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Dec 6th, 2017
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Pres. Obama said that we all have to make sacrifices in these economic hard times. Agreed. The question is: Are these sacrifices distributed democratically? For example, Wall St/bankers are getting millions in bonuses which they don't have to account to Congress (so much for transparency) while some poor working stiff is getting his hours cut at Starbucks or either job eliminated. Is that fair? Who's sacrificing? What are you willing to sacrifice? During WWII Eleanor Roosevelt told Americans to re-use their tea bags. Are you willing to make such sacrifices in the economic hard times suddenly upon us?
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Ah yes, Sacrifice!
Let us all remember those stirring words of President Kennedy! [my translation]:
Ask not what I can do for you; ask, rather, what you can do for me!
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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OMG! I've been reusing my tea bags for years! Is there a war on?
Joe, I can't provide any links, but I've been hearing horror stories about executives having their pay frozen and losing their bonuses right and left. Have you got citations to support your claim that Wall St. bankers are still getting millions in bonuses? I'll try to find one or two to support what I believe I've been hearing.
Steve Give us the wisdom to teach our children to love,
to respect and be kind to one another,
so that we may grow with peace in mind.
(Native American prayer)
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- No more money for nothing[/b]
The backlash against the banks’ bonus culture has begun....John Thain, chief executive of Merrill Lynch, was given the boot...
,,,with his reputation in tatters amid seamy revelations of bonus chicanery and flashy spending. The disclosures threaten to tarnish Thain forever and mark a new low for Wall Street....
...the financial sector had operated under a “sense of entitle-ment” for most of the 20th century but that this had reached epic proportions in recent years. Many top bankers now seemed to be completely out of touch with the political and public mood.
[SNIP]
A month after the merger closed, Thain has gone, having fallen out with his new owners over his handling of Merrill’s losses and the [b]billions of dollars in staff bonuses he paid out at a time when his bank was haemorrhaging money. The bonuses were paid before Bank of America’s acquisition of Merrill became final on January 1....
...[Merrill] lost $15 billion in the fourth quarter and more than $27 billion for the year. Bank of America later received an additional $20 billion from the government, in part to offset unexpected Merrill losses. The bonus payments are now being investigated by Cuomo.
[SNIP]
According to figures from Bloomberg, the five biggest Wall Street banks paid out a record $38 billion to workers in the 2007-8 bonus season. The year before they had paid out $36 billion in a year when the banks had reported record profits.
This bonus season might have been expected to be a bit disappointing.
But no. Wall Street bonuses declined only 4.7% last year to an average of $180,420 per worker, according to the latest figures from the New York State Comptroller’s office. One of the worst years in Wall Street’s history, a year when three illustrious banks – Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch – closed, was still one of the best years for bonuses. That is billions with a B, not millions! -
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OMG! I've been reusing my tea bags for years! Is there a war on? Steve, it's hard to tell if there isn't somewhere. I don't believe that we'll be leaving Iraq or Afghanistan anytime soon, and looks like Pakistan may be on the agenda. If the price of a barrel of crude doesn't get back over $60 within the next year, I don't believe that we'll have to worry about Iran because even without the economic sanctions they'll be broke as well as the other Arab states that stopped trading oil exclusively in dollars. Joe, I can't provide any links, but I've been hearing horror stories about executives having their pay frozen and losing their bonuses right and left. Have you got citations to support your claim that Wall St. bankers are still getting millions in bonuses? I'll try to find one or two to support what I believe I've been hearing. Joe
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That is billions with a B, not millions! If you want to be technical, it's actually trillions. Hey, who's counting? Certainly not Congress. The bankers even refuse to tell them where the money went (you know who's calling the shots there). But speaking about sacrifices, how about Congress making a few? Their salary, health benefits, and pensions seem unscathed by the economic storm that they help create.
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- Ah yes, Sacrifice!Let us all remember those stirring words of President Kennedy! [my translation]:
Ask not what I can do for you; ask, rather, what you can do for me!- They publicly executed him.
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Main Street vs. Wall Street: I wonder which one will make the sacrifices?
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stranger
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I'd like to see some sacrifice from on high!
We've been 'sacrificing' for over a year now, not out of any sense of goodwill or patriotism, but out of neccessity due to deteriorating economic factors.
So, let's see Congress do something sacrificial for a change. No raises, pay into Social Security, and I've still yet to figure out why elected officials get a full pension after only 5 years on the job? So let's put term limits back on the table(Congress won't do this, so it would have to be a referendum from the states, caused by a groundswell of support from the fed up masses)
I'm sure I can come up with other ways to cut some fat from the governmental hog, but that will do for a start
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Oh, well, Frazier, I just don't think you're being fair. I mean, it's not congress, but my VP from my last job said she and her(investment banker) husband two years in a row had to rebuild the dock at their second home in the Carolinas. Hurricane damage, you know. And at least one of those same two years, there wasn't enough water in the reservoir in Iowa to float their sailboat. Baby yacht. Whatever. Now, there's a higher-up, and there's real suffering for you. I mean, my heart bled for them. That was the year I got a 2% annual increase, after all. 
Julia
A 45’s quicker than 409
Betty’s cleaning’ house for the very last time
Betty’s bein’ bad
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