What were They thinking?

There seems to be a ripple in the universe lately with the news that AIG gave out HUGE bonuses to employees, shortly AFTER receiving billions in bailout money from the U.S. Government. This in spite of constant hemmoraging by AIG within their balance sheets. Logic would dictate that this wouldn't be prudent, by any means, because naturally, people would become upset over the very idea -- how can Joe Six Pack, he of the unstable employment situation and house under threat of foreclosure, accept this TraviShamMockery? There is no disputing the fact that AIG management failed, yet again, to exhibit proper judgement in this instance, but then again, they ARE following the proviso's as set forth by the pre-bailout comp plans to their employees who met or exceeded their goals. This is an incentive-driven business, something that Wall Street is very sensitive to, something that Obama does not (nor seemingly care to) understand, and something that Tim Geitner has apparently forgotten after only having been removed from Fed Reserve of NY post just three months prior.
If anyone within AIG is to have their bonuses retracted, it should be the employees within the financial division who were so lax in their diligence so as to put the company in this predicament from the beginning. This is the consensus shared by most Wall Streeters and peers of the perpetrators. Obama and Geitner would be wise to re-think their populist hard-line drivel before they spout off about something they failed to understand or refused to associate themselves with, in the name of politics.
Memo to Congressmen who are currently spouting off their versions of "oh, the humanity" speeches regarding AIG bonuses: spare us your flow of illogic -- and where was this incredible display of concern 18 (or even 8) months ago when it was needed most? Welcome to the party, pal! And oh, by the way, when you grovel on your hands and knees next year, hat in hand, begging for political donations -- who the crap do you think will be in the better financial position to get you a donation: Joe Six Pack or Winthorp Wall Street? Good Luck with that.

Letter from The Boss

internal memo circulating the interwebs...

Fellow Employees:
As the CFO of this business that employees 140 people, I have resigned myself to the fact that Barack Obama is our President, and that our taxes and government fees will increase in a BIG way. To compensate for these increases, I estimate that our Clients will have to see an increase in our fees to them of about 8%. Since we cannot increase our fees right now due to the dismal state of our economy, we will have to lay off six of our employees instead. This has really been eating at me for a while, as we believe we are family here and I didn't know how to choose who will have to go.
So, this is what I did: I strolled thru our parking lot and found 8 Obama bumper stickers on our employees' cars and have decided these folks will be the first to be laid off. I can't think of a more fair way to approach this problem. These folks wanted change; I gave it to them. If you have a better idea, let me know.

Sincerely,
The Boss

It's the JOBS, stupid

Hey, Mr. President, here's a suggestion on how to get the economy back on track: CREATE MORE JOBS! Gee, what a concept. People aren't buying because they don't know if they'll have a full-time job tomorrow, let alone a part-time job. Many have leveraged themselves to the hilt, and now they are pulling back to stabilize or increase cash flow. We don't want a hand-out, we want to have the ability to earn our keep, to pay our own bills, to participate in the success of the country by paying our FAIR SHARE of taxes. We are not into subsidizing Joe Deadbeat because he couldn't budget his finances. Try sharing this concept with Main Street -- I have and they all say the same thing. More jobs equals more payroll taxes, which means more help to local municipalities. Most of us want to contribute to society, and not many want to be on the dole. Create incentives to hire more employees. Create joint ventures with States to get the infrastructure repaired asap. Don't let the federal government take on all the responsibility -- let corporations contribute by way of incenting new hiring policies in exchange for tax credits on contributions to their local communities and charities. Provide attractive awards to scholars of universities that promote goodwill or work in conjunction with other organizations to make the world a better place (very general statement, I agree, but it can be fine-tuned, you get the idea). Finally, leave Wall Street alone. It can correct itself. The bad will be singled out and eliminated by their own kind. Enforce the existing regulations more stringently, otherwise stay away and it will come around, it always has before. Stop getting on the air every other day with the gloom and doom talk -- you are not solving anything with that negative nay-bob crap. Bottom Line: don't openly advocate subsidizing things -- instead, promote private corporations and municipalities with joint ventures, all the while providing a safety net (for emergencies only), and sit back to watch it evolve into a brighter, shinier future...think about it.

Running out of excuses in Obama-land

At a business networking event, I was asked what I thought about the Stimulus Package. Seems there's lots of small business owners still not sure what to make of the new proposals by the Obama Administration, and for good reason. Let's start with the facts, or should I say lack of them. I hear lots of fluff and good general ideas and shameless self-promotion, but no substance of any specific kind. Hard to get behind something that carries no weight. Meanwhile, the Dow continues to fall, and sooner or later Obama will run out of excuses or people to blame, so I hope he's re-adjusting his spin. Maybe he's starting to get the point: just today, the President has sent out a message (albeit subtle) to buy stocks now because they are so cheap -- wait, what? If Dubya did that, he'd be skewered in so many pieces by the MSM it wouldn't be funny (and it wasn't funny towards the end). Here's an idea, Mr. President: put your money where your mouth is by publicly disclosing the invesments you've chosen for your daughter's 529 accounts -- I'm sure they are fully vested into the equities market, right now, today. Aren't they? Really? And today we get another slap-down by the Administration because of disparaging comments on the stimulus package, as made by another financial advisor on CNBC; Press Secretary Gibbs tells us that the audience garnered by this show is too small to be considered a fair representative of the Court of Public Opinion, yet if that was true, why bother commenting about it? Speaking of CNBC, check out the comments made by Eric Hovde today: http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1050674027&play=1

Let's hope Obama and Geitner are paying attention to what really matters and not the stupid fluff that Pelosi and Reid are promoting...get real, for once!!

Someone make it stop

Dow down another 200 plus points today. There's no end in sight. Thought we saw the bottom last week. It looks more and more like it was a Dead Cat Bounce. It's not entirely rocket science to stop this runaway train at this point, but you wouldn't know it by the signals Washington gives out. If I was President, what would I do, you say?

The Spirit of Giving

Not to be confused with The Season of Giving. This month's theme is Giving (up). OK, I can contribute: recently I gave up drinking soda of any kind, as well as using artificial sweetener. Regarding the first -- it helps to know that I was a heavy soda drinker, mostly because of my affinity for Rum and Pepsi drinks. But I constantly felt bloated and "heavy" whenever I drank soda, so I thought I'd try to kick it for New Year's, and lo and behold, I did it. Cold Turkey. Don't know what I did or how I did it, but it's done. And I'm surprised that I don't have any cravings for it like I used to (years back when I would give it up for Lent). By the way, I don't feel "heavy" as much as I used to, and I'm sure it's good for me to not drink the crap anymore, so I heartily recommend it. As for the the artificial sweetener: same MO, heard it was bad for you, and I don't use sweetener that much, so I decided to eliminate it from daily use. I still drink Aquafina fruit waters, and they do have Splenda in them, but I'm not drinking much of it, plus I wanted to kick the practice of adding artificial sweetener to my coffee and such, and I did. It's all part of the plan to drop 30 pounds by July 4th...hope it works.