Survey Says...

by Pa Rock
Struggling Linguist

There was a survey at Daily Kos today that was more interesting for the responses than it was for the question. This was the question:

AIG's CEO says he wants people to stop critiquing the company's activities, even though we the people own 80 percent of it. Your reaction as a majority stockholder?

There were seven possible responses.

Response #1: WTF?
At the end of the day it had received 1,194 votes or 13% of the vote. WTF is fairly obvious - I get it.

Response #2: STFU!
This answer garnered 4,246 votes. It was the most popular, drawing 46% of the total vote. I get this one also. The ST is "Shut The" and the FU is a no-brainer - with the exclamation mark making it an imperative command.

Response #3: LOL
Laughing Out Loud collected 542 votes or 5% of the total. LOL is somewhat like me - a real no-brainer!

Response #4: FU!
Another colorful imperative command that was good for 1,715 votes or 18% of the total. Being a simple soul, I was sorely tempted to vote for good old FU!

Response #5: MEH!
That collected 121 votes or 1% of the total. Help me out here...WTF is MEH?

Response #6: SYFPH!
This snappy little piece of colorful language collected 1,032 votes - including my own - which was good for 11% of the total. If I'm translating correctly, the PH part of the response stands for "Pie Hole."

Response #7: (.)
308 people agreed with that selection, comprising 3% of the total vote. This one stumped me also. Who can clue me in to what (.) means?

As soon as I can become proficient in communicating in this abbreviated format, I plan to take up texting. A year from now I'll be TMAO - count on it!

The People Flex Their Muscle

by Pa Rock
Consumer Advocate

Finally, a computer game that I could master.

Last week someone sent me a game via email. It was a photo of the AIG Headquarters in New York City. The object was to drag your mouse over the photo and click it at random. A tomato splashed on the building with every click. It was kind of fun to get artsy and make tomato stain patterns on the AIG Building. And it was educational, too, because at certain levels of hits, derisive facts about AIG would pop up.

(Hey, I live by myself and am always on the lookout for inexpensive amusements! Sort of like George Bush and his chainsaw, only not nearly as dangerous!)

Today that same AIG building was in the news. The giant letters, AIG, had been taken down from above the front door - so as not to draw too much attention to that den of inequity. (Were they worried about real tomatoes being lobbed at their headquarters?)

Also, over this weekend some activists chartered buses and rode up into the tonier rural areas of Connecticut where they traveled past the fabulous country homes of AIG executives. Some even de-boarded the buses and held protest rallies out in front of the plutocrats' locked gates!

Arthur Levitt, a former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, said today in the Wall Street Journal that this public scrutiny has reached extremes of incivility that are intolerable. Those good old boys in the Armani suits and Italian shoes just aren't comfortable with John Q. Public knowing who they are, where they live, and how much they are being paid.

Some of the AIG bonus payments have been returned this week, and some big banks are now publicly talking about returning their TARP money. The public money just isn't worth the hassle of public oversight.

In truth these corporate hogs have been sucking at the public tit for decades - through tax breaks, purchased legislation, constant deregulation, and treating their line workers like serfs from the Middle Ages. They brought about this sorry economic mess, and they should now be forced to live and work where they crapped. And if their public benefactors want to drive by and ogle their mansions or look over their shoulders while they work, well, the swine brought it on themselves.

Say What?

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Life is fairly predictable, world events are generally predictable, and American politics are completely predictable - or so I thought - until today. We all know that Democrats cater to the poor and the unions, and Republicans wrap themselves in the flag, hold a cross in one hand and an automatic weapon in the other, and take care of the rich while trying to convince the rednecks that the GOP is the only path to national salvation.

Nothing changes in American politics - ever! Well, sometimes one of the parties will come up with a rock star candidate - Raygun or Obama for example, but basically the same arguments drag on for generations with one party running things for a few years and then the public opinion pendulum swings back and the other party gets to have the power for awhile. It is so predictable, and progress seems to take forever.

That is why I was so shocked when I heard the news tonight. It was like I had an enormous mind fart and woke up on another planet. I blame the rotten Bush economy. It has shaken the bedrock of the established American political landscape and left things topsy-turvey.

I am getting ready to talk about the AIG bailout and the recent discovery that their executives - like those at Merrill Lynch (Bank of America) - got their bonuses at taxpayer expense even though they had proved themselves to be incompetent during the last year. I haven't written about AIG because to do so would have been pointless. The milk has been spilt and there has been little else in the news for the past few days. My two-cents worth would not have added anything significant to the brew.

But the story just keeps getting better and better, and now I can't help myself!

AIG was apparently able to pay the bonuses because of a legislative sleight-of-hand committed by Sen. Christopher Dodd, a Democrat from Connecticut and the son of a disgraced Connecticut Democratic Senator from another era. Dodd, when cornered, admitted that he had secretly taken a provision out of legislation that would have blocked the bonuses. He said that treasury officials had asked him to do it for the good of the country. And Dodd, btw, has received more cash from AIG that any other member of the U.S. Senate. (Look for lots more on that story in coming days.)

So, between Senator Dodd and Obama's Treasury Department, there were Democratic fingerprints all over the AIG bonuses. There was no way that the Republicans could lose on this issue - unless they were mortally stupid. But lose they did.

First of all, the Democrats got the jump on the issue with the President going on TV and railing about the awfulness of what had happened. His indignation was loud and it was righteous. Then, before Republicans could get their bearings, Congressional Democrats started thundering about how awful it all was. The Democrats in Congress came up with a plan to put a 90% tax on the bonuses, effectively returning the money to the U.S. Treasury.

The Republicans wanted to be indignant, too, because that's where the public was on the issue. But the Democrats had outflanked them. They knew that Republicans typically rally around the rich, and everyone knows how much Republicans hate taxes on the rich.

The House of Representatives voted on the 90% tax on the bonuses today. Democrats overwhelmingly voted for the measure (98%), but the Republicans inexplicably voted against it 87-85. What the hell were they thinking?

With today's vote in the House, the Republican party consigned itself to ignominy for the next decade. They could have easily blamed this sordid affair on the Democrats (with a fair amount of justification), but instead they chose to give up the moral high ground to protect a few rich slimeballs and a principle that isn't in sync with the country's views or needs.

The Republicans seem to be intent on committing political suicide. Democrats would be well served to sit on their hands, keep quiet, and let it happen.

It's Still the Economy, Stupid!

by Pa Rock

As I have written previously in this forum, I have expended quite a bit of effort in making sure that I have enough of a retirement plan to keep myself from being a burden on my children. To achieve that goal I have made it through life without ever owning a new home, and only once buying a new car (a 1976 Chevrolet Chevette with a sticker price of $2,900). The jobs I have held have never been on the high end of the economic spectrum, but they have always been satisfying to me and of service and benefit to others – and they have always had some form of retirement option.

I am currently drawing one retirement check while working full-time. By the time that I am sixty-six (which gets closer every day) I will be eligible to receive four retirement checks each and every month. In addition to that, I have a 401-K that I have contributed to off and on for years.

Let me tell you about that 401-K:

First of all, it has quite a few options, but they are all based in the stock market. A year ago this month my plan hit a high-water mark of $30,000 (not much, but I do have four back-up retirement checks). Today that fund is down to just over $23,000 and still heading south. This past Monday when the Dow dropped over 500 points, I lost twenty cents less than $666 in value in my 401-K. (Was that a message from God, or what? I’ve got to quit injecting my views on religion into this blog!) Yesterday, the stock market went up a little, but I must have the wrong stocks in my 401-K because it continued to fall. Today was another big loser on Wall Street.

At some point my 401-K may extinguish itself. I hope not. I trust that my government will, sooner or later, begin making wise economic decisions that aren’t based solely on the protection of privilege, and the stock market will recover. But if that doesn’t happen and my 401-K ends up with a zero balance – I still have my four retirement checks – one of which will be Social Security.

Most people in the United States will eventually qualify for a Social Security check of some amount. It was originally meant to give the elderly a way to live on their own without being a burden to their family or being carted off to one of the numerous poor farms that were prevalent before and during the Great Depression. Today, however, the checks are generally too small to guarantee independence to the elderly. They require another source of income, such as a retirement check. And most companies have either raided their retirement funds before declaring bankruptcy, or they have gone with the far cheaper option of contributing a low level of matching funds to a 401-K.

And what happened to the value of those 401-K’s? (See above!)

What does Dear Leader want to do to improve the Social Security system? Why, allow individuals to invest “their” money in the stock market? And what does John McBush want to do to improve Social Security? He supports privatizing it – putting that money under the control of our trained business class? Or perhaps Halliburton!

Our 401-K’s are going down the toilet now because of the greed and corruption of America’s world-class business leaders. Do we really want to give them access to our Social Security funds also?

If you two goobers (Bush and McBush) want to help the elderly to have an independent and secure life, force businesses to redistribute their wealth. Corporate America needs a whole lot less money for the CEO’s and Board Members, and decent wages and benefits (including health and retirement plans) for the people at the bottom of the food chain who are actually doing the work that produces America’s wealth! If the government has money to throw away, such as on subsidies to Bear Stearnes, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and AIG, why not redirect it into subsidies for good companies who are willing to treat their employees like human beings?

And keep your grubby hands off of Social Security!