Banking

In a previous post, I discussed how the finance industry had gotten out of whack- compensation was not in line with productivity. Look at how hedge funds make money- typically they take 2% annually as a management fee and then they take 20% of profits. If a fund has $1 billion in assets, the managers are taking $20 million per year as a management fee. The fund has to have an annual return of 10% for the managers to make more money off their share of the profits than they make from management fees. In 2008, there were damn few funds of any sort that returned greater than 10%, but the managers still took there 2% management fee.

In the NY Times, Paul Krugman writes about how when baking is "boring", bankers are not paid as well, but the economy is sounder. When we are in an era of superstar bankers, well, DUCK- we are in another gilded age.

One of the smartest people I've ever met....

I've always had a soft spot for former Republican Congressman Tom Campbell. He just recently stepped down as the Dean at the Haas Business School in order to run for the GOP nomination for Governor. It will be an uphill battle for him because his moderate views often put him at odds with the right-wing. Oh, he's also running against at least two people who can put tens of millions of their own money into the race.

I still think that he would have beaten Barbara Boxer for the Senate (I'm full of revisionist history tonight) if he had been the Republican nominee in 1992. He narrowly lost the nomination to Bruce Herschenson- a hard right candidate who only lost to Boxer by a couple of percentage points.

The LA Times has a profile of Campbell that's worth checking out. I wonder if he will actually run if he determines he has no chance against Whitman and Poizner.

New York, New York

I think the political landscape in NY is pretty fascinating. Two years ago it seemed inevitable that NY would produce a President in the very near future- Clinton and Giuliani were the front-runners for 2008 and Eliot Spitzer seemed to be on a collision with the White House. Now HRC is the Secretary of State, Rudy ran one of the worst Presidential campaigns in history (the "I'll sit out the first 18 states and then make my move" thing didn't work out so well) and Spitzer beat out David Vitter to become the most notorious call-girl client around.

The next wave of politicians is pretty fascinating. The two politicians who replaced Clinton and Spitzer, Senator Kirstin Gilibrand and Governor David Paterson, are both facing primary elections in 2010. As you can see here, they both have some work to do. Paterson is getting absolutely swamped by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. It was just a few years ago that Cuomo's elective career was in serious jeopardy after his bumbling primary campaign for Governor. Now, in a manner very similar to Eliot Spitzer, his popularity has sky-rocketed as he targets the perpetrators of financial shenanigans.

If Cuomo becomes Governor of New York, he'd instantly be considered as a future Presidential candidate. I've always thought one of the most interesting what-ifs of recent political history is: "What if Mario Cuomo had run for President in 1992? Would he have beaten Clinton for the nomination? And would he have beaten Bush in the general election?"

Political Bumper Stickers

As I was driving around today, I came across a car with about 30 political looking bumper stickers plastered across the back of it. There were so many I'm still not sure what color the car was. But as soon as I saw it my first thought was "this person is liberal". And sure enough, they were all advocating various liberal causes. Conservatives often have political bumper stickers, but its usually just one. If you see 3 or more, you know its going to be somebody liberal. And proportionally the more bumper stickers, the more liberal the driver. If you see 30 or more on a car you can bet Fidel Castro himself would walk by, read them, and think "what a nut". Even though 5 of the bumper stickers probably mention him favorably.

I'm not sure what explains this though. Are liberals more passionate about their beliefs? Do Republicans just not want to mess up their expensive cars? I'm really curious.

I myself had a "Wesley Clark 2004" campaign bumper sticker, and kept it on until I sold the car it was on in 2007. I'd probably still have it today otherwise. I doubt even Wesley Clark has any of those left - I'm sure he has moved on. But for me it was my way of saying "I voted Democrat in 2004, but knew we shouldn't have picked John Kerry".

Sometime in the late 1990's I actually saw a person with a bumper sticker that said "Don't blame me, I voted Republican". Don't blame you for what? All the peace and prosperity going around? You got it. Every now and again though I run into a conservative bumper sticker that actually makes some sense. I've seen tons of the liberal "war is not the answer" ones, but a few weeks ago I saw a bumper sticker that just said "war was the answer to slavery, nazism and fascism". Touche.

My all time favorite one though is the one pictured above. If it doesn't make sense, you clearly didn't watch the Simpsons enough.

Another Daily Show gem

How the Republicans are confusing them losing with "tyranny"....

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
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Pretty much sums it up

Not sure that ever qualified as "breaking news" but definitely sums up the Bush era. My first thought was maybe it was from Katrina, but there were so many disasters to choose from under his leadership (and I use the term loosely) its hard to say for sure.

Queen of England touches Michelle Obama!

I've now seen this story all over the web and on TV, and half the reports are making it out to be some kind of mini-scandal or shocking violation of royal etiquette. But when you watch it, it really doesn't seem like much of a big deal. I mean sure, if the Queen reached over and smacked the First Lady in the ass - we may have a breach of decorum on our hands. Or even if Michelle gave her highness the ole' "terrorist fist jab". But this?!

Ted Stevens is still guilty

So, the Alaska GOP is claiming Senator Begich (D) should resign since Obama's Attorney General, Eric Holder, dropped the indictment against former Senator Stevens (R). Stevens lost to Begich in a close election in 2008, one no doubt that was impacted by Stevens' conviction on seven counts of lying and corruption. Holder took the action due to issues involving prosecutorial misconduct (such as the then prosecutors not turning over all evidence to the defense), and Stevens' lawyer railed against "the improper influence of the corrupt Department of Justice".

Never mind the irony of a GOP Senator praising Obama's DOJ, while slamming Bush's DOJ for being too political and corrupt. The real issue here is Ted Stevens is still corrupt. The man wasn't just cleared of all charges and vindicated, as some in the GOP are trying to pretend. Holder rightfully dropped the case as the prosecution had violated its legal and ethical standards. But lets not forget that a long FBI investigation showed that Stevens was accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of home renovations from an oil contractor he had aided politically with contracts and other favors, and then tried to conceal it.

The amazing part of this to me was even after he was convicted on 7 counts brought by a Republican Justice Department, Alaska voters still almost voted him back in (he lost the 2008 election by 1%, or about 4,000 votes). I guess it takes more than a mere series of convictions on corruption charges to turn off Alaska voters.

And for anyone who missed the classic Ted Stevens' "series of tubes" rant, enjoy....

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=85391&title=sen.-ted-stevens

People the stimulus plan needs to help

Mr. T
The guys in N'Sync who aren't Justin
Whichever of Milli and Vanilli is alive
David Caruso
Isiah Thomas
Hammer
Joe Millionaire
The Culkin Family
Buddy from Charles in Charge (see here)
White Lion
White Snake
Phillip Michael Thomas
The Full House kids who aren't Olsen twins
Shelley Long
Everyone who left ER not named George Clooney (yes, even the Prince of Soul Glow)
Dave Chapelle
98% of contestants from Road Rules and Real World
Shawn Kemp and family
Travis Henry and larger family
Mr. T (yeah, I know he is in here twice, but he really needs the help)
Jennifer Grey- Apparently, you can put Baby in a corner
Judd Nelson
The Coreys

Saved by the Bell Stimulus plan

I, like most of you, was stunned when I learned that the economic stimulus package did not contain any money earmarked for a Saved by the Bell reunion. I think we all know that Screech needs a job (further proof here). Let's take a quick look at the post SBTB careers of the stars:

Zack (aka the blond Top Gun)- Didn't hear much from him in the late 90s, but then a solid 5 year run on NYPD Blue (so cool that he replaced the Ricker)

Slater- Definite high point of his post-SBTB career was playing Greg Louganis in a TV movie. I guess he's also been on Dancing with the Stars and co-hosts a bunch of shows.

Screech- Life hasn't been so kind to the Screech man. He hasn't really done anything other than star in a porn (ughhhhhhh). Well, he did wail on Horseshack:



Lisa- She had the Boyz II Men video and not much else.

Kelly Kapowski- For a while, it looked like she'd be the big breakout star when she went starred in BH 90210, but then she fizzled out. Had a nice little stretch on "What About Brian".

Principal Belding- Not much too speak of- things like West Wing where he was "CEO donor #2"

And last but certainly not least:

Jesse Spano: She's found a nice niche on crime shows. Many think the pinnacle of her career was her Oscar-worthy performance in "Showgirls", but I'll have to go with this: