And here they are, ordered, and numbered for the year so far.
- Sun American Bank, Boca Raton, FL
- Bank of Illinois, Normal, IL
- Waterfield Bank, Germantown, MD
- Centennial Bank, Ogden, UT
So the So, the trend line this week is largely unchanged.
Author: Matthew G. Saroff
Deep Thought
Click for full size.
Not Enough Bullets: AIG Again
After bankrupting AIG, and nearly taking the world financial system, employees at AIG’s Financial Products division whined about the possibility that they would not get their lucrative bonuses for nearly destroying civilization:
During the national furor that erupted last year after American International Group paid more than $165 million in bonuses, the voices of those vilified for receiving the payments remained silent, at least in public.
But behind closed doors, employees at AIG’s Financial Products division — the very unit whose trading had hastened the insurance giant’s collapse — were defiant, saying they were merely getting what they were due, recoiling at public accusations that they were behind their capitalizing on the company’s massive taxpayer bailout.
“I will stand behind every action I have taken in this company from Day One,” one employee said, according to a newly obtained transcript of a conference call the division’s head held last March with some of his staff.
But it turns out that, they are getting obscene amounts money now:
Yet they did see that money, at least most of it. Last month, under a deal in which employees agreed to take a cut in their upcoming retention bonuses in return for an accelerated payment, AIG paid out about $100 million to employees at the firm. AIG is scheduled to pay the last of the bonuses this month.
Seriously, these arrested development, self absorbed frat boys will never do the right thing, and they should never, ever be allowed near other people’s money ever again.
NFP Is Out
And the non-farm payroll number fell by 36,000, much less than expected, and unemployment remained steady at 9.7%.
My quick take, it’s probably good, but with the snowpocalypse, who can tell?
More Friday Night Blasphemy
Everyone has a Christmas song that gets on their skin, and this comedy monologue is for them: (not entirely safe for work)
2¾ Years, 10,625 Posts,* and ………
The sum total of my creative value
And the first time that anyone contacts me about their desire to advertise is for my film of a tool that removes the anus from a carcass.
Your video Jarvis Products Bung Dropper in Action has become popular on YouTube, and you’re eligible to apply for the YouTube Partnership Program, which allows you to make money from playbacks of your video.
Once you’re approved, making money from your video is easy. Here’s how it works: First sign into your YouTube account. Then, complete the steps outlined here: link omitted. Once you’re finished, we’ll start placing ads next to your video and pay you a share of the revenue as long as you meet the program requirements.
We look forward to adding your video to the YouTube Partnership Program. Thanks and good luck!
The You Tube Team
Well, now I understand my worth as a content creator.
Going through the process was pretty easy, since I already have a Google™ Adsense™ account.
Since I’m only a few bucks away from a payout, I figure that the vid should get me there a month sooner.
*Great googly moogly, I just ran the numbers, and it’s over 10,000 posts! So much tripe in so little time.
I May Have Been Premature Condemning Dodd
Christopher Dodd is saying that putting an emasculated CFPA inside the Federal Reserve is not a done deal.
Background here.
OK, This is Weird
I’m a big fan of Alan Grayson, the Democratic Congressman from Florida’s 8th district; he is intelligent, fearless, and takes moral stands that resonate with the voters.
Needless to say, the Republicans want him gone, and they are looking to take him down in what is a fairly closely divided district.
Well, they may find this difficult, because the latest poll shows Alan Grayson beating all challengers in the Republican primary:
Republicans like a politician who stands up for what he believes — even if he believes the Republican Party is populated by a bunch of “knuckle-dragging Neanderthals.”
The candidate leading the Florida GOP primary to determine who will take on Rep. Alan Grayson, the Democrat who represents the Orlando-based district, is none other than Grayson himself, according to a poll paid for by his campaign. Grayson is a freshman congressman who has drawn scorn from the GOP and has quickly built a nationwide following of progressives.
The poll has Grayson leading the 13 Republicans — among Republicans — with 27.8 percent of the vote. The congressman who mocked the GOP health care plan by saying that it amounts to telling people not to get sick and if they do, to die quickly, received more support than all of the Republican candidates combined.
I have always said that American voters respect a politician who says what he thinks, even if he says that he thinks that you are a c%$#sucker, and here we have documentary evidence.
Economics Update
Click for full size
Employment-to-Population Ratio: Men (25-54 Years)
Labour Force Participation Rate: Men (25-54 Years)
And Barry Ritholtz scares the hell out of us
Well, today is Jobless Thursday, and new unemployment claims fell by 29,000 to 469,000, which is better, but not good.
The numbers needs to be below 400K before we see anything near real job growth.
The 4 week moving average fell by 3,500 to 470,750, though that number is still bigger than it was at the start of the year.
Continuing claims fell significantly, to 4,500,000, and next week, I will be a no longer be a part of that number (I file for the prior 2 weeks on Sunday).
Still, the news is an improvement, as is the latest Beige Book from the Federal Reserve, which shows signs of employment.
In any case, the ADP report on private sector jobs shows a loss of 20,000 jobs, which is the best month from them since January 2008.
So, the picture is not good, but appears to be improving, but fragile.
But if you want to be scared, just look at Barry Ritholtz’s analysis of historical employment for adult males, see the graph pr0n.
On a more personal level, personal bankruptcies rose in February.
We are seeing continued growth in manufacturing, at least according to the Institute for Supply Management Manufacturing Index, which fell to 56.5 from 58.4, but since any reading above 50 means expansion, it’s still positive.
The services sector is also showing encouraging growth.
Still, real estate is a mess, with pending home sales index falling 7.6%, though part of this might be the snowpocalypse.
Still, interest rates are not a problem with the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate averaging 4.97 %, which is the first time in a while that it has been below 5%.
Finally, the Bank of England left its benchmark rates unchanged, as well as holding off on more quantitative easing. (Printing money)
Deep Thought:
When you work at the Washington Post, and you report stories on Rahm Emanuel that are so slanted that it appears that they have been written by Rahm Emanuel, you are lame.
When these articles become so wankerrific that David Broder, the high priest of the Beltway Kool Kidz Klub feels compelled to call the authors as well out by name, chastizing Dana Milbank and Jason Horowitz, you are dealing with a density of wankertude which is almost unimaginable.
When you realize that he is also criticizing the paper running this story, The Washington Post, and the fact that Broder himself works at the Washington Post, the level of wanking at what Atrios calls the Kaplan test company is approaching a point where the paper is risking a collapse into some sort of wanking black hole.
Republican Family Values
California State Senator Roy Ashburn (R-18th district) was cited for DUI after leaving a gay bar:
An anti-gay California state senator was placed under arrest for drunk driving after leaving a gay bar. A male passenger was in the vehicle along with the lawmaker was not arrested, reported Sacramento CBS affiliate Channel 13.
State Sen. Roy Ashburn was pulled over by the California Highway Patrol at about 2:00 a.m. on March 3 when his state-issued vehicle was observed being driven erratically. The driver, identified as Ashburn, was taken in and charged for driving under the influence. Channel 13 reported that unidentified sources said the senator had been at Faces, a popular gay nightspot, prior to his arrest.
According to TPM, this guy was big into banning gay marriage.
Crap
My wife’s car crapped out on I-795 yesterday, and we just got the word: broken timing belt.
It’s a honda, so bent valves are a distinct possibility.
Posted via mobile.
Light Posting for the Foreseeable Future
Which means 2-5 posts a day, as opposed to the 8-11 a day that I have been doing.
I got a job. It’s not engineering, it a contract as a tech writer, and it’s near the airport, so I can get there quickly.
I will be working on documention for US Government equipment, and as per my policy, I will leave it there, because if I don’t talk about the specifics of my job, I won’t say anything that should be proprietary, or anything that would embarrass the client.
So while I may make generic comments about how busy I am, or make a note about, for example, how neat the 3D printer is, I won’t generally comment on the business of the client.
I’m leaving this on the top of the page until Wednesday evening, so scroll down for newer posts.
This Video Has Been All Over the Web
But I have something to add:
I agree with the sentiment, but watching it makes me sad, because the one who should be doing an impression of Reagan is Phil Hartman, and he is no longer with us.
Another Earthquake?
Click for full size
Opening up like a broken zipper
Taiwan, 6.4 on the Richter scale.
We got a whole lot of unzipping along fault lines.
FWIW, I still don’t think that the Mayans were right.
I Guess That He Picked Up His Understated Taste in America’s Heartland
Click for full size
Jeebus, it couldn’t be any tackier if you added velvet Elvises
Because, Rush Limbaugh’s former New York City apartment is truly a study of prudence and thrift.
And such a steal, at only $13.95 million dollars.
Worst of All Possible Worlds
Charlie Rangel taking a temporary leave from his position as Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.
While it’s unlikely that he will be back, and he does have ethical issues, the Democrats have split the baby again.
They could have faced down the Republicans, and maybe dug up a few of the skeletons in their closets, or they could have stripped him of his committee chairmanship, but by allowing the fig leaf of a temporary leave, they both knuckle under and leave the issue on the table for Republicans to talk about.
Worst of all possible worlds.
True Dat
Click the pics for full size.
Brilliant!
Atheists sponsor a pr0n for for religious groups.
They are arguing that religious texts are in their own way violent pornography.
Speaking as someone who is religious, I understand that holy scriptures say different things to different generations, and that the moral and social development of people a few millennia ago rather closely resembles what we would call today “psychopathic sadists.”
As such, my opinion of people who find look at these works, and take them literally as “inerrant” and “perfect” is not particularly charitable.
Better to be Lucky than Good
Harry Reid (D-NV) is polling almost as badly as Blanche Lincoln, but it appears that hi might win because a Tea-Bagger candidate will split the anti-Harry vote:
The race is expected to include at least one Tea Party candidate, Las Vegas business leader Scott Ashjian. And there’s evidence in the Mason-Dixon poll that Reid would benefit, should Ashjian become a serious third candidate in the race (which is a big if). The pollster pitted Reid against a nameless Republican and a nameless Tea Party candidate in a hypothetical matchup. Asked how they’d vote, Nevadans gave Reid a slight edge in three-way race. Reid got 36% of the vote, the GOP candidate 32% and the Tea Party candidate 18%.
I figure that Reid will pick up a few percent on the way to November, and that the Tea-Bagger will fall in the polls, so it gets interesting.