Word comes that a Federal judge has told the SEC to go back to the drawing board with its paltry $33M slap on Bank of America’s wrist over neglecting to mention to anyone the bonuses they’d agreed to pay Merrill Lynch management when the two firms merged.
This coincides with President Obama’s speech warning the financial sector that they shouldn’t expect to get bailed out & then return to the wild west environment of hot & cold running excess.
My money’s on Jed S. Rakoff’s ruling having more impact than Obama’s injunction. After all, the government’s already shown that it has no spine when it comes to standing up to Wall Street. But Rakoff has a history of demanding actual, you know, justice from perpetrators of corporate malfeasance.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
Time, gentlemen
It’ll be interesting to see how this one plays out: the British Medical Association has issued a report calling for a ban on all alcohol advertising, including sports and music event sponsorship.
They’re looking to slow rising consumption with the ban, plus some other government mandates: mandatory minimum pricing scheme, reduction of licensing hours for both on-premise and off-premise sales, reducing the density of alcohol outlets, etc.
The focus is on young people (defined in the report as under 25), even though they admit that the entire nation is essentially in its cups most of the time. And that treating alcohol-related conditions costs the National Health Service up to $5B per year.
While I don’t dispute the social and financial costs associated with the kind of drinking that results in piles of vomit outside pubs every night, I have to wonder what they’re talking about when they refer to how cheap it is there. Unless they’ve lowered the prices considerably in the past three years, drink is definitely not the most cost-effective way of numbing your brain. (That would be reality TV shows.)
Plus—it’s unclear that the linchpin of their plan to dry out Britain, a ban on alcohol advertising, would have much of a positive effect. According to the Australian Association on National Advertisers (admittedly not an unbiased group), multiple studies by apparently legitimate and respected researchers would seem to indicate that advertising bans have little or no effect on actual, you know, consumption of alcohol.
Naturally various trade associations are rushing to the defense of the status quo. I particularly love the Wine and Spirit Trade Association’s dire prediction that a ban would “threaten the livelihoods of thousands of people working in the media, advertising, television” and other industries.
Kind of the argument used to prop up GM and Chrysler.
They’re looking to slow rising consumption with the ban, plus some other government mandates: mandatory minimum pricing scheme, reduction of licensing hours for both on-premise and off-premise sales, reducing the density of alcohol outlets, etc.
The focus is on young people (defined in the report as under 25), even though they admit that the entire nation is essentially in its cups most of the time. And that treating alcohol-related conditions costs the National Health Service up to $5B per year.
While I don’t dispute the social and financial costs associated with the kind of drinking that results in piles of vomit outside pubs every night, I have to wonder what they’re talking about when they refer to how cheap it is there. Unless they’ve lowered the prices considerably in the past three years, drink is definitely not the most cost-effective way of numbing your brain. (That would be reality TV shows.)
Plus—it’s unclear that the linchpin of their plan to dry out Britain, a ban on alcohol advertising, would have much of a positive effect. According to the Australian Association on National Advertisers (admittedly not an unbiased group), multiple studies by apparently legitimate and respected researchers would seem to indicate that advertising bans have little or no effect on actual, you know, consumption of alcohol.
Naturally various trade associations are rushing to the defense of the status quo. I particularly love the Wine and Spirit Trade Association’s dire prediction that a ban would “threaten the livelihoods of thousands of people working in the media, advertising, television” and other industries.
Kind of the argument used to prop up GM and Chrysler.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
We the suckers...
In case there was any doubt in your mind, a report by the Congressional Oversight Panel has made it official: we-the-people’s involuntary bail-out of GM and Chrysler was basically billions washed down the drain. It’s a “loan” we’ll never see repaid.
You can kiss the initial $23B flung out by the Bush administration goodbye. And even though some chick at Treasury says there’s a “reasonably high probability” that we’ll get some of the nearly $40B back the two failed behemoths cadged from this administration, I don’t see her betting her own McMansion on that probability.
All in all, we’d have been better off investing in amusement parks or chinchilla farms.
You can kiss the initial $23B flung out by the Bush administration goodbye. And even though some chick at Treasury says there’s a “reasonably high probability” that we’ll get some of the nearly $40B back the two failed behemoths cadged from this administration, I don’t see her betting her own McMansion on that probability.
All in all, we’d have been better off investing in amusement parks or chinchilla farms.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Learning from history's mistakes (not)
Ah, the grand old days of black-is-white socialist realism are not entirely behind us. In the revisionist Russian regime of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin & President Dmitri Medvedev that old blackguard Josef Stalin is on his way to rehabilitation. & the latest step in that process is a libel suit being brought by the Man of Steel’s grandson against a historian who wrote a journal article that would not qualify as hagiography.
Seems that Stalin never made policy of the destruction of whole classes of Soviet citizenry (in their tens of millions); didn’t really make a deal with Adolf Hitler & refuse to believe that his fascist friend would actually breach the pact by, you know invading the Soviet Union; didn’t eviscerate the Red Army with the show trials of the 30s; didn’t order the murder of 21,000 Polish officers in the Katyn Forest; & blah, blah, blah.
This is an example of the cyclical nature of both historiography & national development. Were it not a desecration of every soul starved, shot, drowned, frozen, tortured & overworked to death in the service of Stalin’s ambition & by his direct mandate it would be rather farcical.
I mean, really—suing for libel instead of just eviscerating the offender in the bowels of the Lubyanka & sending his family to Siberia? Somewhere Stalin is whirling like a dreydel.
Any road—it doesn’t bode well for Russians today or the nations that interact with them.
Seems that Stalin never made policy of the destruction of whole classes of Soviet citizenry (in their tens of millions); didn’t really make a deal with Adolf Hitler & refuse to believe that his fascist friend would actually breach the pact by, you know invading the Soviet Union; didn’t eviscerate the Red Army with the show trials of the 30s; didn’t order the murder of 21,000 Polish officers in the Katyn Forest; & blah, blah, blah.
This is an example of the cyclical nature of both historiography & national development. Were it not a desecration of every soul starved, shot, drowned, frozen, tortured & overworked to death in the service of Stalin’s ambition & by his direct mandate it would be rather farcical.
I mean, really—suing for libel instead of just eviscerating the offender in the bowels of the Lubyanka & sending his family to Siberia? Somewhere Stalin is whirling like a dreydel.
Any road—it doesn’t bode well for Russians today or the nations that interact with them.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Losing fizz
Sad news for those of us who love bubbly: reacting to lowered sales, Champagne houses are acting like OPEC & cutting production.
Seems like an odd response: consumers have cut back on buying the stuff because of straitened circumstances—clearly a statement about price sensitivity; but rather than lower their prices the producers are moving to uphold them artificially.
Zut alors!
Seems like an odd response: consumers have cut back on buying the stuff because of straitened circumstances—clearly a statement about price sensitivity; but rather than lower their prices the producers are moving to uphold them artificially.
Zut alors!
Friday, September 4, 2009
Number one with a Bullitt
Well, I don’t quite know what to think.
McQueen.
Back.
Inspiring multiple lines of menswear.
The WSJ reports that manufacturers from Dolce & Gabbana to J. Crew are filling retail shops with clothing “inspired” by Steve McQueen’s film attire. Evidently the marketing pitch is along the lines of, “Steve was cool. Wear what he did & you’ll be just as cool.”
Oh, as if.
Still, just thinking about it is a bit of a blast from the past. These people are right—there can’t ever have been anyone as cool as McQueen. That guy grabbed attention just walking into the shot. Put him in The Magnificent Seven, up against Yul Brynner, Charles Bronson, Eli Wallach, James Coburn, a lot of horses & the Mexican countryside—he still ate up the screen. One pink shirt throughout the whole movie.
Or The Great Escape—German uniform or cut-off-sleeved sweatshirt, tossing that baseball against the cooler wall or making moonshine for Independence Day, he delivered his lines with the quintessential American brash insouciance. ("You're crazy, you know that? You oughta be locked up!")
The Thomas Crown Affair, Le Mans, Love with the Proper Stranger, Bullitt, Sand Pebbles…it didn’t matter what clothes he sported, the coolness came from within. It was being the star who gave producers the jim-jams by doing his own stunts with fast vehicles. It was drinking too much but still making morning makeup.
I know this is nothing new, but I’m going to get a really good giggle out of seeing today’s metrosexuals thinking they’ll take on some of McQueen’s persona by wearing a bomber jacket or a pair of chinos or a watch.
It ain’t the clothes on the man, silly; it’s the man in the clothes.
McQueen.
Back.
Inspiring multiple lines of menswear.
The WSJ reports that manufacturers from Dolce & Gabbana to J. Crew are filling retail shops with clothing “inspired” by Steve McQueen’s film attire. Evidently the marketing pitch is along the lines of, “Steve was cool. Wear what he did & you’ll be just as cool.”
Oh, as if.
Still, just thinking about it is a bit of a blast from the past. These people are right—there can’t ever have been anyone as cool as McQueen. That guy grabbed attention just walking into the shot. Put him in The Magnificent Seven, up against Yul Brynner, Charles Bronson, Eli Wallach, James Coburn, a lot of horses & the Mexican countryside—he still ate up the screen. One pink shirt throughout the whole movie.
Or The Great Escape—German uniform or cut-off-sleeved sweatshirt, tossing that baseball against the cooler wall or making moonshine for Independence Day, he delivered his lines with the quintessential American brash insouciance. ("You're crazy, you know that? You oughta be locked up!")
The Thomas Crown Affair, Le Mans, Love with the Proper Stranger, Bullitt, Sand Pebbles…it didn’t matter what clothes he sported, the coolness came from within. It was being the star who gave producers the jim-jams by doing his own stunts with fast vehicles. It was drinking too much but still making morning makeup.
I know this is nothing new, but I’m going to get a really good giggle out of seeing today’s metrosexuals thinking they’ll take on some of McQueen’s persona by wearing a bomber jacket or a pair of chinos or a watch.
It ain’t the clothes on the man, silly; it’s the man in the clothes.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Madoff update
In case you were wondering, it seems the SEC inspectors—who investigated Bernie Madoff no fewer than six times (in response to complaints) over the course of 16 years—weren't on the take; they were merely extraordinarily incompetent.
That’s according to a report by the SEC’s inspector general released yesterday. It sounds like these investigators were not only dullards of incredible density, but they weren’t capable of following a lead if it was playing Sousa & displaying eight-by-ten color glossy photos with circles & arrows & a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one is.
& Madoff managed to turn this ineptitude to his advantage by essentially assuring investors that his operations had been cleared multiple times by the Feds, so of course their money was safe…
Frankly, I don’t know which is worse—having oversight people who are smart but on the take, or just plain too stupid to detect their way out of a paper bag. Either way, we get screwed.
That’s according to a report by the SEC’s inspector general released yesterday. It sounds like these investigators were not only dullards of incredible density, but they weren’t capable of following a lead if it was playing Sousa & displaying eight-by-ten color glossy photos with circles & arrows & a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one is.
& Madoff managed to turn this ineptitude to his advantage by essentially assuring investors that his operations had been cleared multiple times by the Feds, so of course their money was safe…
Frankly, I don’t know which is worse—having oversight people who are smart but on the take, or just plain too stupid to detect their way out of a paper bag. Either way, we get screwed.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Civic amenities
Over the weekend I had to go to my local branch of the Seattle Public Library to return four books & pick up one I had on hold. The forcing function was that as of Monday, 31 August, the entire library system is closed tighter than a tavern under Prohibition. It doesn't reopen until 8 September.
They’ve been announcing it on the local public radio stations (the assumption being, I guess, that if you listen to NPR, you may also read, you know, books). Not only the libraries, but the book drops are sealed. That’s because there’ll be no one there to empty them for eight days.
(They’ve assured us that you won’t be charged a fine for any book due during this period. Yeah, right.)
Even the website & book catalog are dead—just this placeholder announcing the closure in 15 languages.
The culprit is budget cuts.
At least the King County Library System is open. &, from what I’ve seen so far, that system holds more volumes & is better organized than Seattle’s.
Still, for a city that touts itself as the intellectual vortex of the universe, this is a pretty piss-poor state of affairs.
They’ve been announcing it on the local public radio stations (the assumption being, I guess, that if you listen to NPR, you may also read, you know, books). Not only the libraries, but the book drops are sealed. That’s because there’ll be no one there to empty them for eight days.
(They’ve assured us that you won’t be charged a fine for any book due during this period. Yeah, right.)
Even the website & book catalog are dead—just this placeholder announcing the closure in 15 languages.
The culprit is budget cuts.
At least the King County Library System is open. &, from what I’ve seen so far, that system holds more volumes & is better organized than Seattle’s.
Still, for a city that touts itself as the intellectual vortex of the universe, this is a pretty piss-poor state of affairs.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Readin', writin', self-justification
Although you wouldn’t have credited either of them with full functional literacy, two recently ex-governors are cranking out self-serving memoirs geared to vindicate their antics in office.
First off the press is the impeached Rod Blagojevich’s unimaginatively-titled The Governor, due out this month. In it he apparently manages to slag off everyone associated with him or the state of Illinois. Frankly, I can’t even follow the summary of all the he-saids/he-saids; but have a go at it yourself.
Then there’s the poster girl for the neo-cons, Sarah Palin. According to her father, she’s knee deep in writing her own memoirs. She’s been emailing him for details about all the fascinating incidents in her past starring herself. No info on title or when that tome will be unleashed, but you know it’s going to be a best-seller.
Of course, the really big question is: who’s supplying these morons the crayons for their literary efforts.
First off the press is the impeached Rod Blagojevich’s unimaginatively-titled The Governor, due out this month. In it he apparently manages to slag off everyone associated with him or the state of Illinois. Frankly, I can’t even follow the summary of all the he-saids/he-saids; but have a go at it yourself.
Then there’s the poster girl for the neo-cons, Sarah Palin. According to her father, she’s knee deep in writing her own memoirs. She’s been emailing him for details about all the fascinating incidents in her past starring herself. No info on title or when that tome will be unleashed, but you know it’s going to be a best-seller.
Of course, the really big question is: who’s supplying these morons the crayons for their literary efforts.
Monday, August 31, 2009
The Program
A few months ago my employer sponsored a free health screening—you know, the vitals the nurse takes every time you walk into a doctor’s office; height, weight, BP, blood work, etc.
It was quite interesting—they had machines that gave you the cholesterol and glucose readings in just a few minutes.
However, the results for me were…eye-opening. Not one single number was anywhere near healthy. (Well, can’t do much about height; but the rest were really borderline appalling.) I’m attributing it to the effects of this area on me, but regardless, clearly something had to be done.
I talked it over with my doctor and decided to follow a program at my gym. Things were in such a state I just knew I wasn’t going to be able to deal with the situation without someone monitoring me very closely. The program (like the screening) is sponsored by my employer so I have to pay only about 25% of the costs. It’s called 20/20 Lifestyles, and it involves highly structured diet and exercise components.
For the past seven weeks I’ve met with a nutritionist once a week and a trainer three times a week, so I’m never far from scrutiny. In addition, I have to keep an online food log, documenting what I’m eating (for now, only what they tell me to) and wear a pedometer that uploads data on how many steps I walk per day and work out on my own two to three days per week.
On the exercise side, I have a terrific trainer. Penelope at the Pro Sports Club started me out with about 15 minutes on the treadmill (which was all I could manage), plus 45 minutes of strength training. Now I’m doing 25 minutes on the stairmaster, that machine from hell, and 35 minutes of weights. On my off days, it’s 30 minutes each on the stairmaster and the treadmill. She’s got me doing crunches about twelve ways from Sunday, in addition to working my biceps and triceps like I don’t think they’ve ever been before.
I’m so jazzed by how I feel that every couple of weeks I go in on Saturday to do an extra workout, which rather scares even me.
(Using the pedometer is interesting: turns out that when you know you’re being tracked you go out of your way to rack up the steps. You become purposely inefficient: instead of looping picking up a printout from the copy room with getting a coffee at the kitchen next to it, you make two trips. When folding laundry, instead of stacking it up and making a single trip to the dresser or closet, you do each piece one by one.)
The nutrition has been equally enlightening. The program starts you on nothin’ but protein (in the form of rather unpalatable protein shakes and lean fish or meat) and berries for the first week. The theory is that you’re detoxifying your system, and I have to say that—although boring—it’s bearable and did seem to do the trick.
The second week you get vegetables, then non/low-fat cheeses. In week 4 comes FROOOOOT, which was just gorgeous. (Turns out that ripe peaches with Greek yoghurt are about as good a dessert as you can get.) I went rather overboard in buying it, because it was early August and fruit was hitting its peak around here. For a while my kitchen counter looked like I breed monkeys, it was so full of fruit.
But here’s the thing—for seven weeks I’ve ingested not a trace of alcohol (no Pinot Grigio—in the summer!). No sugar, no bread, no cookies. No butter, no sauces, no chocolate (since you can’t count the shakes that are allegedly chocolate, but taste more like cardboard). Not even so much as a Caffeine-free Diet Coke (even fake sugar gives you a taste for sweets). And it hasn’t bothered me.
The program takes a boatload of organization. Not so much the exercise part; after you've got used to getting up at 0430 to meet Penelope at the machine from hell at 0500, you just do it. It's the food you have to round up. There's breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner; seems like every time you turn around you're eating again. And you have to have your meat/fish, your veg and your extra protein (yoghurt or cheese) with fruit. If you've not planned for it all, it's hard to pull the whole thing out of your pocket on the fly.
My birthday earlier this month was the first one in…well, living memory…that didn’t involve champagne. And my big treat for myself was to buy some new gym clothes.
The worst part of the program is the videos you have to watch (on an exercycle) after each training session. These are educational pieces, starring Dr. Ego, the founder of the program. Basically they’re just a chance for him to pontificate onscreen while stating and restating the blindingly obvious. And they don’t take into account people who don’t learn well from pictures, but do better with words on paper. To tell you the truth, I give each one ten minutes, then I turn off the screen and hit the showers.
Well, I’m almost halfway through Phase I (weight loss) and am feeling much better than when I started. Not down to my skinny clothes yet; but the fat ones are loosening up.
Phase I starts in October, when I’ll be able to have the occasional glass of wine and maybe a cookie. At that point I train with Penelope twice a week and see the nutritionist every fortnight. That's where the rubber meets the road, so to speak, since you're managing your behavior more on your own.
So far I’ve been happy with my progress, And I’m looking forward to seeing what my numbers are when I have my blood work redone in five weeks.
It was quite interesting—they had machines that gave you the cholesterol and glucose readings in just a few minutes.
However, the results for me were…eye-opening. Not one single number was anywhere near healthy. (Well, can’t do much about height; but the rest were really borderline appalling.) I’m attributing it to the effects of this area on me, but regardless, clearly something had to be done.
I talked it over with my doctor and decided to follow a program at my gym. Things were in such a state I just knew I wasn’t going to be able to deal with the situation without someone monitoring me very closely. The program (like the screening) is sponsored by my employer so I have to pay only about 25% of the costs. It’s called 20/20 Lifestyles, and it involves highly structured diet and exercise components.
For the past seven weeks I’ve met with a nutritionist once a week and a trainer three times a week, so I’m never far from scrutiny. In addition, I have to keep an online food log, documenting what I’m eating (for now, only what they tell me to) and wear a pedometer that uploads data on how many steps I walk per day and work out on my own two to three days per week.
On the exercise side, I have a terrific trainer. Penelope at the Pro Sports Club started me out with about 15 minutes on the treadmill (which was all I could manage), plus 45 minutes of strength training. Now I’m doing 25 minutes on the stairmaster, that machine from hell, and 35 minutes of weights. On my off days, it’s 30 minutes each on the stairmaster and the treadmill. She’s got me doing crunches about twelve ways from Sunday, in addition to working my biceps and triceps like I don’t think they’ve ever been before.
I’m so jazzed by how I feel that every couple of weeks I go in on Saturday to do an extra workout, which rather scares even me.
(Using the pedometer is interesting: turns out that when you know you’re being tracked you go out of your way to rack up the steps. You become purposely inefficient: instead of looping picking up a printout from the copy room with getting a coffee at the kitchen next to it, you make two trips. When folding laundry, instead of stacking it up and making a single trip to the dresser or closet, you do each piece one by one.)
The nutrition has been equally enlightening. The program starts you on nothin’ but protein (in the form of rather unpalatable protein shakes and lean fish or meat) and berries for the first week. The theory is that you’re detoxifying your system, and I have to say that—although boring—it’s bearable and did seem to do the trick.
The second week you get vegetables, then non/low-fat cheeses. In week 4 comes FROOOOOT, which was just gorgeous. (Turns out that ripe peaches with Greek yoghurt are about as good a dessert as you can get.) I went rather overboard in buying it, because it was early August and fruit was hitting its peak around here. For a while my kitchen counter looked like I breed monkeys, it was so full of fruit.
But here’s the thing—for seven weeks I’ve ingested not a trace of alcohol (no Pinot Grigio—in the summer!). No sugar, no bread, no cookies. No butter, no sauces, no chocolate (since you can’t count the shakes that are allegedly chocolate, but taste more like cardboard). Not even so much as a Caffeine-free Diet Coke (even fake sugar gives you a taste for sweets). And it hasn’t bothered me.
The program takes a boatload of organization. Not so much the exercise part; after you've got used to getting up at 0430 to meet Penelope at the machine from hell at 0500, you just do it. It's the food you have to round up. There's breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner; seems like every time you turn around you're eating again. And you have to have your meat/fish, your veg and your extra protein (yoghurt or cheese) with fruit. If you've not planned for it all, it's hard to pull the whole thing out of your pocket on the fly.
My birthday earlier this month was the first one in…well, living memory…that didn’t involve champagne. And my big treat for myself was to buy some new gym clothes.
The worst part of the program is the videos you have to watch (on an exercycle) after each training session. These are educational pieces, starring Dr. Ego, the founder of the program. Basically they’re just a chance for him to pontificate onscreen while stating and restating the blindingly obvious. And they don’t take into account people who don’t learn well from pictures, but do better with words on paper. To tell you the truth, I give each one ten minutes, then I turn off the screen and hit the showers.
Well, I’m almost halfway through Phase I (weight loss) and am feeling much better than when I started. Not down to my skinny clothes yet; but the fat ones are loosening up.
Phase I starts in October, when I’ll be able to have the occasional glass of wine and maybe a cookie. At that point I train with Penelope twice a week and see the nutritionist every fortnight. That's where the rubber meets the road, so to speak, since you're managing your behavior more on your own.
So far I’ve been happy with my progress, And I’m looking forward to seeing what my numbers are when I have my blood work redone in five weeks.
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