Capitalism's Enemies Within

Wall Street's pay practices perversely encourage extreme risk-taking that can destabilize the economy.

clipped from www.washingtonpost.com Amid the mayhem on world financial markets, it is becoming clear that capitalism's most dangerous enemies are capitalists. No one can have watched the "subprime mortgage" debacle without noticing the absurd contrast between the magnitude of the failure and the lavish rewards heaped on those who presided over it. At Merrill Lynch and Citigroup, large losses on subprime securities cost chief executives their jobs -- and they left with multimillion-dollar pay packages. Stanley O'Neal, the ex-head of Merrill, received an estimated $161 million.

KIffin Signs , Stroud to Hang self

It is was it is. Stroud is a lame hack.

clipped from bucstats.com Monte Agrees In Principle, Stroud To Hang Self In Shower January 18, 2008 Earlier today, I read Rick Stroud's story about Kiffin getting offered less than he was currently making. It's believed the Bucs have offered Kiffin less than what he made last season, leaving the two sides considerably apart. I had half an entry written about how "it's believed" means Stroud had absolutely no sources and was just pulling this out of his gargantuan asshole, but I abandoned it because it started to sound like I was piling on when I really didn't know what Kiffin was offered myself. The Tribune touched on it, but their version of it has far fewer instances of the words "fuckface" and "hack-tacular". I'm not sure which is more satisfying, Kiffin being retained or Stroud being publicly proven wrong again. Isn't it about time to stick him on the monster truck rally or championship bingo beats?

ST PETE TIMES STROUD A HATE MONGERER

TOO BAD THEY CAN'T FIND SOME REAL WRITERS INSTEAD OF CRY BABIES WITH PERSONAL AGENDAS! SIC.

clipped from www.bucnews.com Stroud goes on to make a very generalized point about Gruden having a big ego and making everything all about him. In reality, Gruden called a bad game. In a season where he made some fantastic calls in difficult circumstances, he called a shit game at a critical time. It's frustrating, but it happens. It doesn't mean that Gruden has somehow lost the team or that he's on some Donald Trump-ish ego ride. That's not looking through pewter-colored glasses (which most people call sunglasses,) that's just being objective. In fact, players backed him up when they were asked about their coach at the end of the season.

New England Spygate DT Vince Wilfolk gets off Easy with Fine

EyE gouging incident yields Wilfolk only a fine, indicating the NFL's favored position towards the Patriots. Look for the Cheatriots to win the Super Bowl with help from the referees if necessary.

clipped from www.profootballtalk.com WILFORK GOT OFF WAY TOO EASY We're amazed -- amazed -- that Pats defensive tackle Vince Wilfork was fined only $15,000 for treating Giants running back Brandon Jacobs like he'd just said "nyuk, nyuk, nyuk." Wilfork jammed his stubby finger into Jacobs' eye! Sure, Jacobs wasn't hurt.  But the act was still heinous.  If the officials had seen it, he surely would have been ejected.  So why wasn't he suspended? And given that it was Wilfork's third fine of the year for on-field misbehavior, we think that he at least should have been fined far more than $15,000. Finally, a reader has made a great suggestion.  Why not base these fines on a percentage of the player's annual salary?  As it now stands, these penalties affect players of different income levels differently.  The goal, however, should be to create a deterrent effect that is consistent.  The best way to do that is to take away a specific portion of the player's pay.