Snowballs and slimeballs

[altivo]

The snowballs: Looking more and more like we may get some notable snow tonight and tomorrow. No serious accumulation predicted, but the blizzard that blasted the Dakotas is sending shockwaves in our direction. Temperatures are dropping, so by tonight it will definitely be cold enough. I guess Indian summer is over.

The slimeballs: I'm being spammed with junk e-mail that claims McCain has sued Obama and Obama's lawyers settled out of court with conditions that he will resign and withdraw next week. I'd just shrug it off as the usual crap e-mail, but thought I'd warn folks. There's a web link in these things that claims to go to some news report. It doesn't. It goes to a malicious website that tries to mess with your security certificates by running some sort of script. Don't click on the link, it's nasty. I've received half a dozen copies of this thing today, and probably more that were automatically sidetracked into spam traps.

More slimeballs: We started locking our house doors earlier this summer after colleagues at work had a break-in at their house. We hadn't locked the door for almost ten years, and figured the barking dogs would probably warn off intruders anyway. This morning we heard from a neighbor across the road. She had thefts of tools and equipment from her barn and garage, and wanted to warn us. Our garage is already locked if we aren't home, but there's a lot of stuff in the barns. Having to assess and change that around is going to be a pain. Not that a determined thief couldn't break locks or windows, but at least having the lock set might discourage some. The deteriorating economy is going to lead to an increase in this sort of thing, I'm sure. Job losses in October were way up. Judging by the news, they'll be up even more in November and December, the worst time of the year for that to happen. Once again I have to wonder how we can possibly justify letting corporate execs get away with millions in severance after they've run a company into the ground, while the employees who lose their jobs get little or nothing. I think if a company goes bankrupt on your watch, you should receive no more than everyone else who gets turned out onto the street.

Comments

[schnee.livejournal.com]

Locking doors etc. might also be a good idea when it comes to insurance claims. I'm not sure how things work over there, but here, leaving the door unlocked - no matter whether it's on your house, your car etc. - while you're away will typically mean the insurance won't pay, saying that it is your own fault.

(This doesn't apply when you'e just working the garden etc., of course, but if you actually leave home, for instance, it's pretty much required.)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

It varies here, depending on location and the nature of the incident. Certainly if you live in a city and leave your doors open, you're incurring a liability. Where we live, though, locking up is not necessarily the norm. In fact, some of our friends don't even have keys to their houses or locks on their doors.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

Really? Interesting.

(And cool, too, at least as long as nothing happens; I'd like to live in an area where you CAN leave the doors unlocked without having to worry about anything happening. As it stands now, I lock the door even when I go and take out the trash, even though that doesn't take more than a minute or two.)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

When we lived in the city, that's how it was.

In what is essentially a farm community, though, it's the norm for someone to be home all the time. After all, farmers mostly work "at home." A smart thief doesn't try to enter premises where there are lights on, dogs barking, etc. if there is somewhere else that is obviously unoccupied at the moment.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

*noddles* Not to mention that in rural communities, there's probably less thieves to begin with, especially if you don't count those that drive over from larger settlements.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

With rising gas prices, people who are out of money don't drive much, ;p

Now prices are down by 40% or more, though and still dropping.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

*noddles* They've gone down about 20% again here, too.

Of course, given that the price for crude oil apparently dropped about 60%, I do wonder where the rest of that went...

[soanos.livejournal.com]

To increase the profits of selling refined fuel.

I think someone is trying to make as much money as they can, with the excuse "Well, if you can get it cheaper somewhere else, go to them."

[schnee.livejournal.com]

Aye. :|

[calydor.livejournal.com]

Yes, very interesting ... What's their address, you say? ;-)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

LOL. Why it's 142 East Prairie Street and yes, they really have no locks on the front door.

That's the address of the Police Department in Marengo, so you can save yourself the airfare.

It is true that some people around here have no locks, or have long ago lost the keys to their locks. That's not all that odd in the US, once you get outside the big cities.

Amusingly, some years back, the Denny's restaurant chain decided to close for Christmas Day. They had always been open that day in the past, 24 hours, just like every other day of the year, but it wasn't all that profitable and they figured it would be nice to their employees to let them have the day off (probably without pay, but hey...)

Then they discovered that many of their restaurants had no locks on the doors because they had been open 24/7 since the day they were built. Caused some scrambling and got some locksmiths a good chunk of business.

[songdogmi.livejournal.com]

I think if a company goes bankrupt on your watch, you should receive no more than everyone else who gets turned out onto the street.

Hear, hear! The only reward for a failure like that is the experience which should help you not do it again. There should be no multi-million dollar golden parachutes, even if the company's bankruptcy is due to something you can't really control, such as when market conditions collapse to the point that what would've been just a weak year turns out to be fatal.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I like kakoukorakos' idea: signing bonuses and exit pay for executives should be issued only in the form of non-transferable bonds issued by the company they are going to work for. Those should not be redeemable for some length of time, say 3 to 5 years, after they leave the company. So if they take only short term actions and don't do any long term planning, their reward will shrink to nothing before they can claim it. ;p

The simpler answer, and one that I expect will soon be demanded by the global economy, is that we stop giving outrageous compensation to these idiots. They get their jobs often because of who they know rather than what they've done, and frequently walk out of a company they've bankrupted right into another healthy one at even greater compensation than they were receiving before.

This is not a case of rewarding people for hard work or competence. It's just a "good ol' boys'" club, with members who are little more than thieving pirates.

whoa, nelly!

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

Careful, Alt- one of the good ol' boys might take a swing at you, miss by a mile and spill his beer all over himself... but not before falling on his ass. I guess what I'm saying is they're incompetent and clumsy, too ;)

[megadog.livejournal.com]

Truth is, much of the 'obscene executive pay' people whine about is in fact paid in the form of shares or share-options.

If your company tanks, it doesn't really help the executives if they still have an option to buy shares in the business at the pre-bankruptcy price.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Doesn't make the amount of compensation any less obscene as far as I'm concerned.

The Lehmann execs who lost their jobs a month or so ago, and the AIG execs who went ahead and had a multi-million dollar party while their corporation was being literally taken over by the government were not receiving shares or options. They got cash buyouts. It was described in detail both in the news and at Congressional hearings afterward. So ten thousand employees lost their jobs with no severance pay or benefits, while a handful of assholes walked off with ten million dollars. Sorry, that's not acceptable, nor honest, nor just.

[soanos.livejournal.com]

That is not acceptable, I agree. You should not be rewarded for bringing a company to bankrupcy, not a tall. They should be made to "go down with the ship".

Today, honest work doesn't pay, I think that is why some turn to other... venues, like stealing.

[megadog.livejournal.com]

Perhaps you need a sign:

PROPERTY GUARDED BY ROTTWEILER THREE DAYS A WEEK.
YOU GUESS WHICH.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, literacy has fallen to such lows in the US that signs like that are useless. For one thing, they won't recognize the word "rottweiler"... ;p

Back during the last serious economic downturn, people were putting up signs that featured a snarling doberman and the words "Go ahead, make his day" but I'm not sure it helped much.

[farhoug.livejournal.com]

Even if it had the picture of the dog, they'd just probably steal the sign...

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Or the dog. You got it all right.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Sorry you have to lock up, we've had a few breakins around the place recently but it's usually very opportunistic things. People ducking into open doors grabbing a wallet left on a counter that kind of thing. The only things my brother and I have had stolen recently from our homes was complete rubbish XD Stuff we were going to throw out.

As to the Corporate thing, I truely agree that if the company fails, why should the execs get more than anyone else.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I want a sign that says "Warning: Attack Horse on Premises"

And another one that says "Caution: Electrified Doors"

It's snowing outside. Hard.

[soanos.livejournal.com]

Snowing? Ooh, goody. A good deterrent.

And the attack horsie... Well, I'd use "Ninja horse on the Premises". Nobody would dare to come in. Also, Chuck Norris Kitten is rather formidable opponent, too.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

The snow stopped, darn it.

[soanos.livejournal.com]

Hot damn.

I am sure the snow would have looked better than sleet, too.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

I'm sure you can get those made up :D I like the Attack Horse one :D

How can it be snowing hard when snow is merely frosted rain.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Same way it can rain hard, silly kitty.

[soanos.livejournal.com]

Why should the company execs get anything at all? That is what makes me wonder... Or did they throw the towel in and cash the remaining money and run? Could that money have been spent to try to stabilise the situation?

Nobody knows, I guess.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

They received that money because they had written contracts saying they were entitled to it, no matter what happened to the company's finances. The very idea that any corporation would sign such contracts is an outrage, yet they do it all the time.

One of the execs testified before Congress that he felt guilty and had trouble sleeping because of the people who were losing their jobs and the investors who lost money. He was then asked if he would give back his millions in bonuses to help make up for it, and he just said "No." Hypocrite.

[soanos.livejournal.com]

It is just one of those things...

But I hope Karma will catch up with him eventually.

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

Entitlement seems to be a very big issue with people these days- everyone thinks they are born into all sorts of rights and privileges, and who the hell are you to tell them they're screwing others over? Like they'd give it a second thought.

I'm not sure the exec you mentioned was a hypocrite, but I think it's safe to call him a prick. But let's stop kidding ourselves- ambitious people get into business to get as much as they possibly can, usually by any means necessary. Justifications are made up on the spot, and you run with it. The mad dash for all they can grab... which usually leads them right back to where they started, or at best not much better off than when they started. I personally think waaaaaay too much importance is put upon wealth in civilization- oh, you can buy things, service and whatnot- but that's it, and what's more, you've got to maintain that lifestyle (it's sort of expected), which is impossible for opportunistic money grabbers. The odds only hold out so long.

[cozycabbage.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure the bailout was supposed to keep the company afloat long enough to stop them from crashing, right? At that point, though, I wouldn't be surprised to hear they just pocketed the money and let the companies crash.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Well, their companies were either shut down or taken over, depending on how you look at it, so it wasn't exactly a bailout in their case. But it certainly is a classic case of fiddling while the building burns down around you.

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

Too many opportunists are in business these days- people who grab the money and run with it, often carelessly and thoughtlessly. By the time they get their own head on straight, the money's gone and things are worse than before.

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

Yeah, this kind of thing is happening all over. I thought I heard someone in my yard just last night, moving through the tall grass. But, by the sound it made when it crossed over the fence, it was probably an animal- claws scraping and no sound of a body hitting the ground or heavy weight buckling the fence. Crime is on the rise here, too... Four guys hung out across the street for at least an hour before I asked them what was up- turns out someone had informed them that he was living in my house. It was pretty clear they were looking to rough him up some, but had no visible weapons. I live on a road that's still at least half white folks, so it wasn't long after that before they made the mistake of standing in some guys yard and making him uncomfortable enough to threaten police action. Can't say I blame him. I'm not entirely convinced they weren't looking for things to steal, judging by their body language and how throughly they looked things over. Even so, they seemed more nervous of me than I was of them, which always surprises me. People... *shakes head*