Archive for the ‘Nugatorium’ Category

The agency that owns the space where the World Trade Center towers stood is freeing itself of the term “freedom” to describe the signature skyscraper replacing the buildings destroyed on September 11, 2001.

The change from Freedom Tower was revealed Thursday at a news conference where the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced the signing of the first commercial lease in the building to a Chinese company. The building is expected to be completed in late 2013.

Personally, I think this is a bad idea.

From Powerline:

Wells Fargo didn’t want any TARP money, but the government forced it to take more than $5 billion worth, so Wells Fargo employees who receive bonuses would be subject to Pelosi’s proposed tax. Say you’re a teller at a Wells Fargo branch in Minnesota and you’re married to a lawyer who makes $250,000 this year. You get a $10,000 bonus for your good work during 2008. The government steals it all (90 percent federal plus 8.5 percent state plus, unless it’s included in the 90 percent, 3 percent Medicare). That is simply insane.

If the Pelosi bill is actually enacted into law (which I still think is doubtful) and upheld by the courts, there is no limit to the arbitrary power of Congress. In that event, we have no property rights and there is no Constitution–no equal protection clause, no due process clause, no impairment of contracts clause, no bill of attainder/ex post facto law clause. Instead, we are living in a majoritarian tyranny.

Read that again. Yes, I’ll wait.

The taxes on that “bonus” will amount to more than the bonus itself. Should these people get bonuses when their companies are receiving bailout funds? No, they shouldn’t. But it’s the job of Congress to fix this will future legislation.

It’s their fault this was passed without anyone reading it. I think the repayment of these bonuses should come out of the salaries of the Senators and Representatives that voted for the bailouts in the first place. It’s their fault for not doing their job.

I thought yesterday was busy. It was nothing compared to today.

You can read all of the developments over on my personal blog.

Holding Those Accountable

An Optimistic Outlook

I was finally contacted by someone outside the store, at the corporate level, so hopefully this entire situation will be resolved very, very soon.

My mother-in-law had one heck of a run-in with the sales staff at Best Buy.

They refused to exchange the camera. They informed my father-in-law that the camera was damaged, that it appeared it had been dropped, therefore they could not exchange it. They also tried to convince him that the photos we deleted were nothing but “demo” photos placed on the camera. If those were “demo” photos, I shutter to think what the “real” photos would have included. It was clear those photos were a demonstration of a twenty-something black woman’s body, not a camera’s ability to take photos.

Head on over to my main site, 101 Dead Armadillos, to read the rest.

It’s nice to know that the government in California has their priorities straight.

California’s fiscal future lurched yet another step toward oblivion on Friday as state Controller John Chiang announced he could no longer make payments for services to disabled and blind people who need the money to pay for rent and food.

Chiang said payments would most likely have to be stopped by Feb. 1.

WaMu was dying. WaMu was bleeding cash. JPMorgan Chase steps in and saves WaMu. How do they choose to spend their money? By wasting $375 million to rebrand some of their branches.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. said Tuesday that it will rebrand Washington Mutual’s California branches with the Chase name on March 30.

The overhaul of WaMu’s 708 bank branches will cost $300 million, and another $75 million will be spent opening 20 more Chase branches in California this year.

Genius. Next thing you know JPMorgan Chase will be asking for a bailout.

If you’re going to do something, you should just do it, but not lie about it. Home Depot says their decision “wasn’t based on the economy”, and they were just looking for new ways to reach out to customers and staffers. Sure they were. Nothing says reaching out in new ways than cutting your sponsorship of the Olympics.

After 16 years as an Olympic sponsor, Home Depot is hanging up its rings.

On Wednesday, the world’s largest home improvement retailer informed 98 employees in its Olympic jobs program that it is ending its sponsorship of the Olympics and Paralympics.

The innovative jobs program had allowed Olympic athletes to work part-time at the Home Depot while enjoying full-time pay and benefits, giving them time to train.

Three Georgia athletes will be affected. They live in Morrow, Savannah and Athens, said Home Depot spokeswoman Jean Niemi, who couldn’t immediately provide their names.

Over the course of the retailer’s 16-year sponsorship, more than 660 athletes participated in the jobs program; 300 Home Depot athletes made Olympic and Paralympic teams; and they brought home nearly 150 medals, 95 of them gold.

One company’s failure is another company’s success.

Top U.S. electronics retailer Best Buy Co has been gaining market share as rival Circuit City closes stores, and smart cost cutting could keep it shining throughout 2009, Barron’s said in its December 22 edition.

The weekly business newspaper said that while Best Buy shares were off by a third since it ran a bullish story on the company earlier this year, the retailer has been making the most of its rival Circuit City’s woes, after that company filed for bankruptcy.

It’s not too difficult to do well, when you are the only store in town.

Uh oh. Does this mean in addition to investment firms, insurance companies, banks, homes, and cars, we all might own a piece of California oceanfront real estate too?

California faces a $41.8 billion shortfall for its combined current and next fiscal years, up from a prior $28 billion estimate as its economy weakens and revenues decline, the director of the state’s Department of Finance, said on Thursday.

Michael Genest, also Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s state budget architect, told reporters at a briefing in the state capital of Sacramento the revised shortfall estimate includes provisions for a $2 billion reserve.

If so, I want my parcel to be just north of Malibu, or near San Pedro. Thanks!

Just what we need. In addition to having an ownership in banks, investment firms and millions of homes, it looks like we’re going to own a few auto manufacturers as well.

Congress and the White House inched toward a financial rescue of the Big Three auto makers, negotiating legislation that would give the U.S. government a substantial ownership stake in the industry and a central role in its restructuring.

I don’t know about you, but things are looking a bit socialist to me.