Title explanation in link.
1. A slippery slope? Is Congress’ move to tax AIG’s bonuses a good idea or a slippery slope in government control?
I have mixed feelings. My gut response was that it was a great idea, a solution to a difficult problem. AIG was obligated to give the bonuses due to contractual verbiage, but at least we will get most of our money back. The bonus system in these corporations could be one of the symptoms of the culture of excess that has helped to drive their balance sheets to the red. If I’m broke, I don’t use credit cards to buy something fabulous for myself. Perhaps corporations should respond in a similar manner. Or is that socialism?
2. What is your favorite blanket like?
I’m a quilter. I love piecing together fabulous quilts full of cozy prints and comfortable fabrics. I recently finished my first blanket that I kept for myself as my nap blanket. It’s brown and green and pink with a flannel back. Very cozy. What do you love about your favorite blanket? Its size? Color? Texture?
3. Have you ever witnessed a bad traffic accident?
The tragic crash between minivan and city bus happened a few blocks from my house on our walking route. I’m so glad we were napping and not walking that afternoon, because I’d hate for my kids to see that. My first instinct would be to run and help the victims by using my limited medical training. But what would I do with my kids while I helped? This is what happens. I run through these scenarios in my head, wondering what the best course of action would be. Chances are I’ll never witness an accident while with my kids.
4. Is your car interior clean or dirty?
Our only car recently broke down, and it’s parked in our mechanic’s parking lot until he can get to it next week. While this is terribly inconvenient (though we were able to borrow one of my parents’ vehicles), the worst part of it is how dirty our car is. All I can think about is all the crap that is in the backseat and on the floors. I think about it for many minutes a day. I may sneak over there this weekend to clean it out. When it’s just our car, and we’re driving it around, I’m bothered by the mess, but I’m not paranoid about it. But it’s sitting there in the lot, and it’ll be under the scrutiny of my beloved mechanic. I feel exposed and vulnerable, like I’m wearing dirty underpants to the gyno. By the way, my husband is the one responsible for the cleanliness of the car. It’s our deal.
5. Are you ever tempted to puddle jump?
It has been years since I’ve owned a pair of galoshes, and I don’t care to martyr my shoes for the sake of a good, muddy splash. My son has no qualms about it, though. He happily seeks out the puddles. I didn’t teach him this, though I wish I could join him. I consider puddle jumping to be in the same realm of happiness as kicking through a pile of autumn leaves or chalking a sidewalk in the summertime.
Jim Rosenberg
6:15 pm on March 20th
1. It makes great theater, but the idea of targeting tax legislation toward a small group of people to make retroactive recovery of some funds that should have been anticipated on the front end when the bailout deals were being made is highly suspect to me. What is valuable is that people now understand WHY we would be dealing with some of the problems we are and the “otherworld” mentality of some of the players involved.
3. I’ve driven by some nasty crashes after the fact and even witnessed a pretty dramatic rollover in which the people were (miraculously) not injured, but I’ve never been up close and personally involved in a scene like that.
4. My car is a rolling dumpster. It’s filled with papers from a hundred meetings that accumulated over the winter. I’ve got to get on it and soon. Honestly, it’s a one-passenger vehicle now.
deepintheheart
9:30 am on March 21st
1) This whole bizarre drama looks and feels like a staged comedy. Liddy, Frank, Dodd etc. could not have been scripted any better. It is astonishing that our decision makers can act so quickly to create a “double-secret tax” on a few folks and can’t seem to do anything else with the same sense urgency.
2) It is boxed in storage unit in Wisconsin keeping something useless warm. My favorite blanket is but a distant memory.
3) Yes. It happened right in front of me. The driver didn’t speak English. He was messed up. It was raining.
He drove too fast on a sweeping left-hand ramp and proceeded to roll his rig over the rail. I called 911. When I go around that curve now, I can picture it very clearly. He was lucky to be alive (and still in Texas).
4) The rig is coated in a fine dust of Copenhagen. Reeks of mentholated Marlboros. Contains spare change and bandaids. Two bags of golf clubs. 12 packages of matches and an Adidas golf jacket.
5) No. I don’t even like to drive through them. Puddles are mysterious.
4)
Mohawk Matt
10:16 am on March 21st
1. Just more drama I don’t pay attention to.
2. It’s from Korea, has some flowers on it, and my mother brought it back a few decades ago.
3. I’ve seen a truckload of ATV’s scattered over a Tennessee mountain pass, a van totally engulfed in flames outside of Omaha, a gas tanker jacknifed on its side in Indiana causing a pileup, and just down the street from me a car flipped over, hitting a house, and killing the two children in the back seat.
4. CD’s and Camel packs litter the cab. Random shit in the bed.
ataraxia
5:53 pm on March 21st
Mike Wall
9:40 pm on March 21st
Let’s see…
AIG just lied about how much the bonus were…. 218 million not 165 million as reported to congress last week. http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/03/21/aig.bonuses/
The top 50 “Investment Bankers” make 19,000 times the average workers pay… that’s 950,000 jobs… that’s right, almost a million jobs worth on income.
The top 400 richest people in the gold old America paid an average of 17% in TOTAL taxes.
What’s your tax bracket?
And the audio workers “contractual” obligations… screw them, their just blue color fatter.
Let’s feel sorry for these poor execs…