I’ve always hated The Habs – never more so than in the moments following Game 7 of the second round of the 1986 Stanley Cup Playoffs. I’m glad the B’s swept them this year. And I hope this chick loses her beer.
Ignorant Drivers
December 29, 2008This includes:
- People who do not respect the left hand lane. It’s for passing, not cruising along at 2mph faster (or heaven forbid slower) than the car in the next lane to the right.
- People who live in the Bay Area and do not have FasTrak. You slow people down, you encourage road rage and you create a ridiculous amount of pollution. I hate you. And so do intelligent, polite, ecologically minded people everywhere. But you can change. You can change. Make it a resolution.
That is all.
A Free Buffet That You Couldn’t Pay Me to Eat At
October 17, 2008
This sign makes me vomit. I hate it. Unfortunately, it’s just down the street from my office so I have to walk past it all too often. At first glance, you may wonder what’s wrong with free buffets, happy hour and cheap drinks. Wasn’t America built on excessive consumption and cheap booze? And the answer might be “maybe.”
Why does this sign turn my stomach? It’s a draw for the a “gentlemen’s club” in San Francisco – we’ll leave the discussion on the (de)merits of these establishments for another day. The top headline “Free Buffet Every Friday 11:00am – 2:00pm.” Let’s discuss. A buffet inside a strip club is so overly Bachanalian that Bachus himself would be ashamed. But more importantly, am I the only one who sees a sanitation issue here? Here’s what I want to know:
- Are patrons allowed multiple trips to the buffet? If so, are they allowed to return after they receive a lap dance?
- Is this a self-serve buffet or is it attended by a waitstaff (think Omelet Guy at a Marriot buffet) who handles the food for the patrons?
- If the answer to Question #2 is “self-serve,” how long are the tongs? How is the use of tongs enforced? Who the hell still eats there?
- Do the dancers smell like buffalo wings by 2:00pm? Not a major concern of mine but kinda gross to think about.
- Does the CDC know about this?
- How much Purell is consumed around the buffet and why isn’t the volume greater?
The list could go on and on. And I think it should. So let’s put the comments section of this blog to use and let me know what you think.
Bailout Shenanigans
September 26, 2008Given that the this post will be dated even prior to publication, I’m typing fast. Thanks for the extra patience with my typos.
We need a government bailout of the financial crisis. We all need to quit whining, tell the whiners to shut up and get do whatever we can to get something done. Consider calling your congressman. Seriously. The situation is that bad. I’ll spare writing the details here, but suffice it to say it’s pretty easy to see a pending economic implosion if the credit markets freeze. The CMOs, CDOs and derivatives are the sexy part of the story. Frozen overnight lending is what should really be scaring the shit out of everyone.
To those who say that we should just let capitalism run its course and the feds should stay out of this, I have a couple of responses. First, that’s an option. But it’s an option that’s likely to come with a horrific recession (nee: depression). We can let capitalism play out, but it will be brutal for everybody. Second, in the US, we don’t have a pure form of capitalism. We have a form which is influenced by fiscal and monetary policies, as well as regulation. If you are now saying that we should just let things run their course, you are effectively saying that we should alter the manner in which the American economy has operated since Alexander Hamilton did the whole Treasury Department thing.
To those who say any bailout should come with caps on executive compensation. Stop. If the feds invest $700 billion in this bailout, I want to be 100% sure that we can attract the best and the brightest to get the job done right. Everyone in Washington DC has a cap on their compensation and look at what we get there. If you want to attract the best, you can’t cap the comp.
To those who say the performances of all in Washington are awful, especially that of the President, the presidential candates and the folks who froze the process last night, I agree. The stink from Washington is putrid. Some deserve more blame than others, but it’s awful. That said, I don;t want to hear one more person use this as an opportunity to tell me about Ron Paul. There is a lot to admire about the guy. I myself has some libertarian leanings. I disagree with his stance on reproductive rights, but he’s someone who’s opinion I am almost always interested in hearing. Almost. He is so wrong on economic policy (policy is different than prediction). If were up to him there would be no Treasury and the dollar would be back on the gold standard. Stop. He is not even close to being the guy for the job on this one.
Other things which annoy me:
- People who were responsible borrowers got fucked. We got to sit around and watch real estate prices get bid up by people who couldn’t afford it. Now it’s in the national interest to make sure there aren’t too many foreclosures. I hope these people get hurt somehow – we need a moral hazard. We can’t allow this behavior to continue.
- Hard working professionals get hit. Blame the investment banks all you want, but investment banks are complex organizations. For example, M&A bankers would have little influence (or knowledge) of their firms trading practices. And now when those trading practices cause the bank to go under or the stock to crater, they get hit. They lose their jobs, their savings, their bonuses (often paid in stock). This has a huge financial and emotional toll. Just because they were investment bankers, doesn;t mean they were to blame.
- There are some traders and money managers who made huge amounts of money making trades which ultimately turned out bad. These people will never have to give the money back. Never
These last points are nothing but schaudenfraude. Worrying about them is childish, lizard brain type stuff (and exactly what the politicos are worrying about). In truth, these emotions have no bearing on improving the current reality.
Time for us all to put on our big boy pants and act like adults (maybe Washington DC will follow our lead). We need a bailout. It should happen ASAP. It will not be perfect. But we need it. Get it done.
