim outlook. ;)


BE CAREFUL When BUYING GIFT CARDS this holiday.

It may be better to give cash or a present this year. Here's why:

Stores cross America are being scheduled to close after the Christmas season due to economic difficulties and bankruptcy. If the store closes, the gift cards would be no good.

Here are some of the announced closings. Of course these companies would love you to give them money for a gift card that would be no good later on. Perhaps some home made jam or a $5 bill would be safer, since once a store declares bankruptcy they don't have to honor their gift cards. Better yet, give the gift of food storage.


STORE CLOSINGS AND LAYOFFS: By the end of Dec. 2008 as announced

( Starbucks, Dillard's, J.C. Penny, Dell, Sprint Nextel, and Circuit City, to name a few... )