This is bassackwards !!!

This is bassackwards !!!

How is it that a corporate CEO can make millions of dollars per year and millions more in bonuses and then feel justified in laying off people in his company in order to bump up the share price for the shareholders? Don’t the shareholders realize that at some point they could bump up their own share price, invest directly in their own companies and make more profit by having a nimble well trained and well staffed company?

At least they would if it wasn’t the same 250 people on every board in every company in America. There is no glass ceiling anymore, its an ASS ceiling. Sarbanes Oxley is a joke. It is still the same good old boys network running everything, and they still have all ten fingers in the till. Shoot, I know people who have 800 + credit ratings right now, run successful businesses, and the banks will not loan money for any reason. they are afraid to because they view it as their duty to protect the bank, and not to protect their depositors, their communities or the people in it.

Thank the FED and Ben Bernanke for that. I appreciate it Warren. Thanks a lot Mr. Gates. Keep pumping up the banks, somebody has to protect the billionaires money I guess.

In the same train of thought, Why is it that the news will report that a company laid off thousands of people, or closed a plant or sold a whole division and that bumps up the share price, and they paint it out like it is a good thing ? Are these people really that stupid?

Or are we?

Seems to me bad news (less capacity and less employees to do the work), should key the directors and the shareholders and even the general Public that they have the wrong upper management in the first place. Seems to me they ought to hold the CEO responsible for the problem, not the hourly staff. The CEO can hang on for 10 years and he has a contract they have to buy him out of to get rid of him. Us? It’s a greased banana and don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

They think the current money crisis was caused by credit swaps? By subordinated debentures? They are crazy ! (and mistaken) Here is a word of advice. Even if you have to eat crap with a serving spoon at work right now, keep your job no matter what you do. You lose your job today and you are screwed. Another one at the same money is highly improbable. You better stay focused on keeping that paycheck coming right on in.

The new world economy is stacked against us. This current crisis wasn't caused by a bank, it was caused by greed. Wall street greed. The rules were made up by people lining their own pockets with our money. 25 points different in a complicated credit score based on obscure no logic reasoning and they figure out how to charge you thousands more dollars to buy a house or a car. You wonder why nobody is buying houses or cars right now?

It makes very little practical sense to fire the older workers because of high wages, to hire younger workers because of low wages, because to do so makes the purchasing power of the money they are paid (the younger worker) worth less. You earn less, everything costs more and your dollar doesn’t go anywhere as far as it used to.

Global warming? Yeah right, after we burn all the couches and chairs and dinner tables to keep warm maybe.

This crisis is because we are busy allowing companies to not pay taxes. It is because we are busy allowing employers to please their pocket books by merging with each other and then firing thousands of workers at once to manage their share price. Fannie mae and Freddie mac failed because the price of food went up, because ethanol increased the price of everything that is made with corn by 45%. They failed because we sat idly by and watched our auto makers pay workers 81$ per hour and then wondered why they lost money and cannot sell cars. They failed because the price of a gallon of gasoline doubled in 8 months and a fill up was 2 times as expensive at the end of the year as it was on the first day of the year. They failed because electricity, natural gas, jet fuel, diesel fuel and heating oil rose to levels never seen before while we did nothing but wring our hands.

You wonder why credit card companies are going under? Simple, everybody they gave credit to, has lost their jobs. they are in foreclosure, their cars have been repossessed, their bank accounts are empty and most are contemplating some form of bankruptcy, suicide, divorce or all three.

You think I worry about my 401k? Not my biggest worry right now, I assure you. I could care less what the price of a share of Ford, GM or Chrysler is right now as long as I can afford a gallon of gas to get to work, I'm good thanks. Heck, I care more about what a loaf of bread or a gallon of milk costs right now than an automakers share price.

Hundreds of Thousands of people have lost their jobs since January 2007. Most of them had to take work at less than one-half the salary they used to make. You wonder why banks failed? Hell, I wonder how I'm going to eat, how I'm going to afford to get to work. I drive 3 times as far , to make half as much, on gas that is twice as expensive. And you want me to feel sorry for a bank or an auto maker? The numbers these idiots ought to be concerned with is the jobless number. Fix the jobless problem and you have fixed everything else. If I have a job, I'll pay my mortgage, my credit cards, my bank loans and etc.

You do not have to "fix" really anything else. Just quit screwing with my job. !!!!Stop rewarding CEO's who think they have to trim expenses by firing thousands of workers to make wall street analysts happy so their share price doesn't drop. Just stop the stupidity.

In companies like the ones I just alluded to, the CEO’s of those firms have one common personality type. They think, for some strange reason that laying off people, constantly firing and constant criticism will shake up the place and make people more productive. I just don’t get it. What happens when you constantly shake up the place is everybody starts looking for a way to protect their job and keeps their head down, with very little effort going towards getting and productive work done in the first place. Dilbert makes more and more sense every day.

For some years now corporate America has been chasing a share price at the expense of everything else. We have almost wiped out our ability to manufacture everything from tube socks to washing machines in our quest for lower costs and higher share prices. Large retailers like Wal-Mart have contributed to this idiocy for a long time and I’ve yet to hear anybody ask the question that seems pretty obvious to ask.

How are we going to be able to buy anything in this new “World Economy” , if we don’t have anywhere to work that pays a decent wage and if there are no companies left to be loyal to? What are we supposed to be loyal to now anyway? A Brand? “Yes maam, I’d like one TIDE t-shirt and two pairs of Viagra socks please”. Get a grip !

See the thing is , we are in the middle of a fallacy that is a downward spiral and everything we are doing right now is managing that spiral downwards.

Less jobs is less money. Less money is less purchasing. Less purchasing is a negative economic trend. We will not be able soon to buy anything made in China because we won’t have any money to buy it with.

Who are all these poor third world nations going to sell to if they can’t sell it to us?

I couldn’t tell as I am late for my shift at McDonalds.

Today is dumpster clean out night and the kids are starving !!

Thankx for reading my rant !

bigmike

Visit my blog online at http://bigmikerant.blogspot.com/

I encourage you to leave your own comments or reactions to my rants (even if you don't agree with me) in the comments section on each post.