Archive for the 'Business' Category

Breaking news from yesterday that Faux seems to have missed.  A little something to hook nearly anyone’s sense of the macabre.   It seems like a couple of guys on the inside think there is not much that Prince is not capable of.
The Nation

ABC News

Some of us don’t take much convincing, already pretty convinced that this stuff was going on, but everybody else needs to take a much harder look at this crook and his organization, pretty much fits the definition of violent psychopath.

Okay. We know.

It’s an old one and it’s a corny one. But we’re gonna tell it again anyway.

“Whadaya mean there’s no demand?

Don’t dare moan to me about no demand.

It’s the job of salesmen to create demand”…

… said the sales manager of the big, baby buggy and pram manufacturing firm as he scolded his salesmen.

And then there’s this.

Get the picture?

Understand what we’re saying?

Or do some still need a different damned diagram?

You know, something lots & lots simpler?

Say, for instance, something such as an “In Praise of Instigated International Instabilities ~ for Dummies,” diagram?

(Cross posted from across at How This Old Brit Sees It)

Ever since the E*TRADE baby ad campaign started, I’ve been a big fan. Who wouldn’t be charmed by ads like this?:

I have to admire the effective way that these ads get their point across. Since any smart person can make money in the stock market, the only reason to pay for an expensive broker is to have that broker do research and make trades for you. But E*TRADE gives you research tools and makes transactions so simple, even a baby can perform them!

Read the rest of this entry »

In our old Brit Londoner’s famous rhyming-slang, cockney-speak, it’s called “boracic lint”. To the rest of we Brits it signifies absolutely “skint”.

Translated into American, it says “stony broke”.

U.S. economy is in worst decline for more than a quarter century

The U.S. economy suffered a huge nosedive in the final three months of last year, shrinking by a staggering 6.2 per cent.

The figures released by the U.S. department of commerce yesterday far outstripped the worst fears of the government and the gloomiest predictions by financial analysts.

The contraction is the worst decline in America’s gross national product for more than a quarter of a century.

So see the rest of this sad story for yourself.

Shocking? For sure.

Surprising? You’ve got to be joking

Surely only the extremely stupidest of suckers couldn’t see it coming.

Boy, oh boy, oh boy.

What BushCo & their various criminal, greedy and corrupt cronies broke, Barak Obama has got one hell of a job to fix. Temporarily to repair, even.

Well, we sure wish him lots & lots of luck, since he’s certainly going to need some.

It’s long been said that whenever the US sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold.

The terrible truth of today is that America has actually already succumbed to one sodding serious case of the ‘flu. And as almost all of us have already learned by past personal experience, the flaming ‘flu sure is one infamously contagious critter.

Sad to say, we strongly suspect that things are set to get a lot worse before they start to get better.

But what should silly old sods such as ourselves know?

Eh?

After all, this is the 21st century. Things are so much different these days.

So long as one stays silent regarding mere trifles such as wanton warfare, woeful welfare and (still) hardly any real health care.

(Cross posted from across at How This Old Brit Sees It)

Now that we’ve solved the problems of global warming and dependence on foreign oil, Americans have decided that it’s time to start buying big trucks again

From the Boston Herald:

For the automotive industry, 2008 was a year like no other in recent memory. Auto manufacturers scrambled to meet demand as consumers abandoned large SUVs and trucks, Detroit’s stronghold, for small cars as fuel prices reached $4 a gallon over the summer. Then, a funny thing happened. Demand for small cars and fuel-efficient gas-electric hybrids bottomed out in the face of a slumping economy, tightening credit and gas prices that dropped as low as $1.50 a gallon.

Robert Lutz, GM’s vice chairman for global product development, said the market volatility has made product planning difficult.

“When gasoline was $4 a gallon, we couldn’t make enough (Chevrolet) Cobalts. Now we have trouble pushing Cobalts out to the dealers,” he said during an interview at the 2009 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. “A lot of the media and pundits are maintaining the fiction that we’re in a new world and that Americans want small, fuel-efficient cars. But at a buck-fifty a gallon, they don’t. I’m sorry, but they just don’t.”

While Lutz welcomed the short-term implications of lower gas prices - they’ve helped GM clear its inventory of large trucks - he thinks cheap fuel prices are harmful in the long term.

“It’s a disaster, because it will mean that all of the investments we have made, are making for advanced propulsion technology, hybrid systems, electric vehicles, extended-range electric vehicles - all of that becomes very difficult to sell in a world of cheap gasoline,” Lutz said. Lutz said American buyers usually choose the largest vehicle they can afford from a fuel standpoint. Breaking that habit is difficult.

“The only thing that is going to motivate Americans is some sort of consumer participation in the whole energy equation. “But we can’t have the world’s most fuel-efficient energy park at the same time we have the world’s cheapest gasoline; it just doesn’t compute.”

For proof, Lutz points to Europe, where gasoline ranges from $6 to $9 a gallon. Such prices force consumers to choose small cars. In the absence of such incentives, he said consumers would continue to buy large vehicles.

“There will be an economic recovery (that) will manifest itself in higher vehicle demand,” Lutz said. “Higher vehicle demand means more production, more gasoline used, more steel produced, more plastic made, and all of the things that consume petroleum will go up.”

Lutz said that will strain petroleum resources, causing gasoline prices to rise once again.

“At least,” he said, “that’s what we’re presuming will happen and, frankly, that’s what we’re counting on.”

Sounds like Mr. Lutz is a pretty enlightened guy, right? He recognizes that demand for large vehicles will last only as long as fuel prices stay low, and that fuel prices will stay low only as long as the economic crisis continues. But he’s not so enlightened when it comes to imposing regulations on carmakers:

Read the rest of this entry »

What we see above is what we’ve got.

He’s a poxy, predatory opportunist prick called Richard Fuld.

He’s been robbing the poor to give to the rich.

And so far, it seems this ghoul’s going to get away with it.

So what we want to know is why?

How the hell can this sort of shameful stuff be allowed to happen?

Lehman Bros head took home $300m

The head of failed US investment bank Lehman Brothers has told Congress that he took home about $300m in pay and bonuses over the past eight years.

Richard Fuld, whose firm went bankrupt last month, made the statement during testimony before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

(snip)

Mr [Henry] Waxman also criticised Mr Fuld for requesting multi-million dollar bonuses for departing executives just days before last month’s collapse.

“In other words,” he added, “even as Mr Fuld was pleading with [Treasury] Secretary [Henry] Paulson for a federal rescue, Lehman continued to squander millions on executive compensation.”

Still, not to worry too much though. We suppose things could be worse.

After all, this fat-cat, Fuld f*cker, did have the decency to declare ….

“I feel horrible about what happened,”

Read the rest of this outrageous report right here.

Then hope as hard as we’re hoping that before long we’ll be able to switch the shot of the shyster shown above, to the shot shown below.

But by the way, you’d better beware of holding your breath.

No matter who replaces G.W. Bush as president of the US.

(Cross posted from How This Old Brit Sees It)

Today we cut out the crap and cut straight to the chase.

Mortgage forgiven for woman, 90, who shot herself

AKRON, Ohio - Mortgage finance company Fannie Mae said it is forgiving the mortgage debt of a 90-year-old woman who shot herself in the chest as sheriff’s deputies attempted to evict her.

Addie Polk’s plight was cited by Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, on Friday before the House voted to approve the $700 billion financial rescue package. Kucinich voted against the plan.

Fannie Mae announced later Friday that it would dismiss its foreclosure action, forgive Polk’s mortgage

(snip)

Countrywide Home Loans [who, some swear, positively sucks] filed for foreclosure last year, and Polk’s home was sold to Fannie Mae at a sheriff’s auction in June

Read the rest of the heartbreaking report right here.

(Cross posted from How This Old Brit Sees It)

From Science Daily:

Most kids’ foods provide poor nutritional quality, but packaging claims and healthy images could be misleading parents, according to a Canadian study. Professor Charlene Elliott used US guidelines to review 367 products. 70 percent of the products had higher than recommended sugar levels, 23 percent had high fat levels and 17 percent had high salt levels.

Nine out of ten regular food items aimed specifically at children have a poor nutritional content — because of high levels of sugar, fat or sodium - according to a detailed study of 367 products published in the July issue of the UK-based journal Obesity Reviews.

Just under 70 per cent of the products studied - which specifically excluded confectionery, soft drinks and bakery items - derived a high proportion of calories from sugar. Approximately one in five (23 per cent) had high fat levels and 17 per cent had high sodium levels. Despite this, 62 per cent of the foods with poor nutritional quality (PNQ) made positive claims about their nutritional value on the front of the packet.

So if you count the sodas, candies, and twinkies that are marketed to children, the fraction of kids’ foods that provide poor nutrition probably rises to well above 95%. Is it any wonder that our kids are becoming obese, which causes them to have health problems in the future?

This isn’t really new information. We’ve known that our kids are getting fatter, and that the additives in their food are exasperating problems like Attention Deficit Disorder. And our response has been to subsidize junk food and to give professional marketers greater access to our kids. We pay agribusiness giants like ADM and Con-Agra billions to the corn that sweetens soda, that fattens pigs and cattle, and that makes up the lion’s share of “chicken” mcnuggets. We put TVs in our kids’ bedrooms and even classrooms, and we let fast food companies advertise in school buses and on school book covers. And we let soda companies and fast food restaurants sell their wares inside our schools. And taxpayers underwrite all of this, as we allow the people who are poisoning our kids to deduct the cost of advertising from their taxes.

Maybe it’s time to start protecting our kids with a little common-sense regulation.

(cross posted at This Old Brit)

Rent-a-dildo

I’m thinking that site is a hoax. But here’s another business model that’s not going anywhere:

Selling pirated software on Craigslist

If you’re an old person like me, you likely read Catch-22. One of the characters, Milo Minderbinder, would make money in unfathomable ways, like buying eggs for 25 cents per dozen and selling them for 20 cents per dozen. It appears that there are a lot of Milo Minderbinders out there, making money by buying $630 for $715. Here’s how the scam works:

There is a buy-it-now listing on eBay today where the seller is offering $630 in cash, which he will send electronically to the buyer through PayPal. The current price for this listing is $715. Why would someone pay $715 for $630 in cash? Well, you may have heard that Microsoft recently launched a ridiculous “cash back” promotion in the hopes of bribing Google customers to switch to Microsoft’s search engine, Live.com. Seems some resourceful people found a loophole in the system. Apparently, you can get a 10-35% cash back reward for all buy-it-now eBay purchases if you access the eBay listing through Live Search. So, people are simply selling cash and arbitraging the cash back reward.

By the way, I’ll give a free T-shirt to anyone who can tell me how Milo Minderbinder’s scheme worked. The T-shirt will be one that I’ve recently worn to the gym, and it will have my manly scent on it. It’s a $500 value, and all you’ll have to pay is the shipping cost.