Liars and cheats

You know, I'm getting sick and tired of being lied to and cheated out of my money.  I'm so sick and tired of these corporations being allowed to lie and steal our money.  The latest issue is that my cable service of off.  It's off because the people at the cab le company are incompetent and don't know how to maintina their service.  Yes, we had some severe thunderstorms today, late afternoon and early evening.  But the service was fine until late in the evening when it went off.  I called customer servie and after waiting for 20 minutes, I was told that there was some type of outage (due to the storm was hit our area HOURS AGO) and that they didn 't know when the service would be up.  Now, I had to go to my neighbor's home to borrow their phone because we have our phone service through the cable company.  So, as I'm sitting at my neighbor's home and just chatting I had an idea.  As someone who use to be fairly high up in the management ladder, until I acquired scruples, a conscience, and integrity (which started to show and I had to give up my corporate career) I had an idea of what was actually going on.  I borrowed my neighbor's phone again, called customer service, and got into a detailed dialogue with the customer service rep.  I asked some pointed questions long with some more subtle ones.  Now this customer service rep didn't give out any details (because he is not allowed to and is required,under penalty of losing his job, to stick with a specific script that they are all given), but I pretty much came to the following conclusion. 

Essentially, all of the customer reps said the same thing -

"We are aware of the problem and we have people at the site."
"We do not have a specific time that the problem will be resolved but expect the service to be up in 2-4 hours."

OK, what is my conclusion?

1.  Yes, they are aware of the problem.  No, they do NOT have anyone at the problem site. 
How can I be sure?  Remember when I said I use to be a manager?  Well, I was once a manager of a technical service department of a large cable equipment manufacturer.  Back in the old days, before they put all of the cable and phone equipment underground, it took a pair of technicians 2 hours to replace ALL of the major cable components within a specific area.  Now, it doesn't take more then an hour to do the same.  Do you REALLY believe that as time moved forward technology moved BACKWARDS for the cable companies?  Knowing the corporate mentality, the reason that they don't have anyone at the site is because they can't get a hold of any subcontractors to come out on a Sunday night.  They are NOT going to send out their own people because they will NOT pay time and a half or double time to send one of their people out on a Sunday night.  Subcontractors cost them the same, regardless of when they go out.  So, if no contractors will answer their phone to go out on a call on a Sunday night, then the customers will have to wait for the regular technicians to show up for their Monday morning shift and the customers be damned.

2.  To support conclusion #1, all I had to do was look down the street as I walked to my neighbor's house and see another neighbor, that works as a service technician for the cable company, still at home because the cable repair van was still in the driveway.  He isn't going anywhere unless he's called because he, like many of us, does NOT work for free.  If he did, then he'd never be home because the corporate crooks would keep him on the job until he dropped dead. 

Always remember, corporations could care less about you or any product or service you are paying them for.  You are an essential inconvenience.  They want to be able to maximize the amount of money that they can charge you while minimizing the service they HAVE to provide.  They haven't quite figured out how to get your money without offering you SOMETHING.  But, trust me....they're working on it.  Why do you think the corporations have so many lobbyists?  They're good citizens and looking out for the public good?  Hell, no!  They're trying to manipulate the laws where they are not held responsible for anything nor do they pay any consequences for their actions.  The whole
Enron/Global Crossing/Tyco fiasco taught them that they have a long way to go before they have the laws written specifically for them.  The Reagan Years were just the start, the Idiot Bush's Administration just build some more.  But we're stupid because we let them do it.  We're complacent and don't gather in a group - find them and tar and feather them.  Letter writing won't help.  Your letters to the "lawmakers" can't compete against their money. 

Consumer complaints?  Don't complain too much...the corporations have gotten themselves the legal right to drop you as a customer if they "feel" you are a nuisance.  Hmmm, can the world be any more perfect for the corporations?  Win or lose....they win.  Only in a America!  The best justice and laws money can buy.

Lastly, now remember I have no phone service.  I had to go to my neighbors and borrow their phone because they don't use the cable company.  I switched over to the cable company because they said their service was better then the phone company's and cheaper.  Well, they never said that they were not capable of maintaining their service.  I'm sure that they will say that I need a backup (i.e. cell phone ,etc.).  And to get that backup service will cost ME money. Add all that together and the cost difference between the cable company and the phone company disappears!  In all of the years I was with the phone company, I never had a service outage.  I pray that someone who has the cable company's phone service end up suing them until their nose bleeds because of an emergency they had and couldn't get help because the phone service wasn't working.  But in today's society, I doubt that would happen.  The corporations would just turn on their PR machines.

 

My Brain is Fried!

1100 more jobs to be cut.  By United Airlines.  Add this number to all of the other cuts previously announced by the auto makers and financial institutions.  I guess the "fat cat" executives of the airlines don't have to worry about theirs...they shoved about 1100 people under the bus so that they can still have theirs.  I guess that the airline executives weren't too tight with those bandits over in the oil industry.  The oil executive's price gouging just shoved a red-hot poker up the butts of the airline executives, didn't they.  HA!  Ever wonder wonder when this will stop?  The predators are almost at the point of eating their own.  I guess this will all still keep going on as long as there is the "little guy" that the executives can sacrifice.  It'll come to a stop when the executives have no one else that they can get rid of and are expected to actually work for a living.  THEN you'll see something being done about the situation.

A Matter of Convenience

The number of days that cause me frustrations is on the increase.  More and more of my work days are nothing more then a series of frustrations and annoyances.  Why?  Well, I sat down and tried to figure out what the source of that frustration has been.  Besides the obvious source...other people, I wanted to determine what is was with other people that caused me my frustrations.  It comes down to convenience.  Not mine but other people's convenience.  I get stuff dumped on me because other people don't want to be inconveniences in doing it themselves.  They're too busy doing "important" things, such as spending the majority of their kibitzing with someone else and keeping those people from doing their jobs.  I'm never too busy to be inconveniences, but heaven help me if I do anything that will cause anyone else any inconvenience.  There will be hell to pay...for me. 
This also seems to apply to those that can't/won't do their jobs completely, either.  They just don't want to be inconvenienced.  That would take the time away from them "kissing up" to the executives and filling them in on the latest rumours and scuttlebutt.  We can't have that.
Then there are those that want to do what they want to do.  They don't want to be bothered with having to do specific things.  Why should they be bothered with HAVING to do something when you can pass it along to someone else?  I guess they call that leveling the workload.  Someone gets to do what HAS to be done and someone gets to do what they WANT to do.  I'd just like to be that someone that gets to do what they WANT to do instead of always being stuck as the person that HAS to do things.  I wonder what would happen if I just did what many of the others do?  How about I just did what I wanted to?  But then I have to make sure that I'm the first one to run to the executives to tell them about all of the people who aren't doing what they're suppose to do (remember, this goes hand-in-hand...you have to point other people's shortfalls while you're not doing anything; this keeps the executives off your back).  Problem here is that you have to stab people in the back.  And besides, who I tell on?  All of those "special" people with those "close" relationships with the executives?  Who would they believe?  Would they then force those "special" people to do their jobs?  Like any of the members of the Estrogen Club?  Or would they just keep dumping on those that are already overworked?
No, that just seems to be my lot in life.  I can't seem to win.  If I push back...I lose.  If I do nothing...I lose.  You can't even sit back and allow a situation to get to a point where others get to "feel the pain" (as in getting people to change by changing their comfort zone) because they don't accept the discomfort...it would inconvenience them.  So they pass this discomfort onto someone else.  They accept no reality that does not justify their current situation or their current level of activity.  They want to do what they want to do and will not acknowledge anything that doesn't support that.
Did you ever want to just jump in your car, point it in a certain direction, and just drive?  Keep going until you run out of gas and money.  Then wherever you are you find yourself a small, little nothing of a job to accumulate some money for gas just so that you can keep driving?  To where?  Who cares.  But I have too many responsibilities and I'm stuck.

Where does it end?

Where does it end?

For that matter, where the hell does it begin?  Ford announced that it plans to cut up to 2000 salaried jobs.  These are the non-production people, those that have support functions for the production line.  So, now because the Ford executives completely mismanaged the company for so many years...all the while giving the shareholders B.S. profits the little person who still needs to feed their family has to pay the price. 
I don't understand how this comes about.  What happened?  Did the executives wake up one day and find out that their financial scheming wasn't the cornucopia for them that they thought it would be?  So now the company is no longer profitable, and they don't expect it to return to profitability in 2009 and they projected (gee, what a surprise! They now have to admit their incompetence!).  So, who pays the price?  The little person.  Do you think that ANY of these 2000 salaried employees will get anything close to the financial gain that the executives get if they were "let go"?  Hell no!!  These executives will rape and pillage until they are put 6 feet under.  These executives have mismanaged the company to the point that I would be surprised if they ever able to bring it back to any kind of profitability.  Hey, look at their great long-term thinking...they pushed SUV's because they KNEW that there was no end to cheap gasoline.  Yeah, right!  The ONLY silver lining here is that you have one set of corporate executives, for the sake of their own obscene profits...they put the screws to another set of corporate executives.  And these auto executives didn't see any further then the end of their noses.  I guess then oil executives forgot to tell the auto executives of their plans to rip off the consumer so that the auto executives could put some aside for just this kind of situation.  HA! 
What makes me sad is to think of all of those people that are going to get laid off, scrambling in a messed up economy (Thank you, Mr. Moron Bush!) and no one is going to care if they or their families live or die...unless they are a large political contributor (which then would mean they wouldn't be in the position they are).  These corporate executives should be taken to task for what they've done...but they won't because the only ones who have the power to do so are the same ones that are exactly like them.  If they work to expose these auto executives, then they expose themselves, too.

The Problems With Dreams

I hope everyone had a wonderful and happy Memorial Day weekend.  I had an opportunity to just sit and take stock of my life.  I had an opportunity to look back to try to figure out whatever happened to my dreams.  Those aspirations that we've all had.  Many of those we came to realize were just child's dreams and were discarded, never to be thought of again.  Others are ones that linger, that stay in our minds, dreams that we still long for but are quickly coming to the realization that, for whatever reason, we will never be able to attain.  Unfortunately, that is my life...dreams never attained, never will be.  Why?  Because all of my dreams have always been usurped by others.  Everyone in my life has embraced my dreams, have lauded them as to their greatness, etc.  But what has come of those dreams of mine?  They've been taken over by others. 
Who are these others?  How about an ex-spouse who took my dream and instead of supporting it and making every effort to help me work on my dream, decided to show me how much better they were with my dream then I was.  The results?  Totally screwed and the dream trashed.
How about partners in another venture that decided that "wishful thinking" replaced actually doing something to promote ones dream.  Unfortunately, my version of the dream didn't match with theirs.  I wanted to build an actual business...they wanted to have a "social club" and people to boss around.  The results of this dream?  The other partners didn't feel there was enough revenue being generated, so they voted to dissolve the partnership.  Another dream in the trash.
What about the latest one?  It's the same theme...I want to own and run my own business.  But now I have a spouse who has wrapped themselves with my dream, told me to keep working and investing in the business, and THEY'LL build the business (with MY money) so that at some point in my life I can quit my job and jump right into the "thriving" business.  It hasn't worked out that way.  After waiting almost 10 years, all my spouse has been able to do is spend my money, have nothing to show for it, sits around the house, eats snacks, and complains how bad the business market is.  I get an attitude when I ask how they know when the market will become better if they aren't working the business?  My spouse gets in my face and tells me not to tell them how to run a business...they know what they are doing.  I'm not a genius, but I haven't figured out yet how sitting around the house, watching TV, and eating snacks promotes any business.  Well,  they could be putting out ads on the Internet.  I've never seen any and the only ones that I am aware of are those that I have put out on the Net.  All of the customers that we have had have been driven by my ads.  And with those customers, my spouse has "rules" of which customers they will deal with and which ones they won't.  Are you a customer who will buy RIGHT NOW?  Are you going to spend a lot of money?  If yes, then my spouse will deal with you.  Otherwise, they won't spend any time with you. 
I am watching another dream ready to go down in flames and I am powerless to change that fact.  I am stuck in a dead end job, working with dead end people, trying to survive in a dead end life.
I look back at my dreams and try to figure how I failed in them, what lessons are to be learned from those failures.  I come to the conclusion that I can't put my finger on my failures, not because I am that perfect, but because I have never been given the opportunity to actually try to make my dreams work.  It's always someone else taking over those dreams, telling me that THEY are the "experts" and for me to keep working my job so that they are free to work my dream and are not inconvenienced in any way.
But can I change things?  Not at this time.  Oh, I can if I choose to completely demolish my life (which probably isn't a bad idea).  I just feel too old and tired to start from scratch...again.  And for it to work I have to NOT allow anyone else into my life.  Otherwise, it won't work...because they'll take over my dreams for their own purposes.
 

Business As Usual

Business As Usual

The news this morning stated that many of the UAW workers found faults with the tentative agreement reached with American Axle.  But they predicted they predicted that it would be accepted, albeit by a very small margin.  The UAW outgoing president wasn't that optimistic or upbeat about the tentative agreement, which will be voted on this week.  But he said that it was the best that the collective bargaining unit could do for its rank & file under the circumstances.  What are those circumstances?  Well, the economy.  American Axle is using the economy to shaft its employees.  They're threatening to move work off-shore.  But the company needs to make a profit to remain in business, you say.  Absolutely!  But it has nothing to do with the company's ability to make a profit.
One of the UAW members was quoted to say the following about the pay reduction the workers will be forced to take -

"I'm voting no. It's totally unacceptable," said Gary Reed, 52, of Warren, who criticized American Axle Chairman and CEO Richard Dauch for making millions while asking production workers to take a pay cut from $28 per hour to $18.50.

"It's a slap in our face," Reed said. "We've been watching this guy making millions and millions of dollars even while we've been on strike, and were going to accept a stab in the back and just walk away with a smile on our face?"

Why doesn't the actions by Richard Dauch surprise me?  Dauch doesn't care.  There isn't anything to make him care.  He has no compassion for anyone other then himself.  He probably doesn't care how profitable the company is, other then how it affects his compensation.  But I'm willing to bet that Dauch will be the first one to criticize the workers when they focus in on their compensation.  He'll turn around and tell everyone how uncaring and mercenary the employees are because they are not focusing on the company and what is in its best interest (translation: what is in HIS best interest).  Dauch won't care what happens to American Axle, he probably has some legal clause that will allow him to rip off the rest of the shareholders if the company goes under.  Hasn't this been the case with all of the companies in the US when they've collapsed?  The company becomes defunct...shutdown...but the executives pull out all of these fabulous clauses out of their asses that allows them to reap millions, while others (who has absolutely nothing to do with the ruination of the company) are ruined financially.

What will happen to the employees of American Axle?  They will more then likely approve the agreement.  What choice do they have?  Loose their jobs?  Stop feeding their families?  Dauch won't have that problem...regardless of the outcome.  

What can be done?  I guess to answer that question you need to ask an additional one...by who?  Who is going to do anything?  Not any government entity.  They've been paid too much to not interfere.  I've never seen any politician actually champion any kind of worker cause.  I've seen and heard them give it a lot of lip-service, but actually do something, make some type of sacrifice, or actually take some meaningful action.  The courts? Pllleeeeaaassse!  The US courts have been bought and paid for decades ago.  If a poor person is caught stealing a loaf of bread to feed his family, he can expect to spend a few years doing hard time in prison.  But on those RARE occasions where one of these corporate executives get caught and by some remote chance they get convicted of stealing millions they end up doing their minimal time (counted in months) at some country club facility that they refer to as a prison.  Naaah.  I don't see anyone doing anything other then the people themselves.

Do what, you say?  I say start out by bringing back tar & feathering.  We can always build from there.  I can now understand the logic and reasoning behind the French Revolution.

You can read the news article about the American Axle agreement here.

The Inept Leading the Incompetent

I've pretty much had it! I just don't know what to do. I still my
paycheck, my salary level, and my benefits. So I can't just quit this
hell hole. The job market being what is it doesn't help the situation
any, either. What happened?

Well, it seems that there are a few privileged people here that are so
special that they really don't have to do their jobs nor do they have
to meet any type of standard of work performance. If things don't go
their way, they feel they are are being held responsible for anything,
or they feel just plain ornery...they throw a temper tantrum and
things get smoothed over for them. The latest development has left me
completely livid!

Now, everyone else in the industry has evolved, progressed, or
whatever to utilize the most current state-of-the-art tools and
systems. But not us! For us to do that would require these "Special
People" to actual do their jobs and maintain accurate data for others
to use. But the "Special People" don't want to do that...it's too
much work for them. So I have been assigned the task to manually
process the data and make sure everything is correct. The Executives
are NOT going to hold any of the "Special People" accountable for
their work, just pass on the responsibility onto someone else. After
all, they don't want anything as mundane as work to interfere with
their favorites' ability to sit around and BS with them, do they? I
get even more work added to my list...they get more taken off of
theirs.

I'd be out of here in a shot if I could find another field that pays
me what I am currently making. I don't know if I can wait a few years
more until all of the kids are out of college. And I have this slight
attachment to being able to eat actual food and living under cover. I
come in every day and wish that they all got their
comeuppance...somehow!

The Illusion of Intelligence

Next time you come across a politician and they talk to you as if you
are a moron and give you the feeling that they are much smarter then
you, repeat some of these stories to them:

A Washington , DC , airport ticket agent offers some examples of why
our country is in trouble!

1. I had a New Hampshire Congresswoman ask for an aisle seat so that
her hair wouldn't get messed up by being near the window.
(On an Airplane!)
2. I got a call from a candidate's staffer, who wanted to go to
Capetown. I started to explain the length of the flight and the
passport information. Then she interrupted me with, 'I'm not trying to
make you look stupid, but Capetown is in Massachusetts .' Without
trying to make her look stupid, I calmly explained, 'Cape Cod is in
Massachusetts ; Capetown is in Africa .' Her response - click.
3. A senior Vermont Congressman called, furious about a Florida
package we did. I asked what was wrong with the vacation in Orlando .
He said he was expecting an ocean-view room. I tried to explain that's
not possible, since Orlando is in the middle of the state. He replied,
'Don't l ie to me. I looked on the map and Florida is a very thin
state!' (OMG)
4. I got a call from a lawmaker's wife who asked, 'Is it possible to
see England from Canada ?' I said, 'No.' She said, 'But they look so
close on the map.' (OMG, again!)
5. An aide for a cabinet member once called and asked if he could rent
a car in Dallas. When I pulled up the reservation, I noticed he had
only a 1-hour layover in Dallas. When I asked him why he wanted to
rent a car he said, 'I heard Dallas was a big airport, and we will
need a car to
drive between gates to save time.' (Aghhhh!!)
6. An Illinois Congresswoman called last week. She needed to know how
it was possible that her flight from Detroit left at 8:30 am and got
to Chicago at 8:33 am. I explained that Michigan was an hour ahead of
Illinois , but she couldn't understand the concept of time zones.
Finally, I told her the plane went fast, and she bought that.
7. A New York lawmaker called and asked, 'Do airlines put your
physical description on your bag so they know whose luggage belongs to
whom?' I said, 'No, why do you ask?' She replied, 'Well, when I
checked in with the airline, they put a tag on my luggage that said
'FAT,' and I'm overweight. I think that's very rude!' After putting
her on hold for a minute while I looked into it (I was laughing). I
came back and explained the city code for Fresno , CA is 'FAT' -
(Fresno Air Terminal), and the airline was just putting a destination
tag on her luggage.
8. A Senator's aide called to inquire about a trip package to Hawaii.
After going over all the cost info, she asked, 'Would it be cheaper to
fly to California, and then take the train to Hawaii ?'
9. I just got off the phone with a freshman Congressman who asked,
'How do I know which plane to get on?' I asked him what exactly he
meant, to which he replied, 'I was told my flight number is 823, but
none of these planes have numbers on them.'
10. A lady Senator called and said, 'I need to fly to Pepsi-Cola ,
Florida. Do I have to get on one of those little computer planes?' I
asked if she meant fly to Pensacola , Florida on a commuter plane. She
said, 'Yeah, whatever, smarty!'
11. A senior Senator called and had a question about the documents he
needed in order to fly to China. After a lengthy discussion about
passports, I reminded him that he needed a visa. 'Oh, no I don't. I've
been to China many times and never had to have one of those.' I double
checked and sure enough, his stay required a visa. When I told him
this he said, 'Look, I've been to China four times and every time they
have accepted my American Express!'
12. A New Mexico Congresswoman called to make reservations, 'I want to
go from Chicago to Rhino, New York.' I was at a loss for words.
Finally, I said, 'Are you sure that's the name of the town?' 'Yes,
what flights do you have?' replied the lady. After some searching, I
came back with, 'I'm sorry, ma'am, I've looked up every airport code
in the country and can't find a Rhino anywhere.' The lady retorted,
'Oh, don't be silly! Everyone knows where it is. Check your map!' So I
scoured a map of the state of New York and finally offered, 'You don't
mean Buffalo, do you?' The reply? 'Whatever! I knew it was a big
animal.'

Now you know why the Government is in the shape that it's in!

Like a Butterfly

I tried very hard not to react today when I couldn't help but notice that one of the members of the Estrogen Club (EC) was going from one executives office to another and then would disappear for a while.  Some time later, she would repeat the process.  What the hell was going on?  It occurred to me that none of the executives were available today (they were in the mutual admiration meeting). 

So what was happening with the EC member?  There must have been some real pressing gossip/tattle-taling she need to let the Big Boys know about (Boy, how they love that!  All company social gatherings involve them pumping anyone & everyone for the "juicy" gossip).

So, the EC member spent more time running around trying to get to the Big Boys (BEFORE anyone else did, I guess) then she did in doing any amount of work.  And what's totally incredible is that she gets paid for this!!

More Crapping on the Little Guy

How much more are the people suppose to endure? With job security being the lowest it can be, the auto industry to going to be dumping a whole bunch of its employees. Hey. again, the big shot executives got theirs. Why should they worry abotu anyone else. All they're looking at is keeping the moeny coming into their pockets. So what that they can afford to feed their family a hundred times over and over each day whiole those that have worked to insure that the fat cat executives get theirs end up with absolutely nothing or some very hard choices to make.

What is someone suppose to do when everything they've worked and saved for is on the verge of disappearing? Yes, there are realities of life that need to be dealt with. The declining auto industry in this country (which is another blog entry) is causing most of the jobs to be eliminated. Is this something that JUST happened overnight? We all know that answer is NO. But what have the auto industry executives been doing while the auto industry was in decline? They were busy taking care of themselves, making sure that their "nests" were feathered very well. What they weren't doing was protecting their employees. They weren't insuring any kind of job security for them. All they made sure of was that they ended up with the lion's share of the wealth. Why would they want to shae it with anyone else? Haven't the auto industry executives been notoriously against organzied labor and labor laws right from the beginning? Didn't the auto industry executives hire gangsters and thugs in the past to break up union pickets? So, we shouldn't be surprised that the "lowly" auto employee is goign to bear the brunt of this reduction and cost-cutting efforts in the auto industry. And we shouldn't be surprised that the auto industry executives didn't plan for this other then making sure that they had taken care of themselves. After all, what do you think the executives get paid for? To make sure that they take care of themselves and not their emplioyees. Haven't you read the news articles about all of the corporate executives who received these outrageous compensation packages while the businesses they were being paid to manage lost tremendous amounts of money and employees lost their jobs and moeny from their investments in the companies.

To read more about the news about what is going on in the auto industry, click here.

And I still want to propose that Tar & Feathering be brought back into vogue. I don't think the courts will be of much help in that these corporate executives have enough money and waelth to buy off the judges.

Corporations Up To Their Old Sleazy Tricks.

Are you aware of what is in your Terms and Conditions or contracts that you sign when you sign on for a service?  Well, according to a blog entry by Bob Sullivan of MSNBC (http://redtape.msnbc.com/2008/04/the-end-of-clas.html) about another situation where the big corporations, in this case the cell phone companies (specifically AT&T), are being taken to task about the wording in their contracts where THEY prohibit consumers from banding together and forming a class action suit against the corporation. 

Why doesn't this surprise me?  Even after I read the statement from the corporate spokesperson that not using class action suits was to the consumer's advantage. Here is another case of a big corporation wanting to secure its means of gouging people out of money and not being held liable for their actions.  It amazes me that corporations can become THAT arrogant as to feel that they have the right to tell consumers how the consumer can deal with issues that they have with the corporation.

Also, remember, these are the corporations that run this country.  God Bless America...Land of The Crooks and Thieves.

The Current Bankrupcy Crisis.

Have you heard?  We're in the middle of a bankruptcy crisis.  And if you read the article in The New Yorker (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23869179/) Congress is the one to blame. 

Well...DUH!  It doesn't take a genius to figure that one out.  Does anyone remember 2005 and the law that Congress passed to make it hard to file for bankruptcy?  That was because the credit card companies told their bought and paid for minions (Congressmen) that there was a bankruptcy "crisis" and that Congress had to do something about it.  The only crisis that existed was the one in the credit card company's executives feeble little minds.  The current bankruptcy laws were allowing too much money to slip from their greedy, greasy fingers.  That was NOT accepted by these executives.  So, they called and told their minions what they wanted done.  And their minions dutifully obliged them.  After all, when your master tells you to do something....you do it. 

So, as usual...the big, fat cats are going to get theirs.  They're not going to loose a penny while the little, ordinary person gets stuck with the costs.  Why should anyone, other then the big, greedy, fat-cat executives be left with anything?  After all, didn't God create the ordinary person for use and abuse by the rich and powerful?  Think back to the European feudal system.  Are we really that far away?  All the strides we have made as a society and as a nation, George W. Bush has wiped out in 8 short years.  So, is it any surprise that the current bankruptcy crisis was created by Congress when they did their master's bidding in 2005 over a made up crisis by their masters, the credit card corporations?

And there's another interesting point brought up in the article in The New Yorker.  And that is that with the new bankruptcy laws passed in 2005, there are less start-ups of new businesses.  Well, this works perfectly into the big corporations plans.  What a fabulous coup they pulled off.  They got their minions, Congress, to pass a new bankruptcy law that stifled new competition from entering the market...thus limiting THEIR competition.  And THEY can't be charged with any kind of anti-competition activity because they got their minions (the same ones that would have accused them of it) to make it legal to do so.  What a great country America is...we have the VERY best politicians money can buy.  It's just that the ordinary person can't afford to buy their own politician.

So, can anyone tell me if there is any law on the books in any state that forbids the use of  tar and feathering?  If not, then I strongly suggest that we take up that long-lost and forgotten practice and use it on those most deserving in our society...the politicians and their masters.

A Con On Top Of Another Con?

For God's sakes....when will it stop?  I just read that mortgage brokers or going to become credit counselors.  Now, these are the same mortgage brokers that conned all of those home owners into the those sub prime mortgages that are causing them all of these problems?  Now you've got these con men going after the same people they scammed before.  What?  They didn't get enough of their money before?  I guess these con artists are going to keep going until they get every single penny the poor homeowner victim has, huh?  Or, maybe not.  Maybe these con artists (i.e. mortgage brokers/credit counselors) will keep the victim "alive" enough to keep their cash cow viable.  Are these guys now going to go into the credit counseling business, muddy up the water so much that when they victimize more people it will still be hard to determine who is at fault, who did what, etc.?  I'll bet my money that they will.  After all, they did it to the mortgage industry. 

I think that ANYONE who built their mortgage brokerage business primarily on selling sub prime loans should be forbidden from doing ANYTHING in the financial arena and forced to work for minimum wage in the fast food industry.

The Stupid Cow

Do you remember when you were in grade school you had that one classmate that would be the one to constantly run to the teacher to tell about something another classmate did? Well, that is The Stupid Cow in my workplace. I previously explained who The Stupid Cow was in my blog about The Estrogen Club.

The difference between that tattle-tailer classmate and The Stupid Cow is that the classmate didn't go running around to the others within their clique and tell them what they found that someone did "wrong" or offended them. The Stupid Cow does.

I just witnessed The Stupid Cow bitch and complain about something that The Stupid Cow perceived as being offensive to them. The Stupid Cow (I will refer to them as TSC from now on) made a point of going out of their way to tell The Hen (TH) and Miss Piggy (MP) all about it. TSC then proceeded to spend an hour bitching and complaining to another executive about the whole situation. Essentially, backstabbing the one person whose nature is not to offend and makes every attempt to work with everyone. This person has gone out of their way numerous times to help TSC out.

What was the offense? Well, the person (I will refer to them as The Victim) did nothing more then go into TSC's department to look up some information about a specific job that was stored company files that were in TSC's department. What was offensive was that The Victim did NOT ask if she could look in the COMPANY files, didn't fully explain what she needed and why, didn't give TSC the full scoop of what was going on. Never mind that The Victim was well within her job-rights and responsibility to access those files without having to ask permission (the file contents are NOT under any confidentially rule or such...the files are stored as back-up and for reference).

Interestingly, ALL of the members of the Estrogen Club feel and act as if they run the company. They manipulate, arrange, or do whatever it takes for the executives to believe ONLY what they tell them. Using whatever means they can. And the executives are too stupid to see any pattern or verify that they are running with valid information.

I pray every day that if there is a God that these people get everything they have coming to them. I just hope it happens before they destroy too many other people's careers or job paths.

WHAT COSTS MORE PER YEAR THAN THE IRAQ WAR?

Illegal Aliens Cause Massive Cuts For US Seniors (http://rense.com/general79/seniors.htm)

I hope the following 14 reasons are forwarded over and over again until they are read so many times that the reader gets sick of reading them. I have included the URL's for verification of the following

1. $11 Billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year.http://tinyurl.com/zob77
2. $2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens.http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html
3. $2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens.http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html
4. $12 Billion dollars a year is spent on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of English!http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.0.html
5. $17 Billion dollars a year is spent for education for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies.http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
6. $3 Million Dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens.http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
7. 30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens.http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
8. $90 Billion Dollars a year is spent on illegal aliens for Welfare and Social Services by the American taxpayers.http://premium.cnn.com/TRANSCIPTS/0610/29/ldt.01.html
9. $200 Billion Dollars a year in suppressed American wages are caused by the illegal aliens.http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
10. The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that's two-and-a-half times that of white non-illegal aliens. In particular, their children, are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the US.http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/12/ldt.01.html
11. During the year of 2005 there were 4 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens that crossed our Southern Border also, as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from Terrorist Countries. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth, heroin and marijuana, crossed into the U. S from the Southern border. Homeland Security Report.http://tinyurl.com/t9sht
12. The National Policy Institute, "estimated that the total cost of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion or an average cost of between $41 and $46 billion annually over a five year period."http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute.org/pdf/deportation.pdf
13. In 2006 illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION in remittances back to their countries of origin.http://www.rense.com/general75/niht.htm
14. "The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration: Nearly One Million Sex Crimes Committed by Illegal Immigrants In The United States".http://www.drdsk.com/articleshtml

Total cost is a whooping... $338.3 BILLION A YEAR!!!

If this doesn't bother you then just ignore this blog, but on the other hand, if it does raise the hair on the back of your neck, then let others know about it.

Snopes is provided for doubters:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/immigration/bankofamerica.asp

Social Security Change For 2008

The United States Senate voted to extend Social Security Benefits to Illegal Aliens beginning in 2008. The following are the senatorswho voted to give illegal aliens Social Security benefits. They are grouped by home state. If a state is not listed, there was no voting representative.

Alaska: Stevens (R)
Arizona: McCain (R)
Arkansas: Lincoln (D) Pryor (D)
California: Boxer (D) Feinstein (D)
Colorado: Salazar (D)
Connecticut: Dodd (D) Lieberman (D)
Delaware: Biden (D) Carper (D)
Florida: Martinez (R)
Hawaii: Akaka (D) Inouye (D)
Illinois: Durbin (D) Obama (D)
Indiana: Bayh (D) Lugar (R)
Iowa: Harkin (D)
Kansas: Brownback (R)
Louisiana: Landrieu (D)
Maryland: Mikulski (D) Sarbanes (D)
Massachusetts: Kennedy (D) Kerry (D)
Montana: Baucus (D)
Nebraska: Hagel (R)
Nevada: Reid (D)
New Jersey: Lautenberg (D) Menendez (D)
New Mexico: Bingaman (D)
New York: Clinton (D) Schumer (D)
North Dakota: Dorgan (D)
Ohio: DeWine (R) Voinovich(R)
Oregon: Wyden (D)
Pennsylvania: Specter (R)
Rhode Island: Chafee (R) Reed (D)
South Carolina: Graham (R)
South Dakota: Johnson (D)
Vermont: Jeffords (I) Leahy (D)
Washington: Cantwell (D) Murray (D)
West Virginia: Rockefeller (D), by Not Voting
Wisconsin: Feingold (D) Kohl (D)

(note there are 9 Republicans, including Presidential candidate McCain!)

TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW. THE ENTIRE POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES NEEDS TO KNOW THIS INFORMATION, UNLESS THEY DON'T MIND SHARING THEIR SOCIAL SECURITY WITH FOREIGN WORKERS who didn't pay in a dime.

I emboldened 3 senator's names because...they are running for President of the United States!

Your Life For The Almighty Dollar

Have you heard?  The Red Light Cameras are working TOO well.  The cameras were meant to stop people from running red light.  Well, now it seems that drivers are taking heed of those cameras as drive more carefully and don't run red lights.  That is what was told to the public by the Fat Cat Politicians who were promoting the traffic light cameras as others who were concerned about the abuse of those cameras opposed their use.

According to MSNBC (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23710970/), drivers are so careful now that the municipalities are not getting enough money from fines from tickets given to drivers for running those red lights.  But a federal study found a small but measurable reduction in injuries nationwide in accidents at intersections monitored by cameras.  You would think that this would be fantastic news for the municipal officials because their intersections are now safer and the potential for people to get hurt decreases.  Nope.  They find other studies that show the cameras are not as beneficial for safety as previously thought.  But the truth be known it is a case of money.  With less money collected from tickets the cash cow, the one they said didn't exist nor was the purpose of the cameras for collecting money.  So, what are they going to do?  They are going to shut down the cameras...again citing safety concerns, but the real truth is that they can no longer fleece any money from drivers. 

City officials in Charlotte and Fayetteville, N.C., recently turned off all of their red light cameras, concluding that a state law diverting much of the revenue they generate in fines to schools meant their general funds were actually losing money and in Bolingbrook, Ill., officials ended their red light camera program after statistics showed a 40 percent drop in ticketable offenses.

So, the Fat Cat municipal officials could care less if you live or die...just leave them your money.  That's ALL they care about. Because as long as they could get money out of you, they fought tooth and nail to get to put up the cameras.  Now that they're not able to get your money, they are shutting them down.  When they wanted them up they cited safety issues, now that they want to shut them down they are citing safety issues.  The fact is that they fought for the cameras when they thought they were a cash cow....and now that they aren't, they don't care for them.

 

Let's Just Crap on the Little Guy...We Got Ours!

I read an interesting news story today.  It had to do with the on-going saga of Bear Stearns and their debacle.  It seems that while the executives were propping up their companies stock value with the scams from the sub prime mortgage loans, they themselves were taking in large amounts of money in forms of compensation and bonuses for the great job they were doing with the sub prime loans.  Over five years, from 2002 through 2006, Chairman Cayne took home total compensation — salary, bonus, restricted stock, and stock options — worth a combined $156 million. Current CEO Schwartz made $141 million. Former Co-President Warren Spector, deposed after the hedge fund debacle, did the best of them all, reaping $168 million. From 2002 through 2005, Bear Stearns proxy statements show that Cayne and his lieutenants, Schwartz and Spector, took home bonuses of between $9 million and $12 million each.

And the executives weren't stupid.  In 2006 they eliminated the nine metrics for bonuses and moved to basing them entirely on one measure — return on equity, a number easily met by Bear's executives once they were on the sub prime bandwagon. Cash bonuses jumped to more than $16 million for Cayne, Schwartz, and Spector in 2006. So, while they their compensation went up based on "good" performance, there are no clauses calling for the return of Bear executive bonuses if their previous performance was deemed bogus or their compensation does not get reduced based on bad performance. Cayne, Schwartz, and Spector will get to keep their money, a circumstance decried by the Corporate Library. "If you don't have callbacks," said Corporate Library's Nell Minow, "it perpetuates a musical-chairs culture where you hope your check clears before the music stops."

Who gets hurt?  Bear's biggest shareholders. Money manager Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss, owner of 11.5 million shares, and investor Joe Lewis, with 11 million, can only smart over their enormous losses — and hope that the company winds up fetching more than $2 a share. But they don't care about the other people that will get hurt...the employees of Bear Stearns.  Even though the employees owned about 1/3 of the outstanding shares, they never received anything close to the compensation packages the executives did.  Everyone else will move forward and life will go on for them, but the employees that get laid off...they will need to figure out how they are going to live until they find another job.  After all, they didn't make millions scamming the shareholders and others. 

But if justice REALLY exists, all of the executives should have ALL of their wealth taken away (after all they acquired it through scams and deceit) and be forced to work at minimum paying jobs for the foreseeable future.  Because after everything is said and done, they really don't care.  They got theirs.  They don't have to worry about being thrown out on the street.  They don't need to worrying how they are going to put food on the table (how much better can the executives and their families eat with over $150 million?).  I can't think of anything that could be bad enough to happen to those executives.  But then they have enough money to buy whatever kind of justice they want.

The Hypocrisy of the Workplace

Has anyone else noticed that there is a hypocrisy in their workplace or is it just mine?  I just watch certain situations where the current person in a position gets all of these special dispensations to their errors, miscalculations, and general faux pas.  Yet, when I remember their predecessor and how every little minor error (i.e. they signed an authorization in the wrong place, they miscalculated a timeline by a day or so, etc.) got blown up by certain people and "reported" to top management. 

Now, the current person in the same position miscalculated by weeks, doesn't even sign authorizations sometimes (they say they forgot), etc. and no one says a word.  Why is this?  It could be that the current person is liked by all of the others and is part of that special clique.  I guess it's true....it's not what you know, but who you know.  And the person you know doesn't even have to be placed that high up, they just have to have a big mouth.  You get enough of these type of people behind you and you can ruin anyone else and get what you want (not necessarily what you deserve) while getting rid of those you feel stand in your way.

Chickens Coming Home to Roost?

On Friday, Bear Stearns was on the verge of collapse (read about it here http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23638138/).  Their competitor, JP Morgan, will be buying them out.  Looks like the chickens are coming home to roost.  It makes one wonder if the right people and businesses are paying the price for the scam, called sub-prime loans, that was foisted on the public.  Oh, yes...the people that are currently in default got into homes that normally they wouldn't even be able to afford to even look at.  But someone had to have told and assured them that they could afford them.  Someone had to have told them that they would be able to come out ahead...be richer for it in the future, or at least not be damaged by this scam.  Yes, people bought into it...but when dfo you stop blaming the victim of the con job?  Yes, it was a con job.  People were enticed and manipulated using the 3 key focus points that all con jobs and advertisements have in common:

1.  Make offers appealing to people's greed.
2.  Make offers appealing to people's ego.
3.  Make offers appealing to people's fear of loss.

The sub-prime loan was a purely manipulative con job.  Someone was going to get burned.  After all, how long and far could home prices go up?  But the people who came up with this con were not the ones that were going to be on the losing end.  Con artists generally don't.  Now who might these people be that were the sole winners in the sub-prime scam?  Follow the money.  Who gained the most from it?  Don't stop at the actual business entity...a business entity does NOT make any decisions or take actions on its own.  Someone there had to make the decision and put things into action.  Look through the news archives and find out who was the BIGGEST proponent/champion for the sub-prime loans.  Who gained the most and lost the least?  I think that if you follow the money you may be surprised.  None of the governemnt regulators are interested in getting to the bottom of the con.  And the politicians are only interested in getting re-elected.

 

The Estrogen Club

What is the Estrogen Club, you ask? I'm sure that you have one in your workplace, too. You just need to look around and you'll find it. As a matter of fact, depending on the size of your company you may have more then one. But the Estrogen Club is a group of people that spend the majority of their time:

1. Talking about each other behind each other's backs,
2. Talking and spreading rumours about others to each other,
3. Believe that they are more important then they really are,
4. Believe that no one is as smart as they are, and therefore everyone else is stupid,
5. Stab those people they beleive are stupid in the back.

There's probably a few other points here but I can't think of them. But is the Estrogen Club comprised of only females? Majority of the time, yes. But not always. The one I have to live with in my workplace has at least one male...and he belongs so that he can get all of the "scoop" on others fresh as it comes out of the group. Hey, how else are you going to torpedo people and their careers?

What makes this group so much worse then any other is that the members usually have the "ear" of someone with power over someone else's job and workload. But one way ot figure out if you have an Estrogen Club is to locate a few of the following people and see if they hang around together. The Club here consists of:

1. The Stupid Cow - knows nothing about anything she talks about and is the quickest with the knife.
2. The Diva - believes that the world revolves around her and that would cease to exist if she wasn't here.
3. The Hen - always in the middle of things and is the key person responsible for making sure everyone else in the Club is in the know.
4. Miss Piggy - thinks she is the head of the Club and has all of the power. This one is the most vicious member.

Do you have an Estrogen Club at your workplace?

Life With Double-Standards

What a lousy week this is starting out to be.  In dealing with a major project I was in a discussion with a group of people pertaining to tasks that still needed to be completed.  We had just lost a person (I came to find out they were let go last Friday...but no one is saying why).  Another person stated that they were not going to be able to get their task completed in time (it is/was due tomorrow) and they were told that it was OK and no problem if they missed their due date.  Hmmm.  I was in the same position last week when I stated that I was possibly going to miss my due date of NEXT WEEK because of the delays from other areas and my current workload.  What was I told?  "WORK HARDER".  Maybe I should have waited until the day before it was due and said that I was going to miss my due date.  Or maybe it's because I don't spend vast amounts of my work-time BSing with the executives.  I know I'd love to take more time out of my schedule and spend it kibitzing with the corporate executives...BUT I CAN NEVER GET IN WITH THEM BECAUSE THEY ALWAYS HAVE ONE OF THEIR KISS-ASS "PETS" IN THERE WITH THEM.  And, yes, that includes the one announcing today that they are going to miss their due date.

Talk about stress.  We'll see what happens tomorrow.  I know I won't be able to push the issues too much...because I don't have another job set up for myself.  And I really don't want another one because things will NOT be any different.  I'm never going to be able to be the one that just sits back, barks orders, lets everyone else do the work, blame others when things are not done or done incorrectly, and be a member of the BS Club.

Boy, what I'd give for my own business.

Tired of Other People's Agendas

Another miserable day...another miserable dollar.  I am just soooo tired of having to deal with everyone else's agenda in the workplace.  I know that when I started working my current job that I didn't sign up to work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week so that someone else didn't have to do anything except tell anyone who'd listen about great they are.  It is just so frustrating that I'm stuck here.  I'm stuck becuase no matter where I go, I'm going to run into tyhese same type of people.

All I want is a job that I get to do wiithout having to deal with anyone else or their agenda, hidden or otherwise.  I don't want a job where I have to pick up the slack for anyone else.  I want to know what I have to do and just be allowed to do it.  Without having to listen to anyone else on how they would do the job...because they've never done it.  I want to be able to set my own hours just like the executives do and still get paid the obscene salaries that they get.  No, I don't know the exact amount they get, but if they get more then $1 per hour for what they do, then the salries they get are obscene.

I like to believe that there are few regrets in my life, but there isn't a waking moment that I don't curse the career-path decision that I made years ago.  Now, because of obligations and the people around me, I'm absolutely stuck on the road and I can't change my career without adversely impacting my ability to pay my bills and feed my family.

But I am certain of one thing.  I am sure to go to heaven when I die becuase I am living myn purgatory now on earth.

 

The Workplace As A Social Environment

Do you feel that your workplace is an extension of your social network?  Do you view your co-workers as your friends?  This is a very interesting question.  Speaking for myself, I choose my friends very carefully and wisely.  Just because we work at the same place does NOT make us friends...automatically.  I know that friends are people that have some things in common and that sharing a place of employment may be considered as having something in common.  But in most cases that is where it starts and ends. 

I do not consider those that I work with as my friends.  Why?  Because people I choose to be my friends do not stab me in the back.  They don't try to weasel their way into my life in order to gain some information about me to use to their advantage, either in prestige or in their career.  At work I am a very closed person when it comes to my personal life.  Those that I choose to include in my life are the ones that I will open up to.  Those people are the ones that I will put on my list of trusted people.  However, once that trust is violated I remove those people from that list.  I still may be cordial to them and particiapte in meaningless chit-chat, but no longer will I allow them "in".  And once you are off of my "list", you have a better shot of growing wings and flying to the moon then ever getting back on my "trust list". 

The workplace may be a microcasm of the real world, but I don't trust everyone in the world.  I have seen too many people, too many times, endear themselves to people only to use that friendship to feather their own nest or to advance their own careers.  To illustrate what I am referring to, I knew a person who worked in the casino industry.  As usual he tended to gravitate toward the one group of people that he's been working with for years. 

Now, this person has always been a dependable dealer who didn't call out that often and was consciencious about their job.  He was always focused on the casino customer and always worked in such a sway that it was fun to be at the table with him.  In due time the union tried to make inroads in the casino.  The union would pass out info and such to the dealers.  Well, this one time the group is sitting in the break room discussing everyday things and one topic they discussed was the attempt by the union to get into the casino.  This person I knoew made only one comment...that maybe in light of what was going on in other casinos (i.e. very few part-timers being offerred full-time positions and that more and more full-time position schedule times were being filled by part-timers, etc.) that maybe they should find out more of what the union had to offer.  A few weeks later, this friend noticed that management was being very cold toward him and he got less of the desirable start times (as before they tended to be divided as equaly as possible).  At this same time he was trying to move up to a better shift (those that may be in the casino industry may relate to this) that would be more convenient for him.  Well, he didn't get the better shift...but another one of his "friends" from the group did.  Coincidence?  Needless to say, he wasn't happy.  Then one time a supervisor asked him for a favor and to work a bit later on a game.  He replied to the supervisor that he didn't know why he should do anyone a favor when they didn't do anything for him...referring to the request for shift change.  The reply he was told was that if he wanted anything from the casinos then he shouldn't be so pro-union.  Hmm, wonder where the casino got that idea from?  The "friend" who did get his request for shift change fulfilled?  well, he was out of the "group" because he moved to another shift and never got to see them.  But I guess he got what he wanted.

The workplace is for work.  As a social environment it sucks.  People are manipulative and will sacrifice anyone else for their own benefit.  Exactly like our politicians act.

YES!!!!!

I'm so happy when the right person finally gets to pay the consequences of their action.  No, I'm not referring to the current subprime mess where they're still trying to figure out what happened and why.  That one is a no brainer...just follow the money and you'll find the culprit; which individual(s) made the most money.

What I'm referring to is the recent news story that Conrad Black reported to prison to begin his 6 1/2 year sentence (read details at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23454519/).  I don't know what he bases his believe that his conviction will be overturned.  Maybe he paid off some people at the higher court level.  Maybe he belives that he has been annointed by God and had every right to swindle people out of their money.  After all, he IS Conrad Black and deserves as much money and wealth as he can defraud out of people.  I'm just sorry to read that is it a low-security prison.  I hope that he isn't extended any special priviledges that the other inmates doesn't receive. 

I wonder if anyone will ever see any of the $6.1 million that Black is suppose to pay in restitution.  I doubt it...all he has to do is pay, his lawyers, only a fraction of the amount he is ordered to pay and they'll find some type of loophole or technicality that will  allow Black to keep his money.  But, hey!  Black may be broke and penniless and can't pay back the money.  What can he do?  HE CAN WORK IT OFF!!  Give him a broom and dustbin.

The last question I have regarding this situation is...

Does Conrad Black still retain his membership in the British House of Lords?

 

The Pseudo Position

You know of which I speak...you've encountered it, the Pseudo Position.  That's the position with a title that you have strived for and know about.  You've worked your whole career to attain that position and you finally have the credentials and experience to go for that job.

You get to the interview and everything goes well.  Your experience and understanding of the job allows for you to "move up the ladder".  The interviewer explains the job function and responsibilities...all standard for that position.  You are offered the job and you accept.

Now comes the "What the....?!?!?"  You're on the job and you come to find out that you hold the title, but the responsibilities and authority are quite different then what you were led to believe.  As a matter of fact, your job function is that of a position that is at a lower level then what you accepted.

You know what I'm talking about here.  Many of us have fallen for this corporate employment scam.  Yes, the pay may be higher then the lower level position pays, but it still isn't what the real position is suppose to pay.  Corporations do this type of con all the time...it's called Title In Lieu of Pay.  They need someone with your experience and knowledge, but don't want to 1) pay the higher salary to actually be something less in position, and 2) really don't want to actually give you the real perks that go with the real position (because those are reserved for their "favorites").

You know what I'm talking about.  The supervisor position that ends up with you having the title but still doing the subordinates job.  All that has changed is that the corporation now has someone to be the buffer between themselves and the employees below you.  You really don't get to supervise.  Or how about the manager that is not given the authority or perks all other managers in the organization receive...just get the responsibility and workload of all of the positions below them that the corporation does not want to fill.

 

Profits drop?

It was just announced that Home Depot said that its 4th quarter profits declined by more then 27% (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23349107/).  So?  Is this dire news?  Should one panic and dump Home Depot stock?  Should we stop shopping at Home Depot? 

Wow!  Home Depot profits went from $925 million to $671 million.  What does this mean?  Nothing!  Their revenues dropped so their profits dropped, too.  They also plan on only opening 55 new stores.  How many new Home Depot stores do we need?  When does it stop?  When you have a Home Depot across the road from a Home Depot?  This whole "grow or die" mentality is not rooted in reality.  You cannot keep increasing revenues and profits without havimng some type of ceiling.  It cannot go on forever.  Did any of them ever hear of expodential growth?  Well, it can't be sustained.  To better illustrate what I'm talking about do the following math example -

1.  Start with 1 penny.
2.  Doubel the amount from Step 1 (now you have 2 pennies)
3.  Again, double the amount (now you have 4 pennies).

Keep doing this 30 times.  What do you come up with at the end?  I come up with over $5 million dollars.  If you were to do this for real and startying with a penny on day 1, and double your pennies each day for 30 days, on day 30 you'd have to put in over $5 million dollars.  it's the same with what the corporations expect.  It just becomes unreasonable.  It becomes meaning less.

Should you keep shopping at Home Depot?  Sure, why not?  Should you shop around or buy blindly from Home Depot?  Shop around.  The whole purpose of opening all of those new stores is to make sure that there is a Home Depot store within a very short distance of you so that you don't shop around, you'll go to their store (because they believe you are lazy and stupid) because it is close and convenient, and you'll pay whatever they charge.

Remember, corporations never do anything because it is solely convenient for you or it is in your best interest.  These may be factors in their decisions, but only if the benefits to them outweigh the ones to you.

They still dodged the bullet.

I just read a news article about a woman in California that was awarded $9 million froma lawsuit against her insurance carrier.  I won't go into details, you can read them at http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCallPlusBreastCancerNews/story?id=4338818.

As I read the article it amazed me the heartlessness of the corporations in America.  Here is a woman that has been diagnosed with breast cancer.  Now, along with having to deal with this devistating news her insurance carrier decides to drop her in order to protect their profits.  Remember, corporations will allow NOTHING to stand in the way of their profits and their ability to gouge you of your money. 

But based on what I read in the news article, $9 million as an award was really lenient.  I just don't know what would be an appropriate award against a cold-hearted, uncaring corporation who's only (absolutely ONLY) concern is the amount of money they can take from you without having to give you anything back.  And I'm sure that there were complaints from other people when the insurance carrier dropped them, but nothing was done.  Why?  Probably because they were not in a life-threatening situation...at the time.  Does it make the situation right if there is no life-threatening illness involved?  Why did it take a lawsuit to have the practice stopped?  I'll bet that the insurance carrier didn't stop the practice because they felt some type of responsibility toward the insured.  After all, the insurance carrier said that it was going to change the practice to allow a "third-party review" (translation - a legal team will review each case to determine if the saving will outweigh any potential liability).  Trust me, this insurance carrier will continue to rape their customers. 

Now one last thing that I caught in the news article and I wonder how amny other people have or will catch.  After the insurance carrier rescinded her coverage, while she was in the middle of her medical treatment for breast cancer, her treatments were stopped because her bills were not being paid.  Wow!  Is there something in the Hippocratic oath about not doing harm...unless you don't get paid?  In the news article it did say that she finished her treatment through a state-funded program.  But I wonder who helped her find this state-funded program.  Was it any of the doctors that stopped her treatment for not being able to pay her bills?  Was it her lawyer?  I'm almost sure that it wasn't anyone from the state.  What would have happened if this state-funded program wasn't located (by whoever)?  Would the woman have been allowed to just die? 

So, I pose this last question to you....we already know how heartless the insurance corporation is but how heartless and uncaring are the doctors?  Do they have any responsibility at all in this situation?  Would they have redeemed themselves if THEY had helped the woman find the state-funded program?

When Did It Change?

When did things change from when a company's primary focus was their products and service to their stock prices?  When did things change from a company being concerned about the value of their product or service to just the value of their company stock? 

Boy, if this annoying as hell.  Stocks are sluggish because of investor's "feelings"?  What happened to customer's "feelings"?  The only feelings companies are concerned about as it pertains to customers are the ones that cause them to pull their hard-earned money from their pockets and hand it over to these corporations.  Why are corporations so enthralled with gouging the public of their money by stressing that their actions (i.e. lay-off, outsourcing their suppliers from off-shore, reducing quality while increasing prices) are due to increasing their profit while at the same time they artificially inflate the price of their stocks (i.e. Enron, Global Crossing, TYco, etc.) so as to make more money? 

Where is all of this money going?  It sure isn't going into the employee's pocket (those that are left behind after a lay-off tend to have more work dumped on them and no pay increase).  The only time you actually hear about employee's pay is during any labor dispute.  This is when corporations yell how the employees are distroying the corporation because they want so much money.  I guess the corporation does not want anyone or anything to interfere with THIER ability to line their own pockets.  All that extra money (profit) shouldn't be going to those who actually do somethign to earn that money, but to those that do absolutely nothing and add no value.

Did you ever notice that when lay-offs occur that only those that actually did something are the ones affected?  You never hear about any executives being let go (well, at least let go WITHOUT this great multi-million dollar severence package).  Imagine how many people you could keep and for how long if you got rid of the over-paid severence packages.  But that's not acceptable to the corporate executives.  Remember their rule...themselves first, then the company.  And the employees are not even in the equation.

So, someone tell me....why should I care about investors?  I'm not referring to institutional investors (i.e. your mututal funds, 401K's, etc.) but the individuals.  How much clout do they actually exert on corporations?  Or are they another phantom that the corporation puts out there so as to have a scapegoat to blame their own incompetance on?  If a company puts out a good quality product or service, why should I care about its investors or its stock price?  If the company's product or service is of good quality and the company is well managed, then the risk of the corporation folding are minimal or non-existent.  Right? 

So, I guess I just answered why a corporation's stock prices are more important then its product and services.  Because the corporate executives can mask their incompetence at managing the corporation by inflating the stock price.  People will not ask probing questions as long as the stock prices are going up.  The corporate executives and board of directors don't want anyone asking questions about their competence to run the corporation.  And as long as they don't have nayone asking probing questions or looking over their shoulders, they can pretty much spend as much time as they need to line their pockets and enhance their own careers.

No consequences...Or Are There?

I've been following the whole Congressional activity regarding the subprime home loan mess.  I've also followed, with great interest, the activities being done by the individual states on the matter.  My conclusion?  The states seem to have a clearer picture and the federal government doesn't have a clue.

I can understand, and agree, that the primary task should be to help those that were the victims of those predatory loans.  Yes, there were probably a few people that were stupid and didn't ask the right questions and shut their eyes becuase they were going to get what they weren't otherwise qualified to receive.  But let's be blunt about this...no consumer held a gun to any mortgage lender's head and forced them to offer this predatory loan. 

After helping out those victims, the next step is to find those responsible and hold them accountable for this mess.  This is where the states have it over the federal government.  The states are beginning to investigate the originators of these predatory loans to determine how much they actually disclosed.  Unfortunately, this is being driven by the fact that many shareholders lost tons of money and not the fact that people were conned and lied to.  In any form of government or corporations, doing the right things has NEVER trumped making loads of money.  As long as they can make obscene profits, they can always justify their methods and buy off officials to look the other way (need I mention ENRON?). 

So, who is to blame for the current subprime fiasco?  Well, that's easy to figure out.  Follow the money! 

1.  Who made the most money from the subprime con?
2.  Who knew enough to minimize their losses?

And why isn't the money being followed?  Because, more then likely, it will lead to those that we have entrusted to protect us and to put our interests before their own.  The powerful people.  Who might they be?  I will let you draw your own conclusions. 

And I'm sure that everyone who was involved in this fiasco can justify their actions or inactions.  Many will say that it was not their responsibility to look out for the consumer, that they were grown adults who should have been more diligent, etc.  Yes, we've heard all of the justifications...from con artists. 

One of the more interesting aspects of the aid being discussed by Congress is to ease up the bankrupcy rules.  Hmm, I distinctly remember our congress making the bankrupcy rules more stringent against their own contituents' wishes, BUT it was exactly what the banks and lenders wanted...to be able to suck the life blood out of consumers with Congresses blessing.  So, who should pay the consequences?  Not the consumer!

But there is an old saying:

If You Aren't Part Of The Solution...You Are Part Of The Problem.

States Key In On Stupidity Gene

I'm sure that everyone has heard about the couple from Georgia that won the Mega Millions lottery. I guess what they say is true....someone has to win at some point. And that is what gets people to keep spending money on the lotteries. That MAYBE they'll win (which is why normal people call it GAMBLING). Even when they don't win, they keep coming back for more and more...because "Someone has to win at some point in time", so why shouldn't it be you. Has anyone tried to figure out for every winner, how many people lost (also know as LOOSERS).

I'm not a great fan of gambling, as you can probably tell. Why? Because you cannot affect the outcome (otherwise known by those running the gambling enterprises and always making money, regardless if anyone wins or not, as cheating) through any specific knowledge or skills. Let me illustrate. You and 99 others are going to be taking a test. The outcome of this test will determine if you will be getting a specific job or not. Now, there is only 1 position open, so you have to be the one with a the highest test score. What can you do to improve your score? Well, you can study for the test. Or if the test pertains to some level of skills you should have been spending time honing those skills. In other words, your skill and knowledge, or lack thereof, can impact how well you do.

Gambling is not in the same category. The whole point about gambling is to be able to get your money without having to payout anywhere near what you bring in. Many states run their own lotteries and they say that they do it so that they can collect money and help pay for either senior citizen programs or help pay for educations. This is the biggest lie and myth to be foisted on their citizens. These lottos are the biggest cash-cow that was ever dumped in their laps! They can't lose! Just look at the payouts and the methods they use to pay out the winnings (the amount advertised is the amount you'll receive if you take it over 20 years).

Again, the states have found a way of tapping into that one "stupid gene" in humans. You convince them that they can get something for nothing (or almost nothing). "Look! You can win $200 million for only a BUCK!" Gee, what happened to all of the other bucks you spent the previous weeks and months? They're gone! They don't count any more? The odds do not change with the amount that you spend on lottery tickets. There is no guarantee that you will win...but there is a guarantee that you will be poorer by the amount you spent and the agency collecting the lottery money is richer by that same amount.

If anyone has the time, they should figure out the amount of money any lottery takes in. You'll then see that no matter who wins or who loses, the lottery agency ALWAYS wins. Why do you think the states don't allow just anyone to run their own lottery? They'll tell you that they regulate it because they want to make sure that the lottery is fair and not corrupt. HA! Who says that just because the state runs/regulates a lottery it is fair and legit? What? There is no corruption with state officials? Please! They bank on your naivete and stupidity. As long as you don't question their actions and just believe whatever they tell you, there will be no problems.

And, lastly, heaven forbid that you have a dollar or 2 left in your pocket...they WILL find a way of getting from you.