Morning ZED!

bobo is a moron;

Rich people used to set their own norms. For example, if one rich person wanted to use the company helicopter to aerate the ponds on his properties, and the other rich people on his board of directors thought this a sensible thing to do, then he could go ahead and do it without any serious repercussions.

But now, after the TARP, the auto bailout, the stimulus package, the Fed rescue packages and various other federal interventions, rich people no longer get to set their own rules. Now lifestyle standards for the privileged class are set by people who live in Ward Three.

rich people used their own money to get on their frigging helicopter, now they want my money and I don’t want them using my money for flying on frigging helicopters

I say we put in Medicaid-style means-testing before any bailout funds flow to the companies these parasites run. Only when they have exhausted every corporate and personal penny should they be put in line for funds.

I want a new rule for any company looking for government help staying in business;

“if you get government help there are NO “bonuses”

a bonus is a luxery for profitable businesses, it is NOT a luxery for companies that want welfare”

watch their heads explode

When ya get here Pups be Sure and Digg this post!

Jane should we be passing out the crying towels for the Rich and privileged?

OOPS “Former Rich and Privileged“.

OT. Daschle withdraws

I grew up in DC and I’ve never heard anyone refer to any area as “Ward 3,” or “Ward X.” He is just a dick, a pompous windbag. Adams Morgan, Brookland, Gtown, Foxhall, Tenleytown yes, “Ward 3″ never. What a douche. Who’s he trying to impress?

Never read Bobo but…Jane you put a classic post up at Huffpo yesterday…eclectic and full of smarts…why should ”We the people” be left with paying the Oligarchy’s bad debt and they won’t even let us pass a decent safety net for the recession. ”Pamper the rich and trample the poor starving masses.” The christian right being wrong.

Daschle’s out.

Ya beat me.

Source?

Breaking news MSNBC

Where’d you see that ? Is Howard Dean back from his vacation ?

Owners of privately held companies used to use their helicopters and planes however they wanted. Now the board members, CEO’s and Presidents of publicly held companies like to pretend that they own the company – they don’t; they’ve gotten there by selling stocks to the public (in Ward Three?), and by the work of company employees, many of whom have put more years and effort into the company than the top executives. The system has to allow the true owners and workers in a company to limit the rewards paid to the lottery winners of the executive suites. How about having the maximum compensation limited to 25 times the salary of the least-paid full time employee? That was the average in the 1970’s.

I’m listening to msnbc. It’s also on their website.

I guess Joe the Plumber started a trend — over-identification with an income bracket you’ll never belong to seems to be all the rage in the GOP.

ding dingedy ding!

My dittohead has this disorder in spades. He’s retired but when in business he depended on CEOs and CFOs for business, so their agenda was his agenda. What was good for them was good for him. Until he believed he had a corporate jet, he had several properties, he ran with the rat pack to the symphony (he didn’t). He talks the talk, votes the vote, but doesn’t walk the walk.

He’s really the hired help who is paid very well.

Update MSNBC reads statement from WH & Daschle.

msnbc reporter is talking about a potential double standard if the woman with tax problems withdraws but the two guys with tax problems get confirmed.

gasp!

someone did the right thing? bang the gongs!

Some think he was a good choice, but IMO anyone in a leadership position during the odious Bush years should have been disqualified from serving in the first place.

Will Daschle give a “I took one for the Gipper” Press Conf. ?

Enquiring(sic) minds want to know …

David Brooks has revealed the mind set of the well to do “it’s all their money” we are just holding it until it’s time to give it to them.

This is massively stuipd to the point of pain/anger – I’m sure he has no problem with welfare recipients getting their lifestyles managed by ward three – goverment money comes with condtions pinhead – they’re lucky they aren’t being tossed en mass into prison to await trial.

He earned $5 million by consulting for a lobbying firm that represents big medical interests. He was a terrible choice.

Who’s the second guy .. Geithner ?

Once upon a time a great SF Chronicle columnist named Art Hoppe would have written a column like this, except would have been up-front and confessed in the first person voice to his own “Sublimated Liquidity Rage” and other syndromes he mentions (”hatred of cleavage”???). He would have made the whole thing a bit more funny and deadpan honest as he skewered that point of view.

Maybe someone was giving Brooks a hard time about ogling the Super Bowl commercials and he had to vituperate?

The point is, the jets aren’t *private* when they’re paid for with public funds. Even as dim a bulb as Brooks ought to be able to get from A to B on that one without help.

Wow. Even Mrs. Greenspan is talking about Daschle’s connection to medical industry and thus his credibility. Never thought I’d live to see the day.

Of course, she would never do same if the person were a R.

Yes.

I agree.

Breaking NYT: Daschle withdraws.

Dang. Thr goesa pefectly good “Dschle Man Walking” diary.

Tee hee. Here’s my comment earlier this morning on Marcy’s thread about Killefer’s withdrawal:

Blleeerggh! Does that make the 100% correlation still hold? All female nominees with tax problems quietly go away and the males are protected by the village? Please tell me I missed one. Please.

Damn right it set a double standard.

Petro!!!!

Left you a note at the end of the Michelle Barnard post (@141) a couple of days ago.

Republics are to be obeyed, not questioned.

How many Bushies had tax problems that were never reported? Heh. Stupid question, I know.

I knew someone had commented on that this morning but didn’t remember who. Not surprised at the brilliance here, but am surprised to see it on the MSM.

About halfway thru Angler. What about Cheney’s heart attack early in the admin, which was reported as a “procedure.”

The stuff they hid … We’ll spend the rest of our lives learning about it.

Hey There !

I hope you make it up here in the Spring and will keep a new bottle ready for the occasion ! *g*

Perris, that is a wonderful rule. Let the free market then decide which is worse, to forgoe bonuses or to forgoe continuation of the company.

Perris, you have the answer

*waving*

Was listening to local talk radio while running errands around Fargo and the conversation about Daschle was brutal.

After reading the NYT article this morning it pains me to say that this ugly episode may come back to haunt Senators who staunchly supported him. This was an example of ugly Beltway self-isolating incestuous rose-colored blinders at its worst. Ugly, ugly, ugly.

Shame on Daschle for the past several days. It reinforces to me one more reason why he would have been a disaster heading up HHS. His crisis management was pathetic.

Exactly. How often was telediagnoser Bill Frist’s up-to-the-hairline immersion in the for-profit health care industry made a point of criticism — or even of public knowledge?

IIRC, if the Brits take over a company, all the Execs are fired and no bonuses are paid out.

I’m torn on this one; Obama is not in office if Daschle doesn’t get him his early support in the Senate, but I have to agree with others here that he was no proponent of single payer, which needs to happen.

Are you accusing the MSM of having a double standard ? /s

Didja see my reply @ 37 ?

Didja see my reply @ 37 ?

Yes sir, and I look forward to taking you up on it!

Now, onto the b-ball game tonight!

There’s a diary over at the Great Orange One talking about the pay and bonuses in the financial industry.

Apparently, the bonuses are normal, and considered part of the pay package – the companies set salaries low, but at the end of the year, there’s a big bonus (as much as the rest of the year’s pay, if not more) to make up for it. It sounds to me like their entire pay structure needs to be fixed, because it’s totally out of whack with reality. (It was mentioned that some of these people work 60 to 80 hours a week for that money – I think they need to look at that, too.)

I think what Bobo is saying basically is that the formerly “rich and privileged” class must still be rightfully regarded as the privileged class even when no longer rich. We can only assume what’s going on inside his twisty little head of course, but it would seem to be something along the lines of: Anything other than that would constitute a violation of the natural order of things. Ruling class, don’t you know.

Thanks to recent and coming bailouts and interventions, the people in Ward Three ATTEMPT TO run the banks and many major industries ON BEHALF OF THE TAXPAYERS WHOSE MONEY IS AT STAKE. Through this power, they get to insert themselves into the intricacies of upscale life HERETOFORE UNWILLINGLY SUBSIDIZED BY THE TAXPAYERS.

Fixed.

Shoot. Insert “the taxpayers” after themselves

Some day, some day, Toronto will get a Professional Sports Team … and then, look out World !

Are you accusing the MSM of having a double standard ? /s

The MSM have standards? When did that happen?

Well, according to Tweety, they do, unlike blogs ! *g*

I’m not sure he was even a proponent of single chauffeur.

I think that Bobo’s column is “class warfare” just wrapped up in a new jacket.

There was a nauseating piece yesterday on KO where Margaret Carlson (why he has her on is beyond me)was making fun of Sarah Palin because they all went to some event. Carlson actually said that Palin was gauche because the attendees thought that they were too important to actually shake hands with Obama, who was in attendance as well, while Palin was stupid enough to go meet Obama there. [Added bonus “Village” message: Palin = trailer trash!]

This is nothing new from Bobo, it is along the same lines of when the Clintons came into office in 1993 and trashed the place. Pretty soon Rush and his ilk are going to be all over this talking about the “elites” again who know better than you. That’s what this column really is about.

Last week, I came here for the Max Weber symposium; this week, Thorstein Veblen.

The lack of self awareness is truly bizarre, almost as if some lefty stole Bobo’s password and was trying to incite riots.

Really, isn’t Bobo using this kind of hand-wringing to ingratiate him with those gazillionaires he hopes will one day take pity on him (through some means or other) and lift him closer to their ranks? I wish the NYT would just fire this fuck for “failure of insight.”

PS hi out there in the frozen plains. It is time that our pols clean up their acts and become ethical leaders that generate respect. All the folks that pay their taxes, obey our laws and give back to communities must be sickened by this.
Daschle hands the oppostition a politcal brickbat. So self serving. So much more Onama’s ethics high bar…Geithner…”Treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, needed to pay $43,000 in back taxes and penalties.”
The basis of ethics is that it is universal…no exceptions yet out of the shoot Obama lts him slide. It is not the amount it is the principle and the excuse for TG was the statute of limitations had run out…the guy that runs IRS. Will he let all the big Wall street perps off of the hook?

I feel so sorry for the banking industry execs who work long hours I’m playing them a sympathy tune on my worlds smallest violin. I work 50+ hours a week for another endangered industry and I get no overtime, no bonus. I get to work to keep my job. Am I complaining, no. Just observing that I don’t have Bobo to do my whining for me. Probably because I didn’t have him up to the Hamptons for a weekend getaway aboard the yacht.
I could have him out to the house and we could have a BBQ McCain style, with some Costco ribs.

What a sh*theel Brooks is. Note he didn’t mention that he used to live in Ward 3 before moving to a tract mansion in Bethesda with his Bobo-book money!

And Brooks snipes that “Obama staffers” live in the District–yes, some do–while failing to note the wild popularity of McLean, VA, among BushCo. Why, that would include the Cheney family, Clarence Thomas, and Fred Malek, Nixon’s official “Jew-counter,” who has taken up with Sarah Palin.

I live in Ward 3, too, which does not have any voting representation in the House or Senate. Brooks notes that Ward 3 residents don’t like “cleavage.” Hell, I’m not giving up mine!

My jaw dropped as I read this in the morning. It was as if a senior in high school had to turn in a composition in which he made all kinds of accusations not based in any facts. What Brooks wrote about are merely scenarios in his head and how the editors of the NY Times could print this is beyond me.

What an ass, so stockholders should pay for this theft? And after they get wiped out the taxpayers get wiped out as well?

Let them have cake suffed down their face please.

I have an easy solution, nationalize the bank and the fed and then they can worry about something else.