I just threw up into my mouth, reading this article. Not only are the executives of failed banks earning billions of dollars in bonuses, just as much as the early 2000s, but if their income is capped at $500,000… they might need to consider public schools.

I have only one word for these people: guillotine. It’s either that, or move to another community… or, you know what? Maybe if they’re not willing to earn a measly $500,000 for their disastrous management, someone else is willing to do a better job for less money?

Bankers haven’t done much in recent months to earn sympathy, respect, or trust. By parlaying taxpayer-funded bailouts into bonuses, they have lost all credibility. Not only should they lose their salaries, but they should lose their heads. Again, “guillotine.”

Give up the nanny? Oh noes! Apparently, hot chocolate costs $8.50 when you’re a fucking millionaire. Oh noes! Whatever shall I wear to the gala ball? Here’s a hint: maybe you’ve just been fired, even without realizing it yet, for doing the most damage to our financial system in nearly a century. The gala ball is officially not yours to worry about, anymore.

Save yourselves, leave the armed limo driver behind. I just schadenfreuded all over myself.

RTFA: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/fashion/08halfmi…

PRIVATE school: $32,000 a year per student.

Mortgage: $96,000 a year.

Co-op maintenance fee: $96,000 a year.

Nanny: $45,000 a year.

We are already at $269,000, and we haven’t even gotten to taxes yet.

Five hundred thousand dollars – the amount President Obama wants to set as the top pay for banking executives whose firms accept government bailout money – seems like a lot, and it is a lot. To many people in many places, it is a princely sum to live on. But in the neighborhoods of New York City and its suburban enclaves where successful bankers live, half a million a year can go very fast.

“As hard as it is to believe, bankers who are living on the Upper East Side making $2 or $3 million a year have set up a life for themselves in which they are also at zero at the end of the year with credit cards and mortgage bills that are inescapable,” said Holly Peterson, the author of an Upper East Side novel of manners, “The Manny,” and the daughter of Peter G. Peterson, a founder of the equity firm the Blackstone Group. “Five hundred thousand dollars means taking their kids out of private school and selling their home in a fire sale.”

Over the holidays, one of my relatives (who could no longer stand my righteousness in criticizing Bush as a terrible Republican) adopted an interesting coping strategy: if only the media would lay off Obama, because they have been so cruel to Bush over the last 8 years.

On a side note, Bush deserves far harsher treatment than to merely be “criticized.”

…but back to the story: I was unaffected by these appeals, because it was completely obvious that not a second would be lost before Obama would be scandalized by the same crowd that had previously deified and idolized that golden mule named “W.”

The following video is, by no means, the first example… but Fox has no shame. Absolutely none.

RTFA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgtN-CtU_BU

Well, she’s the “expert”, I guess she must know what she’s talking about.

I rest my case.

RTFA: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/01/31/geo…

NAIROBI, Kenya (CNN) — George Obama, the half brother of U.S. President Barack Obama, has been arrested by Kenyan police on a charge of possession of marijuana, police said Saturday.

RTFA: http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/26/news/economy/job_c…

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The final week of January began with a bloodbath for the job market, as over 71,400 more cuts were announced on Monday alone.

At least six companies from manufacturing and service industries announced cost-cutting initiatives that included slashing thousands of jobs.

More than 200,000 job cuts have been announced so far this year, according to company reports. Nearly 2.6 million jobs were lost over 2008, the highest yearly job-loss total since 1945.

“It’s all about the consumer, and the consumer’s been hit hard,” said Robert Brusca, chief economist at Fact and Opinion Economics. “It’s a vicious circle as weakness begets layoffs, which beget more spending weakness.”

shitty. Apparently the hope & optimism the average American feels towards president Obama’s inauguration has not applied to big business & investors. The article also states that the recession will bottom out in the second quarter of 2009 and then we’ll see a rebound.

The New York Times has produced a wonderfully interactive infographic that includes the most commonly used words from each of the US Presidents’ inaugural address. This is a really great way to get a sense of the scope of this country’s history. I came away from this infographic with a better sense of the challenges that faced the nation at different times, and also with a sense of how young this country really is.

The New York Times infographic presents a very intuitive timeline, featuring portraits of the presidents, along with a representation of the text of their inaugural address. The words have been scaled by frequency – more frequently used words appear larger. Words shown in yellow are special, in that they are quite different from the words used by the previous president.

Scroll through this infographic, just paying attention to the yellow words. You can instantly grok the big issue that a certain president is dealing with, and I think that reflects very positively on the value of this infographic. Next, scroll through the timeline, paying attention to the biggest words, and you can get a feeling for how the presidents ideologically approached their term. Great work!

RTFA: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/01/17/wash…

A look at the language of presidential inaugural addresses. The most-used words in each address appear in the interactive chart below, sized by number of uses. Words highlighted in yellow were used significantly more in this inaugural address than average.