It’s an alluring concept: get a big check, spend some of the money shopping at two or three stores; keep some of the money for your “time and trouble”; and then wire the rest of it back to us. The “mystery shopper” scam has been around for a long time, but it’s back again, in a new form.
Folks all across the country are getting what looks like an official check from the State of Tennessee or Maryland Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Typically the Tennessee checks are in the amount of $3400. The Maryland checks are typically for $4,940. The letter that comes with the check says the money is from a special program to help the unemployed, and all you have to do is cash the check, shop at a store (Wal-Mart and Sears are frequently mentioned), fill out the enclosed form about your experience and mail it back to us, keep a couple hundred bucks for your trouble, and then wire the balance back to us to help evaluate Western Union’s service.
In times like this, it’s tempting; and the check looks VERY real and official. And even though it’s bogus, your bank will likely cash it. It can take the bank weeks to discover the check is bogus, and when the bank finds out, you end up on the hook for every cent of it…what you spent at the stores, the money you put in your pocket, and the huge sum you wired via Western Union – which went right into the scamster’s account.
AARP says the bogus “mystery shopper” checks from Tennessee and Maryland are showing up all over the nation.
Around Dane County you’ll see mystery shopper classified ads everywhere from local newspapers to Craig’s List. Many of them are bogus come-ons, very few are legitimate mystery shopper jobs. How do you know if any particular one is real or not?
There really are mystery shopper jobs. Over 300 retailers hire shoppers for millions of secret shopping missions every year.
AARP says the real mystery shopper jobs never send money up front. You pay out of your own pocket and are reimbursed after the assignment is completed. They’ll ask you to make purchases in the $8 to $20 range.
No legitimate mystery shopper job will ask you to complete a wire transfer of money, particularly to an overseas destination, outside the jurisdiction of U.S. law enforcement. That’s an immediate red-flag tipoff.
And the old adage is still true: if an offer looks too good to be true, it probably is.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
The Secret Government
The opening line of the Washington Post story Monday morning: “The top-secret world the government has created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work.”
Wow.
I guess we sort of had a sense that things were huge and duplicative and out of control, but the Post’s story blows it wide open and gives us a rare look at just how big and uncoordinated the intelligence effort is. The article says 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies work on programs related to counterterrorism and homeland security.
I see Dick Cheney’s fingerprints all over this. From his “One Percent Doctrine” (if a threat is even one percent likely to happen, we must respond to it as though it were 100 percent likely) to his secretive and vindictive ways, and the Bush administration’s essentially unlimited supply of national support and funding immediately after the 9-11 attacks, a huge and unmanageable bureaucracy has been created.
The Post gathered so much information for this special report that other news organizations were reporting that top-level government officials implored the paper’s editors not to print certain aspects of the information its reporters had gathered, fearful that such information would be highly useful to our nation’s enemies.
Such is the culture of paranoia that exists in the intelligence community that they’re worried that a Washington Post reporter can dig up more stuff than a terrorist organization. Maybe there’s something to it, because the paper supposedly acquiesced to the request.
The article says about 854,000 people (1.5 times the population of Washington DC) hold top-secret security clearances.
Does it take a security expert to tell you that when nearly a million people have access to our most sensitive information, it’s really not that secret?
Another stunning tidbit: In Washington and the surrounding area, 33 building complexes for top-secret intelligence work are under construction or have been built since 9-11, totaling about 17 million square feet of space.
And no one can tell you how many of these agencies duplicate each other’s work or how much it’s really costing us.
The intelligence communities’ defense: we haven’t been successfully attacked since 9-11 and we’ve thwarted some very real threats, like the would-be Times Square bomber.
It’s like the hot-rodders used to say: speed costs money; how fast do you want to go? Only in this case, if we do indeed have the best national security money can buy, we still don’t know what we’re paying for.
Wow.
I guess we sort of had a sense that things were huge and duplicative and out of control, but the Post’s story blows it wide open and gives us a rare look at just how big and uncoordinated the intelligence effort is. The article says 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies work on programs related to counterterrorism and homeland security.
I see Dick Cheney’s fingerprints all over this. From his “One Percent Doctrine” (if a threat is even one percent likely to happen, we must respond to it as though it were 100 percent likely) to his secretive and vindictive ways, and the Bush administration’s essentially unlimited supply of national support and funding immediately after the 9-11 attacks, a huge and unmanageable bureaucracy has been created.
The Post gathered so much information for this special report that other news organizations were reporting that top-level government officials implored the paper’s editors not to print certain aspects of the information its reporters had gathered, fearful that such information would be highly useful to our nation’s enemies.
Such is the culture of paranoia that exists in the intelligence community that they’re worried that a Washington Post reporter can dig up more stuff than a terrorist organization. Maybe there’s something to it, because the paper supposedly acquiesced to the request.
The article says about 854,000 people (1.5 times the population of Washington DC) hold top-secret security clearances.
Does it take a security expert to tell you that when nearly a million people have access to our most sensitive information, it’s really not that secret?
Another stunning tidbit: In Washington and the surrounding area, 33 building complexes for top-secret intelligence work are under construction or have been built since 9-11, totaling about 17 million square feet of space.
And no one can tell you how many of these agencies duplicate each other’s work or how much it’s really costing us.
The intelligence communities’ defense: we haven’t been successfully attacked since 9-11 and we’ve thwarted some very real threats, like the would-be Times Square bomber.
It’s like the hot-rodders used to say: speed costs money; how fast do you want to go? Only in this case, if we do indeed have the best national security money can buy, we still don’t know what we’re paying for.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Turnabout Is Fair Play
A letter to the editor of the State Journal written by Susan Young of Madison makes a really good point: just as dogs, even the best and friendliest dogs, aren’t truly safe to mix and mingle with the crowd at high-attendance events, a dog park is no place for a small child.
Susan concludes her excellent letter by saying that because we have to pass an ordinance to accomplish this, it again demonstrates a need to legislate common sense. Reminds me of another applicable cliché, namely, there’s nothing common about common sense.
I love dogs far more than the next person, and my two Collies are my constant companions. And yes, they ARE family members. Both are purebreds with phenomenal pedigrees, both are from the same breeder, and both were selected by my wife and me for their mellow temperament and their propensity to be affectionate.
Neither of our two dogs has ever had a bad experience with a human being, and neither has ever shown the slightest bit of aggression toward a human. They both LOVE people, and are full of joyful exuberance whenever somebody shows up at the door, whether it’s a tradesman coming to fix an appliance or a package delivery driver who needs a signature. Every new person represents a chance for someone new to play with, I guess.
Because we love this aspect of their behavior, my wife and I have deliberately NOT trained them to stay away from people who come to our door. We keep firm control of them, and if their presence annoys the visitor, we send the dogs outside to patrol the fencelines and leave the visitor in peace.
When we take them to Mounds to pick up food, we keep them on a short leash, because often there are small children in the store, and both dogs would love nothing better than to jump up on the child to put a bunch of wet kisses on their face and find out if this child is going to want to play with them. Instead, we command the dogs to SIT, and if the child wants to make their acquaintance by petting them, they’re trained to sit quietly and be petted. NO jumping up on people in public.
But when we take them to the Badger Prairie Dog Park in Verona, and let them off-leash to run and chase over the vast expanse of the park, and make friends with new dogs and renew acquaintances with regular canine visitors, I get nervous when some thoughtless person appears with a toddler in tow. When our dogs are on-leash my wife has trained them to follow her commands immediately. But when they’re off-leash, although they respond to commands, it’s sometimes not instantaneously.
Susan writes “I have to leash my dog when I see parents entering the dog park with children, not because she is vicious, but because she loves children and may knock them down and, because she is large, can hurt them.” Our 4-year-old Collie weighs 63 pounds and can run about 30 miles an hour and change direction effortlessly while running at top speed. She’s a herding dog; that’s what they do. She and our 2-year-old Collie do it for hours every day on our fenced-in property. And dogs that can run that fast can quickly cover a lot of ground, and may not hear or instantly react to your command.
But I’ll be damned if I’ll put the leash on either while they’re inside the dog park, just because some stupid adult is not bright enough to realize that a small child is not safe at an off-leash dog park. Otherwise, I’m with Susan: go ahead an write an ordinance to ban dogs from public events, and while you’re at it, ban children from off-leash dog parks. Legislate common sense.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Fleeting Expletives Are Now OK (Friday Media Rant)
In nearly 40 years of broadcasting, I’ve made more than my fair share of boneheaded mistakes; thankfully, the number diminished each year, as experience made me more cautious and judicious. I have never dropped the F-bomb. But my worst moment was far worse than dropping the F-bomb on the air. It was back in the early 80’s, when I should have known better, and it was so bad that I tendered my resignation the minute the big boss walked in the front door of the radio station.
My on-air partner and I did a morning show on the company’s FM station, and we also taped news and sports reports for airing on our AM station. While the rock was rolling on the FM station, we’d tape a four-minute report for the AM station. You had to keep your wits about you and operated on a very tight schedule.
As we were taping one of those news/sports breaks for the AM station, I was delivering a story about a man who had burned to death in a horrible car wreck. Just as I got to the part about how he was trapped in the burning car, my partner passed gas. It was VERY loud, and threw me off my game. I started chuckling, knowing that this tape was a bust, and that we’d have to do it over. My partner, realizing the same thing, said “how bad was he burned? As bad as my a** is right now?”
I tossed the tape aside, put in a new tape, and we started over. Then, because time was tight, we had to get ready to do a “break” on the FM station. The DJ from the AM station came into our studio, grabbed the news/sports tape while my partner and I were on the FM station, and went back to his studio.
You can probably guess what happened. He grabbed the wrong tape…the one that I should have erased immediately. He started it playing, and then went off to get a cup of coffee during his four-minute break.
Moments later, my partner and I noticed that all ten phone lines were lit up with callers. We still didn’t have a clue. Suddenly, the AM station disc jockey stepped back into his studio, picked up a call, and then looked over into our studio. I’ve never seen a look quite like the one that was on his face.
Realizing what had happened, I set the FM station to play 3 songs in a row, and then went into the AM studio and made a stammering on-air apology. When the boss came in, I met him at the door and offered my resignation. He said “your apology saved you – it was the best recovery I’ve ever heard”. Thankfully, nearly all the callers to the station felt the same way.
I still have the tape of the horrible gaffe…it made the rounds among broadcasters for years…but no tape of the apology exists. I have nearly no recollection of what I said. I was scared, knew my job was over – if not my career – but I knew that the man who died in the horrible wreck was a local guy, and that his family was going to hear about our huge mistake. The man’s wife, who heard about it from friends, called me later that morning to say she understood. At no time in my life have I felt lower than I did that wintry morning.
I probably have some of the details of this story wrong because of the intense emotion; but it taught me a lesson never forgotten.
So now if some unlucky broadcaster accidentally drops the F-bomb on the air, the station won’t get fined. But no law or rule will ever prevent a boneheaded mistake like I made 30 years ago.
My on-air partner and I did a morning show on the company’s FM station, and we also taped news and sports reports for airing on our AM station. While the rock was rolling on the FM station, we’d tape a four-minute report for the AM station. You had to keep your wits about you and operated on a very tight schedule.
As we were taping one of those news/sports breaks for the AM station, I was delivering a story about a man who had burned to death in a horrible car wreck. Just as I got to the part about how he was trapped in the burning car, my partner passed gas. It was VERY loud, and threw me off my game. I started chuckling, knowing that this tape was a bust, and that we’d have to do it over. My partner, realizing the same thing, said “how bad was he burned? As bad as my a** is right now?”
I tossed the tape aside, put in a new tape, and we started over. Then, because time was tight, we had to get ready to do a “break” on the FM station. The DJ from the AM station came into our studio, grabbed the news/sports tape while my partner and I were on the FM station, and went back to his studio.
You can probably guess what happened. He grabbed the wrong tape…the one that I should have erased immediately. He started it playing, and then went off to get a cup of coffee during his four-minute break.
Moments later, my partner and I noticed that all ten phone lines were lit up with callers. We still didn’t have a clue. Suddenly, the AM station disc jockey stepped back into his studio, picked up a call, and then looked over into our studio. I’ve never seen a look quite like the one that was on his face.
Realizing what had happened, I set the FM station to play 3 songs in a row, and then went into the AM studio and made a stammering on-air apology. When the boss came in, I met him at the door and offered my resignation. He said “your apology saved you – it was the best recovery I’ve ever heard”. Thankfully, nearly all the callers to the station felt the same way.
I still have the tape of the horrible gaffe…it made the rounds among broadcasters for years…but no tape of the apology exists. I have nearly no recollection of what I said. I was scared, knew my job was over – if not my career – but I knew that the man who died in the horrible wreck was a local guy, and that his family was going to hear about our huge mistake. The man’s wife, who heard about it from friends, called me later that morning to say she understood. At no time in my life have I felt lower than I did that wintry morning.
I probably have some of the details of this story wrong because of the intense emotion; but it taught me a lesson never forgotten.
So now if some unlucky broadcaster accidentally drops the F-bomb on the air, the station won’t get fined. But no law or rule will ever prevent a boneheaded mistake like I made 30 years ago.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
I'm Not Going To Play In The 2011 All-Star Game
Brewers pitcher Yovanni Gallardo has made it clear: IF he makes the Major League Baseball All-Star team in 2011, and IF the game is still going to be played at the Diamondbacks’ ball park in Arizona, he will boycott the game and won’t play.
Let me go on the record right now as well: if I’m named to the Major League Baseball All-Star team in 2011, and it’s still scheduled to be played in Arizona, I won’t play, either. But if they move the game to the Duck Pond at Warner Park in Madison, I’m in.
And while I’m at it, I’d like to inform NASCAR that if they hold another Sprint Cup race at the racetrack in Phoenix, I’m not going to compete in it; I’m not even going to watch it on TV. Unless they decide to move it to the Madison International Speedway just outside the city in the pleasant suburb of Oregon.
Oh yes, one more thing: if the NHL continues to allow the Phoenix Coyotes to play their games in Arizona, I’m going to refuse to put on my skates and pads and jersey, and I won’t consider skating in an NHL game unless they move the Phoenix franchise to Madison, and play all their games at the Kohl Center.
That oughtta show ‘em! And don’t even get me started about the Phoenix Suns of the NBA.
There’s so much political posturing and fake outrage going on about the new immigration laws that will take affect in Arizona in a few days. Most polls say about 60% of Americans are in favor of the tougher law, but it’s become more a political football than anything else.
Just a couple days ago, Wisconsin Democratic Governor Jim Doyle again slapped down our Republican Attorney General, J B VanHollen, who sought permission (he can’t do it without an OK from the guv or the state legislature) to have Wisconsin join Michigan’s legal brief in support of Arizona’s new law.
Political grandstanding, again. It’s all about the fall elections, sports fans.
And to the Brewers pitcher who says he’ll boycott the All-Star game next year if he’s named to the team and the game is still in Arizona: why don’t you just expend your energies in trying to insure that you ARE named to the All-Star team next year. Get off the 15-day disabled list, get to work getting your won-lost record better and your ERA lower. (Yah, I know – he’s 8-4 right now with an ERA of 2.58, which makes him a star with the Brewers.)
As the old saying goes, actions speak louder than words, and imagine how much more impact your statement would have if you actually WERE named to the All-Star team.
Let me go on the record right now as well: if I’m named to the Major League Baseball All-Star team in 2011, and it’s still scheduled to be played in Arizona, I won’t play, either. But if they move the game to the Duck Pond at Warner Park in Madison, I’m in.
And while I’m at it, I’d like to inform NASCAR that if they hold another Sprint Cup race at the racetrack in Phoenix, I’m not going to compete in it; I’m not even going to watch it on TV. Unless they decide to move it to the Madison International Speedway just outside the city in the pleasant suburb of Oregon.
Oh yes, one more thing: if the NHL continues to allow the Phoenix Coyotes to play their games in Arizona, I’m going to refuse to put on my skates and pads and jersey, and I won’t consider skating in an NHL game unless they move the Phoenix franchise to Madison, and play all their games at the Kohl Center.
That oughtta show ‘em! And don’t even get me started about the Phoenix Suns of the NBA.
There’s so much political posturing and fake outrage going on about the new immigration laws that will take affect in Arizona in a few days. Most polls say about 60% of Americans are in favor of the tougher law, but it’s become more a political football than anything else.
Just a couple days ago, Wisconsin Democratic Governor Jim Doyle again slapped down our Republican Attorney General, J B VanHollen, who sought permission (he can’t do it without an OK from the guv or the state legislature) to have Wisconsin join Michigan’s legal brief in support of Arizona’s new law.
Political grandstanding, again. It’s all about the fall elections, sports fans.
And to the Brewers pitcher who says he’ll boycott the All-Star game next year if he’s named to the team and the game is still in Arizona: why don’t you just expend your energies in trying to insure that you ARE named to the All-Star team next year. Get off the 15-day disabled list, get to work getting your won-lost record better and your ERA lower. (Yah, I know – he’s 8-4 right now with an ERA of 2.58, which makes him a star with the Brewers.)
As the old saying goes, actions speak louder than words, and imagine how much more impact your statement would have if you actually WERE named to the All-Star team.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Danger: Bad Intersection Ahead
It doesn’t take a genius. Anybody who regularly has to traverse the intersection at Badger Road and Park Street can tell you why it’s so dangerous. And could probably also tell you that the only real solution is to completely re-arrange the intersection, much like the talk about what to do with the far west side traffic problems that all come together near Junction Road and Mineral Point Road.
My friend Pat Simms’ article in the State Journal lists the litany of worst intersections in Madison in terms of number of crashes, and there’s not a single surprise on this year’s list. The second-worst intersection, Commercial Ave and North Thompson Drive on the east side, is one of those damnable roundabouts which so few drivers in Madison seem to have mastered, and on the list at number 3 is Midvale at Mineral Point, a 4-way stop which is a tribute to driver stupidity. It’s a straightforward intersection of two four-lane boulevards, which apparently attracts some of the most impatient drivers in the city. The solution there is traffic signal lights. It doesn’t take a genius.
I go through the Park and Badger intersection about ten times in a typical week, and I’ve had so many close calls there….or within a couple hundred feet of it….that I approach the area with extreme caution every time. It’s quite a different situation from the Midvale – Mineral Point intersection, because the traffic volume at Park and Badger is so much higher. You’ve got people (like me) coming up HiWay 14 from the “southern suburbs”; a constant flow of traffic coming off the Beltline to exit at Park (which, by the way, is also Hiway 151); people headed south on Park (HiWay 151) trying to get on the Beltline; and a mix of regular neighborhood traffic, pedestrians galore, AND the south-side Metro Bus Transfer Point.
They’re dickering around with the traffic lights at Badger and Park and putting up some sort of “signage” to warn drivers coming up HiWay 14 that there’s a busy intersection ahead, but the real solution is to completely re-arrange the intersection, which would require a LOT of construction, a LOT of money, and a LOT of inconvenience for thousands of drivers for a LONG time.
Ain’t gonna happen.
I’m not sure why roundabouts are so challenging; I don’t like them, but don’t have any real problems navigating them. There’s one on South Towne Drive just a couple hundred feet south of the South Towne exit from the Beltline that I go through frequently. You can just tell when somebody ahead of you bears watching. They timidly come to a complete stop at the “yield” sign, even if there’s no traffic in the roundabout; look both ways about four times, and then proceed immediately into the INSIDE lane of the roundabout and then rapidly, without warning, swerve into the outside lane and make their escape.
And there are always the idiots who just suddenly and without warning move from the inside lane of the roundabout to the outside lane, without checking their mirrors, and wind up side-swiping some unsuspecting law-abiding otherwise safe driver. That’s why the Commercial Ave – Thompson Drive roundabout is #2 on the list. But the city dismisses the problems there by saying most of the wrecks are side-swipes, with low impact, and few people get injured. Simms’ article quotes a city spokesperson as calling that an “acceptable trade-off”.
But I’m sure there are a lot of young folks who will tell us they could go through any of the worst ten intersections in the city while texting with one hand and changing the iPod player with the other, and never be involved in an accident.
Ah, the confidence of youth.
My friend Pat Simms’ article in the State Journal lists the litany of worst intersections in Madison in terms of number of crashes, and there’s not a single surprise on this year’s list. The second-worst intersection, Commercial Ave and North Thompson Drive on the east side, is one of those damnable roundabouts which so few drivers in Madison seem to have mastered, and on the list at number 3 is Midvale at Mineral Point, a 4-way stop which is a tribute to driver stupidity. It’s a straightforward intersection of two four-lane boulevards, which apparently attracts some of the most impatient drivers in the city. The solution there is traffic signal lights. It doesn’t take a genius.
I go through the Park and Badger intersection about ten times in a typical week, and I’ve had so many close calls there….or within a couple hundred feet of it….that I approach the area with extreme caution every time. It’s quite a different situation from the Midvale – Mineral Point intersection, because the traffic volume at Park and Badger is so much higher. You’ve got people (like me) coming up HiWay 14 from the “southern suburbs”; a constant flow of traffic coming off the Beltline to exit at Park (which, by the way, is also Hiway 151); people headed south on Park (HiWay 151) trying to get on the Beltline; and a mix of regular neighborhood traffic, pedestrians galore, AND the south-side Metro Bus Transfer Point.
They’re dickering around with the traffic lights at Badger and Park and putting up some sort of “signage” to warn drivers coming up HiWay 14 that there’s a busy intersection ahead, but the real solution is to completely re-arrange the intersection, which would require a LOT of construction, a LOT of money, and a LOT of inconvenience for thousands of drivers for a LONG time.
Ain’t gonna happen.
I’m not sure why roundabouts are so challenging; I don’t like them, but don’t have any real problems navigating them. There’s one on South Towne Drive just a couple hundred feet south of the South Towne exit from the Beltline that I go through frequently. You can just tell when somebody ahead of you bears watching. They timidly come to a complete stop at the “yield” sign, even if there’s no traffic in the roundabout; look both ways about four times, and then proceed immediately into the INSIDE lane of the roundabout and then rapidly, without warning, swerve into the outside lane and make their escape.
And there are always the idiots who just suddenly and without warning move from the inside lane of the roundabout to the outside lane, without checking their mirrors, and wind up side-swiping some unsuspecting law-abiding otherwise safe driver. That’s why the Commercial Ave – Thompson Drive roundabout is #2 on the list. But the city dismisses the problems there by saying most of the wrecks are side-swipes, with low impact, and few people get injured. Simms’ article quotes a city spokesperson as calling that an “acceptable trade-off”.
But I’m sure there are a lot of young folks who will tell us they could go through any of the worst ten intersections in the city while texting with one hand and changing the iPod player with the other, and never be involved in an accident.
Ah, the confidence of youth.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
The Recession Is Over!....or not...
Oh boy, it’s gonna be a great week for corporate America. I know this because I read it in The New York Times Sunday. Major corporations will report their earnings this week, and the paper says we’re going to see some of the strongest profits in years.
The big profits, the big paychecks, the big bonuses are back on Wall Street, and the financial houses that were “too big to fail” have the “Help Wanted” sign out. They’re hiring.
The rest of America? Not so much.
This quick turnaround of the financial fates of the big investment houses and the return to black ink in a few really big companies has not translated into more jobs. Many of these big outfits, except the financial houses, have cut costs, shuttered plants, and increased productivity.
For most of this week, as the quarterly earnings reports come out, there won’t be much talk of the dreaded “double-dip” recession, where the economy goes into the tank, starts a comeback, and then goes down again. The on-camera mavens of the cable TV financial stations will be happy-talking. The Money-Honey (Maria Bartiromo) will wear her fanciest clothes for her on-camera shots.
Feel like celebrating with them? Didn’t think so.
Meantime, the fate of hundreds of thousands, if not millions of unemployed Americans, hinges on what Congress will do. They left for vacation last week without passing another extension of unemployment benefits. That McConnell person said the Republicans would listen to what the Democrats have to say about more unemployment benefits, but the Democrats just won’t listen to the Republicans about making significant moves toward cutting this nation’s deficit spending and debt.
Apparently, again, it’s all about politics, and not about people. A pox on both parties.
So, excuse me if I don’t jump for joy because Alcoa threw off a dime a share or so yesterday. I have too many acquaintances and professional contacts who are still trying to stitch together enough part-time jobs to make ends meet, and a few close friends who really need that 3-or-4 hundred dollar weekly unemployment check.
The day after tomorrow, Thursday, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. will report their quarterly earnings. I’m sure we’ll learn that things are just booming at Chase.
It would be wrong for me to wish them ill, wouldn’t it? Or not…..
The big profits, the big paychecks, the big bonuses are back on Wall Street, and the financial houses that were “too big to fail” have the “Help Wanted” sign out. They’re hiring.
The rest of America? Not so much.
This quick turnaround of the financial fates of the big investment houses and the return to black ink in a few really big companies has not translated into more jobs. Many of these big outfits, except the financial houses, have cut costs, shuttered plants, and increased productivity.
For most of this week, as the quarterly earnings reports come out, there won’t be much talk of the dreaded “double-dip” recession, where the economy goes into the tank, starts a comeback, and then goes down again. The on-camera mavens of the cable TV financial stations will be happy-talking. The Money-Honey (Maria Bartiromo) will wear her fanciest clothes for her on-camera shots.
Feel like celebrating with them? Didn’t think so.
Meantime, the fate of hundreds of thousands, if not millions of unemployed Americans, hinges on what Congress will do. They left for vacation last week without passing another extension of unemployment benefits. That McConnell person said the Republicans would listen to what the Democrats have to say about more unemployment benefits, but the Democrats just won’t listen to the Republicans about making significant moves toward cutting this nation’s deficit spending and debt.
Apparently, again, it’s all about politics, and not about people. A pox on both parties.
So, excuse me if I don’t jump for joy because Alcoa threw off a dime a share or so yesterday. I have too many acquaintances and professional contacts who are still trying to stitch together enough part-time jobs to make ends meet, and a few close friends who really need that 3-or-4 hundred dollar weekly unemployment check.
The day after tomorrow, Thursday, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. will report their quarterly earnings. I’m sure we’ll learn that things are just booming at Chase.
It would be wrong for me to wish them ill, wouldn’t it? Or not…..
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