When you have ABC news:
America’s CEOs are coming under fire these days not just for their hefty salaries but also for their use of private jets, limos with drivers and free trips to posh resorts.
But they aren’t alone in living this lavish lifestyle — the president of United States gets all these perks and more.
And unlike some of his Cabinet appointments, he doesn’t have to pay taxes on these benefits.
It might be a bit of a stretch to compare today’s corporate titans with the commander in chief, but some Wall Street bloggers clearly upset with President Obama’s attempts to rein in executive pay are doing just that.
I don’t think this is a “stretch” at all. This is excellent reporting, guys. Now that the “shoe is on the other foot,” I am glad the media is covering the hypocrisy of the Democrats, who are limiting CEO pay while living high on the hog themselves.
And the overhead of the White House should be discussed, too. Isn’t it a bit much for Obama to have that massive staff at the White House when everyone else is buckling their belt? I bet Rahm Emmanuel has room in his flat for the Obama family, and that could save a few bucks.
And why isn’t he paying for his security?
Wankers. I really don’t know what else to say. Wankers.
(via)
MNPundit
Did you ever wonder why lefty blog sites exploded during the Iraq debate? The desire for actual rational discussion had to outlet SOMEWHERE and it certainly wasn’t the media.
DougJ
This may be the dumbest thing I have ever read anywhere.
JenJen
Key sentence:
The piece should’ve stopped right there.
Shade Tail
I _know_ you’re being sarcastic, Mr. Cole, I simply _know_ that…
…but satire is so dead, that it can be hard to tell. :(
The Moar You Know
Lotta media crawling out from under their rocks to defend the American CEO and its lifestyle.
Wonder why?
Hmmmm.
John Cole
@DougJ: The only thing that is missing from that story is Jake Tapper’s name on the byline.
Athenae
It might be a bit of a stretch, but it would be irresponsible not to!
Just kill me.
A.
4tehlulz
ABC has managed to be dumber than Politico. Way to go, Disney.
El Cid
Yeah, I remember how hostile the media were to Bush Jr’s wasteful Presidential expenditures when he was flying around the country pissing his pants after 9/11/2001 until Uncle Dick told him how to distract his way out of failure by invading Iraq.
Republicans get to spend as much money as they want, with no possible funding plan, on the rich and select industries.
Democrats are to spend no money, save what they give to the rich and select industries, and if one penny is spent on social needs, the media is to insult them as hypocrites.
Nobody, but nobody hates America and Americans like Republicans hate America and Americans, but the major news media are a close second.
Bootlegger
I demand limits on media compensation! It is clear that the more they are paid the worse their reporting gets as they lick the shit from the asscracks of their corporate masters.
PeakVT
Yet another example of the "Shape of Earth: Views Differ" false equivalency distortion.
The media seems to have mistaken Krugman’s insult for a suggestion.
linda
and the unfortunate thing is that now this jackass will get lots of hits on his column; and abc will be delighted with the attention (and anger from those dirty fucking hippies).
sigh.
The Moar You Know
Here’s the bio of the rocket scientist that wrote this fluffery.
Hard-hitting journalism is what our boy wonder seems to specialize in.
Dave
Fuck me dead. That is the dumbest thing I have ever read in my life.
What do they expect, the President of the United States to fly coach?? Take the fucking bus instead of the limo?
Jesus, how do they even justify a stupid story like this?
dr. bloor
It seems self-evident that the fratboy Captains of Industry on Wall Street are every bit as important (hey, more important!) than the POTUS.
Point and laugh, people, point and laugh.
dr. bloor
@The Moar You Know:
Started at the Providence Journal. That explains a lot.
Comrade Darkness
As long as Cheney and all those republicans who wanted their mugs photographed in Iraq have to pay retroactive taxes on their security bill there. Sure. I’m game for a revised policy.
Its me again
While we’re at it, let’s put the federal anti-trust exemption for Major League Baseball in play too. . .if there were ever a bunch of millionaires who don’t need a protected market, they be them.
sgwhiteinfla
Not that I’d give a fuck if he did but did they at least point out that President Obama hasn’t asked for bailout money? I mean damn how fucking stupid can you be and call yourself a journo? Wait, that was a rhetorical question.
Funny how nobody wanted to "fund failure" when it came to the auto bailout. Does everybody remember all these clowns saying that Big 3 union workers had to "take a haircut" in order to get their bailout? And you are talking about people making $30 an hour versus the Wall Street fat cats making $30 million a year. I really hope somebody compares and contrasts the coverage of union members having to take a pay cut to get their money to the coverage of CEOs being told they will "only" get half a mil if they get TARP funds.
Fwiffo
I first saw this on openleft, and I thought "Oh, that’s one of those laughing liberally to keep from crying" posts. I really thought it was snark. I think this is the one that will break me. If tomorrow, MSNBC gives Pat Buchannan a new daily prime-time show where he performs in blackface, I won’t be able to muster surprise. It’s all over.
Conservatively Liberal
So the corporate media pulls a jackalope out of their ass and compares the pay and perks of the president of the most powerful nation in the world to those of the corporate heads? No comparison, not even close. They want to take the tens or hundreds of millions/billions made by these greedy bastards and compare that to the pittance the president gets and expect us not to laugh at them?
Fuck are they stupid. They are grasping at straws now.
Dave
@dr. bloor:
Hey, don’t pick on the Projo! They have a decent sports section.
Brick Oven Bill
"Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse," Obama wrote in the newspaper piece titled, "The Action Americans Need."
The President is starting to sound desperate. I think that he is projecting ‘The Obama Administration’ onto ‘Our Nation’. ‘Our Nation’ is the American people, not the Obama Administration. To aid the President come up with a plan that will work, I have added a fifth item. This fifth item will require a second sheet of paper in order to codify nuclear safety.
1. Hire Joe the Plumber to be the Anti Corruption Czar. Give him a $10 million budget and free reign;
2. Subject all government leaders to an IRS Audit, as previously described;
3. Electrify the railroads;
4. Institute an immediate 10% tariff on all imports, rising by 5% per year, for five years; and
5. Issue Executive Order #6, streamline nuclear permitting, and make a commitment to build twelve nuclear power plants per year, starting in 2010. Nuclear power works. There are designs waiting to be blanket permitted.
But then again, we will not survive unless we have $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts.
Josh Hueco
6. Drill for shale on Shitbrick Bill’s head.
Zifnab
@Dave:
He should have to pay for everything himself. Just like Bush could have if he’d wanted to.
It’s called the "rich man’s prerogative". If you can afford to do something yourself, you should get it for free. If you can’t afford to do something yourself, you should be called a hypocrite and a free spender when your government job pays for it.
And besides, Bush never asked anyone to tighten their belts. He told people to run out and max out their credit cards. Therefore, he can spend as much as he wants.
Morfydd
Also, Wikipedia puts the presidential salary at $400,000. If $500,000 is starvation-land for executives, the president is clearly impoverished.
I’m not a huge fan of the President traveling around a lot; in a world of internet & TV I don’t see the point of him needing to go anywhere except to meet foreign leaders and survey natural disasters (and even those are more traditional/emotional than real needs, IMO). However, it’s not like this is a new expense that popped out of nowhere…
Media Browski
@Brick Oven Bill: 1. [fart noises]
2. That’ll be an efficient use of gov’t money.
3. That’s actually a good idea. You drinking?
4. Yay! Global economic meltdowns are a great time for trade wars!
5. You’re like 5 years behind what we’re doing in the electric industry, and have a really optimistic ideas @ how quickly one can assemble a reactor.
jenniebee
Yeah, and you know that secret service security, provided free of charge to the president? Well, maybe in years past you could justify that by saying that more people wanted to try to kill the president than wanted to kill the average corporate CEO, but that isn’t true any more!
These people are whinging about how unfair it is that anybody dares to be upset when they use corporations as their own private Disneylands; they ought to just be thanking their lucky stars that nobody’s dropping them into the middle of a crowd of us Lucky Duckies.
tom p
It gets even dumber Doug. We don’t even supply the president his food. I wonder how many of these CEO’s have to pay for "in-office" meals? And the Pres is always "in-office".
Cite: The article in the Jan ’09 issue of Nat Geo titled "Inside the Presidency" (pg 139), the President has to pay for his and his familes meals.
Zifnab
That’s not so much a "plan" as a "massive load of jizz ejected over the nuclear industry". Replacing coal with uranium and caves in Tennessee with Yucca Mountain in Nevada doesn’t sound like much of a radical difference in energy planning.
Now, it’s worth noting that wind farms and solar plants ALSO work. And they don’t produce toxic sludge by the mountain full. But you can’t jack off to the sight of a spinning wind turbine like you can to radioactive carbon rods. So do it Bill’s way or you’re hating America.
Conservatively Liberal
7. When that only results in dry holes, fill them with nuclear waste, cap them off and launch him into outer space.
rock
What Obama needs to do (MSM version):
1) Scrap the wasteful "stimulus package" and shift to a bill that reforms the tax code by removing corporate taxes and slashing cap gains taxes. It’s only proven, efficient way to stimulate the economy. THERE’S NO PORK IN TAX CUTS!
2) Make the Bush tax cuts permanent. The markets hate uncertainty. This is government interfering with markets.
3) Make Gingrich or Romney head of HHS. Would finally be a move of true bipartisanship.
Of course all this would still probably be too late to save the Obama presidency.
I have to say, these amateur fumblings by Obama make me look back fondly on the adult, serious, and competent Bush administration.
Joshua Norton
And just like the president of the United States, the taxpayers are now picking up the tab for the failed CEO’s – which really wasn’t supposed to be part of the deal. They’re getting all huffy because nobody outside of their Boardroom coat-holders will recognize just exactly how great they are.
Me lie down. Me head hurts.
Brick Oven Bill
Josh Hueco; We’ve got maybe 20 years of domestic liquid fuels with the existing post-catagenesis reserves. The will bridge the gap to develop our 400 years of pre-catagenesis reserves.
Shale oil is not ‘shovel ready’ in 2009. But if you want to toss it in, go for it. (Please)
Media Browski; My 2010 date should have clarified ‘break ground on’ instead of ‘build’.
Fwiffo
@DougJ
That’s a pretty high standard. You’ve got an incredible talent for finding the dumb stuff.
Media Browski
@Brick Oven Bill: Fair enough. You’re also wrong on the NEA, btw. What do you have against a little (less than .0005% of the stim bill) Keynesian goodness being spread to a starving artist? Afraid that there is no such thing as conservative art?
The Grand Panjandrum
Scarborough had Bow Tie Bitch on this morning and they both fretted about the evil government telling private companies how much they may pay the top guys. ZOMG! Teh socialists are coming! Senator Jack Reed was on a little later and basically said that the companies are not required to take the money, but if they want it they have to follow the rules. Scarborough got that rather confused look on his face–you know the one–he gets it every time someone responds to his so-fucking-stupid-it-makes-your-brain-hurt logic with actual logic.
The Villagers and the Republicans are going to need to regroup and fall back to a defensive position because they are beginning to sound more and more like the idiots they are.
The Moar You Know
@Backyard Crematory Bill: I wouldn’t hire Samuel Worzelbacher to flip burgers at a McDonald’s. I’m serious. He couldn’t hack it. He’s lazy and lacks serious ambition; oh, he’ll grandstand when somebody hands something to him on a silver platter, but he isn’t willing to work for it.
KevOH
ABC does bring up a good point. We don’t tax government employees for using government resources. We need to start taxing the troops in Iraq for their housing, transportation, and weapons. I mean a FREE all expense paid trip to an exotic locale? What a waste, this tax could go a long way to help pay for the war.
Josh Hueco
@Media Browski:
It’s only art if it’s a velvet-painted version of that crying eagle on 9/11 with the outstretched hands of Jesus over NYC.
/kidding
Conservatively Liberal
Shorter Rock: MORE COWBELL! ! !
Shorter Me: LESS STUPID! ;)
Brick Oven Bill
@Zifnab: I have two big Internet peeves. The first is that whole human evolution thing. The second is Yucca Mountain.
The spent fuel is encased in metallic casks, that the naysayers argue that, in 10,000 years, may corrode, and release some of the largely inert spent METAL THROUGH THE CRACKS to contaminate the groundwater, affecting the residents of Beatty, Nevada.
I have been to Beatty. The people look fine. The water tastes good.
THEY USED TO BLOW UP NUCLEAR WARHEADS UNDERGROUND NEAR WHERE THEY PROPOSE TO STORE SPENT FUEL IN METALLIC CASKS THAT WILL PROPABLY NEVER CORRODE.
Media Browski
@The Moar You Know: As someone who’s worked in a McD’s grill, I can say you’re probably right. SOmeone who talks that much would get fired in 3 days.
@Josh Hueco: Hey! Don’t be mean! I got that tattooed on my behind, in blacklight ink!
Comrade Dread
Republican mindset:
Free market win= Using the government to hand over hundreds of billions (or trillions) of taxpayer dollars to private enterprise to keep them afloat, nationalizing toxic assets and companies, and guaranteeing future losses for them
Second Coming of Stalin = Asking that companies who have gotten the aforementioned benefits limit executive compensation to a paltry 500k a year (and leaving open enough loopholes so it’s basically non-binding).
Libertarians, who are, at least, consistent and say that the government should have let toxic companies fail outright and let the cycle run its course, I can respect, but these GOP wankers…
Sweet friggin’ Buddha.
dr. bloor
@Dave:
Meh. I miss Sean McAdam.
And we are talking about a paper that saw fit to print a letter from a reader arguing that wind farms were going to increase global warming due to all the friction created by the blades on the wind turbines.
jibeaux
Weird, I coulda sworn I was aware of all internet traditions. Where do you guys go for continuing education on these things?
Comrade Dread
You joke, but I could actually see the government doing this one day.
"Well, soldier, you’re in hock to Uncle Sam for 50,000 right now to cover your training and basic equipment. We have some lovely financing options with BofA at a low special rate of 18%. We’ll take the minimum payments out of your paycheck and you’ll be free and clear of that debt in 15 years and free to leave the army then. Unless you want body armor. That’ll be another 25k and 8 more years."
Zifnab
@Brick Oven Bill:
Well, shit. I can’t argue from first hand experience. You didn’t grow a third arm drinking the tap water today? Ergo, we should shovel tons of toxic waste into the mountain over the next 50 years?
They claimed similar degrees of safety in disposing of coal slurry in Tennessee.
Big underground storage tanks. Perfectly safe and impermeable. Nothing can possibly go wrong. Oops, slurry slide. Don’t mind the billions of dollars in damages and no, we don’t intend to clean it up without a court order.
OR you can use renewable energy sources.
former capitalist
@Brick Oven Bill: Bill, with all due respect, stick your head in your oven. Please.
JL
@Brick Oven Bill: The arts hire 5 million people. I doubt that the 50 million will be in the final bill but it certainly could be part of the stimulus package since donations have fallen drastically.
If you gave businesses the choice between customers and tax cuts, what do you think they would take?
Media Browski
@Brick Oven Bill: Um, actual nuclear people disagree with your right-wing talking points about how those casks will never corrode. And while we’re at it, citing the US government’s penchant for testing nuclear weapons on/near civilian populations is a TERRIBLE way to advocate for nukes.
Really, on behalf of my industry, STFU.
Brick Oven Bill
@Zifnab: They used to blow up nuclear bombs underground. Lots of them.
Josh Hueco
@dr. bloor:
Roflerz. I live in Texas and I don’t think anyone’s written a letter to the editor with something that stupid. But then again, it probably hasn’t been said on Rush or Hannity or O’Reilly yet. Give it time.
lilly Von Schtupp
Incredible. For the past eight years or so, the media has engaged in little more than speculative disinformation. The results of this have been catastrophic. I blame OJ. I think that is when the corporate media realized there was much money to be made with "infotainment".
Can’t have a democracy without an informed citizenry and all that… They are as much to blame as anyone for the mess we find ourselves in, probably more.
JenJen
@The Grand Panjandrum: I actually watched Morning Poison for the first time in ages this morning, and saw that delightful segment with the heir to the Swanson Food fortune, aka Tucker Carlson.
My head almost exploded when he and Scarborough began to suggest that, since farmers receive government subsidies, why not also limit their earnings? Mika Mouse, of course, nodded her head in thoughtful agreement. I’m not sure if that was the moment she was bouncing some random infant on her knee, or not.
So, imagine my surprise when Barnicle actually channeled me screaming at the TV on my couch by saying, "Farmers don’t hand out million-dollar bonuses to farmhands! Farmers don’t fly around the country on corporate jets! Farmers don’t own an apartment in every world capital!"
That part where Scarborough shouted over Chuck Todd’s salient points, and later Sen. Jim Webb came on to tell Scarborough he ought to listen to Chuck Todd from time to time, was also full of win.
Thom
Oh my God.
Oh my fucking God.
Air Force One is a "private jet."
Oh my fucking bullfrog-fucking God. I am in pain.
Media Browski
@Josh Hueco: I’m working on a piece right now on the Texas "Competitive Renewable Energy Zone" and the Western Renewable Energy Zone proposals. Texas, despite its deeply red reputation, is a leader on renewables.
More than 200,000 MW of renewable resources in the West. This is some good stuff.
Brick Oven Bill
The dangerous isotopes are those short-lived ones. The long-lived isotopes are the ones that will be around in one hundred years. In order to be long-lived, these isotopes need to be stable, meaning that they give off very little radiation.
Any isotope that is around in ten thousand years is probably less radioactive than the granite in your local post office.
TenguPhule
Obama to create faith-based office
Speaking of Bad Headlines….
Yes, this is the same office Bush ALREADY CREATED.
My personal feelings this is a bad idea for Obama aside, the fucking media seems to have already decided Bush was a bad dream and everything has always been Obama’s fault.
Somebody shoot them, please.
Zifnab
@Brick Oven Bill:
I’m still not sure what your argument is. Concentrated nuclear waste = atomic detonation?
Do you have any idea how much residual matter is left over from a nuclear explosion when compared to toxic waste generated from a nuclear facility?
Or are you just going to keep running with this pathetic head-in-the-sand rhetoric till your keyboard breaks?
Hear that kids? In 10,000 years, everything will be fine!
TenguPhule
BOB did not do the science.
Laura W
@The Grand Panjandrum:
Didja see him (try to) go bobble head-to-bobble head with Chuck Todd?
I didn’t stay long…just long enough to verify that Mika had on a super- hot tight sweater and turned sideways to the camera often enough to verify that. And then to watch Blow try to shame Todd into silence, as he does everyone else on that set.
bleh
SnarkIntern
… in your noggin, BrickHeadedBob.
former capitalist
@JenJen: On the other hand,Jen, after spending a lifetime working with farmers, I must say that, as an industry, agriculture receives more government largesse than any other segment. Most farmers even acknowledge it. Government payments to farmers have made the farm situation worse, not better. And the whole ethanol, biodiesel thing is a travesty. I could go on and on.
Sorry for the rant.
Thom
Hey, Dealbreaker.com is mocking ABC for this story.
TenguPhule
Yes, because drinking water today allows BOB to see 10,000 years into the future.
Or is it what he’s been adding to his water that lets him see shit?
Laura W
@JenJen: Ha. I did not scan down thread before posting. We oughta do something with our disdain for this show. Take it on the road or blog it out, Bitch. Pitch it to BRAVO as some sort of non-reality show? I’ll keep working out the details.
TenguPhule
And just think, this same guy will probably be writing tomorrow too.
JL
Back to the post at hand, I’m surprised that the Obama’s pay for their own groceries. When you receive a menu on Air Force One, does it include prices next to the items? Enquiring minds want to know. Mayerowitz can probably land a job on Fox Business Channel, if he wants.
The Grand Panjandrum
@Thom: I saw that as well. The sarcasm detector quip is quite clever.
JenJen
@former capitalist: Having grown up on a farm (and we weren’t subsidized; we were primarily a livestock farm), I can understand what you’re saying.
While the continuing government subsidizing of farming is a serious issue, isn’t comparing farmers (especially family farms vs. corporate farms) to Wall Street firms a little bit on the silly side? I realize Tucker Carlson and Joe Scarborough hold Ph.D’s in Weak Moral Equivalence, but c’mon now.
BDeevDad
Didn’t he hear Carly Fiorina during the election, "none of the candidates could run a Fortune 500 company."
JenJen
@Laura W: We could so totally be the new Frangela!! I am being serious here.
Rome Again
@rock:
Escape from the sanitarium, did’ja?
former capitalist
Bush paid for his own groceries? No way.
Laura W
@JenJen: Nice! Do we get to be in movies, too?
Jenaura?
Laurjen?
I’ll explore their site later. It is so freaking cold here today I’ve had the heater set to just 60 and it’s not stopped running since 7:00am. Jammie Commenter needs to bust a move!
former capitalist
@JenJen: Absolutely agree, Jen. Again, sorry for the rant. It’s just what I’ve had to deal with over the years, and it just pisses me off. (And, yes, I should have been more specific about grain vs livestock farms. My bad.)
BDeevDad
@former capitalist: All president’s do. Drycleaning as well.
former capitalist
@BDeevDad: That explains the lack of state dinners, then.
BDeevDad
@former capitalist: Actually, those are paid for. Bush probably did not read the fine print.
JL
@BDeevDad: Amazing coming from the person who was fired? She obviously doesn’t have a clue.
former capitalist
@BDeevDad: I should have put a snark alert on my posts. Sorry.
Bootlegger
@Comrade Dread: You jest, but this was the model for the British army in their 17th and 18th century haydays.
Bootlegger
@dr. bloor: I was talking with a physicist who pointed out that the energy generated by wind came from somwhere and that is was asinine to assume that taking energy out of any system wouldn’t have some kind of effect.
Zifnab
@Bootlegger: Yes, but I believe they still had looting and raping rights. We reserve those for contract laborers.
Zifnab
@Bootlegger:
Water, heated by the sun, rises into the air and generates wind currents. Likewise, solar winds and other extraterrestrial atmospheric conditions have some impact on wind currents and patterns. In that way, wind energy is really just another form of solar energy. So, unless you think the sun is going to burn out any time soon…
Josh Hueco
@Media Browski:
Oh I know Texas leads in solar and wind. I’m just talking about the It’s-Not-80-In-Fargo-In-January-So-Global-Warming-Doesn’t-Exist nonsense you hear so much among the peeps down here.
Fencedude
@Zifnab:
Its an interesting thought experiment, but not exactly something thats going to be worth worrying about excessively.
Bootlegger
@Zifnab: No, not that the energy is being "wasted", but rather that currently the wind energy does something, and if we take it out of the system it won’t be doing that thing any more. Look, I’m not arguing against wind energy, I’m trying to figure out how to get a couple of turbines up on the ridge behind my house, but the physicist is correct regarding the laws of thermodynamics.
The Moar You Know
@Media Browski: I did a stint at McD’s in my youth as well. So yeah, there’s no way. Worzelbacher would be running his mouth the whole shift about how much the job sucked while the Mexicans around him pick up his slack because he’s incapable of doing anything.
Kevin
Not sure if this is the place, but since i haven’t seen it discussed, I have to bring it up: Has anyone else noticed that the same people who seem shocked at this CEO pay thing Obama wants, with their cries of socialism, are the exact same people who were bellowing for Union pay to be cut? or at the very least they acknowledged it had to be done. But once you bring up CEO pay…SOCIALISM!!! KEEP GOVERNMENT OUT!!!
So damn transparent.
BDeevDad
@Bootlegger: No more hurricanes and tornadoes. ;-)
DC
All power to Obama in breaking down corporate executive gluttony… America needs this to happen quickly in a civil way (or not… I bless using Bush-enacted domestic terrorist legalities for this purpose).
Considering Obama’s job scope (ie. GDP 14 trillion),
his salary ( .0000029 %) is a level no executive remotely
wants to be compared to.
pseudonymous in nc
Reprinting internet fucktards isn’t journalism. Still, Shitbrick Bill’s words of wisdom are probably going into Scott Mayerowitz’s clipfile right now.
And I’ll quote D-Squared on nuclear power:
Mike in NC
Is Blackwater hiring these days? God knows nobody else is. An article in the paper this morning noted that online job ads dropped by one million in the month of January compared to November/December.
BC
When I worked for the government dam agency, we used to joke that our powerplants took all the electricity out of the water – but that was just a joke.
gopher2b
Obama doesn’t need security. Let him carry a sidearm. And when he flies (commercial) he can double as Air Marshall. Everybody wins.
gopher2b
I apologize if this has already been said above (I haven’t read the comments) but this basic point needs to be made.
It is not socialism to limit the salaries of employees of companies you are giving/lending money to. Its a contract. It happens all the time in the private sector. In fact, most of the time when this happens, the lender says…"I’ll lend you the money but we’re putting in my management team so all you guys are fired." Frankly, these idiots are lucky to have a job at all.
This is how capitalism works.
Rome Again
Yes, I’m sure nobody would be aiming at his back while he wasn’t looking.
Idiot!
The Populist
So, ABC, let me get this straight. Obama, the President of the US, Commander in Chief, Leader of the Free World should have to downsize, why? I didn’t like Bush but I didn’t cry everytime he wasted the taxpayers money to fly off to Crawford. I did not cry when Cheney would hole himself up in undisclosed locations most likely funded by the taxpayer.
The difference here, as it seems lost on these maroons, is that the companies failing are taking OUR tax dollars to cover their losses. So basically, if I get my pay cut or my business declines, guess what? No bonus and maybe even no JOB. Why is it okay that these idiots pay themselves millions and keep the status quo when they are RUNNING THEIR COMPANIES INTO THE GROUND? Answer me that ABC? Really, how is it a problem if these idiots mismanaged their companies? Maybe it’s a GOOD thing Obama put caps on these idiots. Maybe they will leave their posts and fresh blood will come in and do what is necessary to improve things.
Why are all these idiots such dumb fucks?
BDeevDad
@Rome Again: I think you need to adjust your sarcasm meter.
The Populist
Oh and note to the MSM: Go ahead and run those memes and defend loser CEOs. The public may finally be waking up and you risk alienating them if you choose this as your cause of the week.
The Populist
Maybe we can outsource the WH jobs! Let Blackwater fill in for the secret service and then we can hire Halliburton to staff the WH with low level workers.
Then we can outsource cabinet positions to Apple One or theladder.com. They can find some winners, I’m sure. Oh wait…we can’t outsource WH jobs since Obama put a freeze on salaries. No self respecting CEO will work for such a pittance.
BDeevDad
The MSM media may be realizing they could be next. Could you imagine if TV personalities could not make more than 500k?
KRK
Well, if a black guy (aka "unqualified black man") can be president, it must not be that hard of a job, right? Certainly nothing as demanding or important as being a "corporate titan." So of course it’s fair for the deep thinkers at ABC to ask whether the president really needs such a lavish lifestyle at taxpayer expense.
As for the cable news idiocy about farm subsidies and TARF funds, I don’t disagree with anything former capitalist said about the problems with the federal farm payment programs, but it should be noted that there are both income restrictions and payment limitations on federal farm subsidies, however problematic they might be. So, the "point" that Scarborough thought he was making was, once again, exactly wrong.
If anybody at MSNBC had done any research, they would have found that there have been several lawsuits by farmers trying to fight various conditions put on federal farm payments, and in every case the courts have responded — No one’s forcing you to take the money; if you take the money, you take it with the conditions imposed. That’s in no way a new or shocking principle.
The Populist
As long as the MSM isn’t taking bail out funds, why should they worry OR care???
They should be more worried that ratings are dropping on all networks. No ratings = no revenue.
The Populist
KRK, ABC is just saying that Obama is a black guy who is enjoying his perks too much! They assume since he’s black he isn’t used to such nice things.
SGEW
From Scott Mayerowitz’s bio, above:
CEOs on their private yachts sailing to their private islands, and people who were involved in politics and gambling in Rhode Island. This guy sure can pick ’em.
Also:
Ya know, Bill, I bet if ya campaigned for political office you could make a pretty good run of it. Make your own third party, become the next LaRouche! He likes electrified trains too! You could run with [Samuel] Joe the [ex-]Plumber[‘s Assistant]!
Joe/Bill 2012. They’re "special"!
BDeevDad
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has had surgery for what is said to be an early stage of pancreatic cancer, according to a Supreme Court spokesperson.
Hopefully, it’s the curable kind. My dad died of pancreatic cancer and it was fast.
passerby
@Brick Oven Bill:
BOB, you usually bring some intelligent spoofing and/or pseudo-sophisticated, outlandish button pushing. But, in my view, this is the one of the most blatantly ignorant comments you’ve ever made.
Rome Again
@BDeevDad:
My sarcasm meter works just fine, thank you.
Apparently you aren’t familiar with my approach.
Stuck
This wouldn’t be happening if Sarah Palin moved to DC or New York to fill the celebrity void.
We need you Sarah and the 4th estate needs you. All the fancy clothes you want and a brand new cement pond.
Mike in NC
Uh, all of those undisclosed locations — such as Site R near Camp David — were 100% funded by the American taxpayer. Cheney spent a long career in government enjoying a lavish lifestyle and that isn’t going to change anytime soon. Made him filthy rich, after all.
binzinerator
@Brick Oven Bill:
And this is why I have decided Schtick Oven Swill is a spoof: Few real people can be so dumb with so much aplomb. It’s an Occam’s Razor thing.
Just a tidbit here for ya:
Ya know those great big diesel locomotives that pull those trains? Well technically they are diesel-electric locomotives. The diesel engine runs an electrical generator, which in turn powers electrical traction motors which turns the driving wheels which makes the train go. Jeepers!
In other words, the railroads already run on electricity.
Of course you could pull that diesel engine out of the locomotive, put it in a building and have it turn a generator there, and then of course install a network of distribution lines and support towers and transformers and booster stations, and also devise a totally reliable means to transfer that power to the moving train. Because if the lines are knocked down by winds, ice, storms, or the pickup contacts crap out in the middle of BFE, the train is stranded.
This is approach is done on many ‘lightrail’ trains and in urban areas. But it’s kind of problematic to do that on all the rail lines that cross the country. So instead of this infrastructure and maintenance nightmare, the locomotive takes its generating plant with it.
But I believe you knew most of that already.
passerby
@BDeevDad:
I think this explains why they are happy to pooh-pooh policies that are aimed at reducing the tax burden on the "middle class" and more fairly distributing it to the millionaire/billionaire class.
Same with the members of congress**. They’re averse to passing policies that will cost them more in taxes and curtail their ability to cash-in.
** I’m talking Republicans and Democrats. Which explains why the Dems roll over for Reps. They are playing Good Cop (Dems) / Bad Cop (Reps) thereby maintaining the erroneous idea of a two-party system.
It keeps everyone arguing Dem vs Rep when it’s actually Entrenched Power vs The People.
[torches and pitchforks optional]
goblue72
In the midst of trying to withdraw from two treasury-draining, B.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, preventing a global economic meltdown from sending us back to the 1930s, providing health care to every American (like every other civilized nation does), jump starting a "not smoke and mirrors" American economy, and maybe even tackling the melting of the entire polar cap, I’d like to think that the leader of the free world, DOESN’T HAVE TO FUCKING WORRY ABOUT BROWNBAGGING A FUCKING PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY SANDWICH EVERY MORNING!
Joshua
I saw some ridiculous article on my phone today (don’t know where it came from) on Panetta’s confirmation. It was basically split into two parts.
The first part talked about how much money he has gotten from speaking engagements, including engagements from companies that have recently gone under or been bought out like WaMu.
The second part talked about how Panetta was being picked over "experienced intelligence officials" that oh yea just happened to work for the Bush Administration as it was setting up and executing torture as a matter of national policy.
The media we loved so much when Clinton was in office is back, folks.
flitterbic
How about the president pays a percentage of all "perks of office" received upon leaving office. The formula for determing what they owe upon check-out is the inverse of their approval rating. i.e. 25% approval rating when leaving, they owe 75% of everything the American taxpayer provided for them.
The same metric could be applied to major league sports: "Hey, Slugger, you whiffed 79% of the time. We’ll pay you 21% of your contract."
Or marriages –
Wife: Your honor, over the last 20 years, he brought me to orgasm only 4% of the time.
Judge: My god! 96% wage garnishment approved.
Mnemosyne
Even better, these are the same people who scream that welfare recipients should have to expose every detail of their lives to get their princely $200 a month for food stamps because it’s coming out of taxpayer money.
Investigate all of the welfare queens … unless they work for corporations, that is. If that’s the case, we should trust the CEOs have only our best interests at heart.
Mnemosyne
@BDeevDad:
Ugh. When my uncle was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, he asked the doctor if he should quit smoking. The doctor’s answer: "Don’t bother." And it was really fast.
Rome Again
Some women never orgasm, and it’s not the fault of their husbands (I’m not one of those women, but I know some).
Ed Drone
There are three levels of stupidity:
Dumb, dumber, and Joe the Plumber.
I hold that both the ABC article and B.O.B. come in somewhere between "Joe" and "the."
Word!
Ed
Brick Oven Bill
Binzinerator; Very good. We both recognize that locomotives use electric traction motors driven by diesel generators. Here are the reasons to electrify the railroads.
1. It would reduce the nation’s consumption of liquid fuel, which is a finite resource.
2. Global warming is BS, in my opinion, but if you are a believer, electric railroads would reduce greenhouse emissions, if/when nuclear generation capacity is expanded.
3. Right-of-way issues, that would take years or decades to resolve on standard land transmission lines, have already been solved along railroad lines.
4. The design would be standardized, and work could begin immediately, in all fifty states. This is the best use of ‘stimulus’ money, in my opinion.
5. The Northeast corridor is already electrified, and works fine, last time I checked.
6. The American locomotive fleet could simply be outfitted to replace the diesel generator with an electrical connection.
I again extend my offer to provide the standardized design for $10 million. I will have it ready by Monday morning.
The Populist
Uh, all of those undisclosed locations—such as Site R near Camp David—were 100% funded by the American taxpayer. Cheney spent a long career in government enjoying a lavish lifestyle and that isn’t going to change anytime soon. Made him filthy rich, after all.
I know, but I like to write with a bit of a rhetorical streak, so please indulge me.
You and I both know he was a chronic fat cat who indulged in the power that his position allowed.
The Populist
Well, if Congress is so peeved over this 500K pay cap suggestion, maybe we can suggest they cap their pay at $50K/year, make them pay for all expenses upfront and then force them to use them as tax deductions at the end of the year.
I also suggest these fucks lose their socialist health care and cut their staffs down to save money. I mean if we are gonna be ludicrous and compare government to private industry, I say anything is fair game.
While we are at it does Alaska, Mississippi, Wyoming, Alabama, Arkansas, Montana, Idaho, New Mexico, Iowa, N & S Dakota, Hawaii and Rhode Island really need two senators (I know, just think about it even though I know it’s constitutional). Think of the savings we’d get from states that barely need 1.
Brick Oven Bill
I’ll add a number 7: Once the system is up and running, overall thermal efficiency will rise to 37% from somewhere in the low twenties.
The Populist
Can I suggest the following to save on money:
The following states only get to have one senator (and they can only work part time and make half what other senators make): Alaska, Mississippi, Wyoming, Alabama, Arkansas, Montana, Idaho, New Mexico, Iowa, N & S Dakota, Hawaii and Rhode Island.
Sorry, if the right want to be absurd, I can too (even though my point does have some logic to it).
All Mi T
i hear obama bout to give wall street $2 trillion big ones
Ward 3 Denizen
BOB – you got #7 off your own Brick Over sales literature. Come on!
EriktheRed
@rock:
4) Put rock outside to be used as a doorstopper, cuz that’s all his views are good for at this point.
Brian J
I’m scared to read the rest of that link, for if the stupid is contagious, I might die.
Seriously, where do people get this shit? I seem to remember some of my conservative uncles, certainly no idiots, making some sort of similar argument about Obama and his jet around Christmas. Why it’s so goddamn difficult to understand that the President of the United States needs just a wee bit more protection than, say, Random Executive X is beyond me, but he does. I’d love for the day to come when the president’s safety wasn’t consistently threatened, but that’s not the world we live in.
But if you still want to insist it’s unfair, just remember that this stuff is taken away when the president is out of office. He may be provided with Secret Service protection and a car or something, but there are no jets and little of the other stuff associated with being president.
TenguPhule
Yes it does, Bootlegger. It gets expelled into the upper atmosphere, radiated against the surface of the planet and is not going to be missed.
TenguPhule
And BOB knows his BS.
Zuzu's Petals
Yeah, I’d be happy to see a CEO have in-house staff and entertainment BECAUSE HE AND HIS FAMILY CAN’T LEAVE THE G’DAMNED HOUSE WITHOUT BEING AT RISK.
I really thought this was an Onion piece at first. Seriously.
Comrade Nikolita
@Shade Tail:
Agreed. :(