Turns out my personal swimming instructor/friend Ken (aka Don Quixote and Sancho Panza) actually was a swimming instructor at a summer camp in his youth. Since he’s older than I, take it from me it was a loooong time ago. But we got through the first lesson without either us losing anything, Ken his cool, me my life. Weather permitting, we’re scheduled for another frolic in his pool on Friday.
Gee-Ka: That’s the way grandson Finley pronounces grandpa, so I guess Gee-Ka will be my nickname going forward. Finley had it much easier saying Gee-Gee for Grandma Gilda.
Finley & Co. (Allison and Dan) visited last weekend so his parents could attend their first game at the new Yankee Stadium on his mother’s birthday (Yanks won). Hard to find a better age to babysit than a 20-month-old who eats well, lays down to nap without fuss, laughs a lot, doesn’t poop too much, always startles you with new words he can vocalize, and pretty much understands everything you say to him. Even when I mistakenly shortened his nap time it afforded us one of the more pleasurable experiences of the weekend—cuddling in our bed with him for about 20 minutes.
Credit Rating Fake-out? The NY Times implied Wednesday it would be no big deal if the credit rating of the United States dipped from AAA to AA, or even lower. Noting that most corporations long ago abandoned the quest for triple-A ratings with hardly a misstep, the article suggested only national pride and a possible blow to consumer confidence would be at risk (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/03/business/aaa-rating-is-a-rarity-in-business.html?scp=2&sq=eric%20dash&st=cse).
So was this whole debt ceiling pas-de-deux debate (okay, a pas-de-trois, if you count the Tea Party) really a sham, just political posturing? Could be, except the deal struck is not good news for those in need of government support, people like the long-term unemployed.
What’s also exasperating in this whole scenario is the three major credit rating agencies—Fitch, Standard & Poors and Moody’s—are the very same organizations that green-lighted all those hazardous derivative bonds that contributed to the financial failures of the last few years, precipitating the recession which shuttered businesses, reduced employment and cut tax revenues causing our national debt to skyrocket. These rating agencies did not suffer. How ironic that today they pass judgment on U.S. credit worthiness.
Jewish Humor: We might not be exposed to it frequently, but Arabs have a keen sense of humor, I’ve heard. They’re even developing stand-up comedians, according to a recent NPR segment.
Strangely, some of the comedians choose to compare themselves to American comics. One calls himself the Jon Stewart of the Middle East. Another refers to himself as the Jerry Seinfeld of the Middle East.
How comforting to know the Arab world appreciates American humorists. But do they also realize these comedians are Jewish?
Burned by Burnett: The NY Yankees should end the charade of contemplating a six-man pitching rotation by dumping A.J. Burnett. Add him to the scrapheap of failed free agent pitcher signings. He’ll fit snugly alongside Kevin Brown, Kenny Rogers, Carl Pavano, Jaret Wright, Javier Vazquez, Ed Whitson, Hideki Irabu and Kei Igawa.
Time to concentrate on developing Ivan Nova and Phil Hughes and other prospects. After last night’s outing in Chicago against the light-hitting White Sox, when the Yanks scored 13 runs in the first four innings, only to see him give up seven before being relieved with one out in the fourth, Burnett continues to show he is unreliable.
Though his stuff (for those non baseball-literate readers, “stuff” is a term used to connote the quality of a pitcher’s pitches) can be electric, more often than not since becoming a Yankee he has shocked his team and its fan base with inconsistency and disappointment. He hasn’t won a game since June 29.
Better to admit Burnett can’t pitch for New York and work a deal to dispatch him to another team, even if the Yankees have to pay his bloated salary.
Showing posts with label Fitch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fitch. Show all posts
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Inside Job, Twerp Alert, Happy Birthday
Gollum Crazy: I try to avoid depressing movies, excellent reviews notwithstanding.
Inside Job received excellent reviews. It is a documentary about the financial meltdown crisis. I went to see it yesterday while Gilda was at work. I am now depressed.
I’m not depressed because my savings were ravaged in the stock market fallout (they weren’t). I’m not depressed because my mortgage is higher than the value of my home (the mortgage was already paid off). I’m not depressed I lost my job because of the lousy economy (actually, the economy was a contributing factor to my “retirement,” but I’m happy to be retired).
I’m depressed because in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the vultures on Wall Street continue to believe they did no wrong and are just as powerful as before to screw our country and the rest of the world. I wonder how these people can sleep at night. Then I realize it must be easy to nod off into dreamland on a mattress stuffed with our dollar bills, make that our thousand dollar bills. Our system of finance rewards incompetence and chicanery. We have a system wherein credit rating companies (e.g., Moody’s, Fitch and Standard & Poors) are not accountable, hiding behind the argument their work is just “opinion,” therefore should not be construed as an endorsement of a company’s solvency. In other words, investor beware. Days before Lehman Brothers imploded, they still were issuing AAA ratings for its bonds.
Deregulation opened the gateway for financial excess and distress. Yet Wall Street and the banking community resist oversight. Republicans as well as Democrats share the guilt of blind acquiescence. Economists at prestigious universities have been co-opted by the lure of big bucks from financial institutions. Deregulation intensified a culture of greed and envy. Gross compensation (reportedly a record $144 billion in 2010) turned everyone into crazed Gollums, whose only thoughts are for “precious” bonuses to buy more, more, more that are “mine, mine, mine.”
It’s too painful to recount all the details. Go see Inside Job. You won’t be happy when you exit the theater, but you’ll be more informed.
Twerp Alert: Gilda is on a crusade, a jihad against twerps, who she defines as short, inconsiderate, measly-faced, well-tailored commuters who refuse to clean up after themselves.
On Metro North Tuesday morning she encountered a twerp who threw his discarded newspaper on the floor and refused to pick it up when the train reached Grand Central Terminal even after she and others admonished him and advised a newspaper receptacle stood right outside the door on the platform. Once before Gilda had remonstrated against this twerp, telling him it was not the conductor’s job to clean up after him. He’s apparently a slow learner, someone who believes he’s above participating in train car housekeeping, though he no doubt wants a clean environment during his commute.
Sounds to me like another one of those “entitlement” guys who got us into the financial mess we’re still in.
Happy Birthday: My father was a successful businessman. He sent his children to private schools, graduate schools, sleep-away summer camps, trips abroad. His one vice was buying a new car every five years. He bought Buicks all but the one time our mother talked him into a Cadillac. He was not stingy, not profligate. He provided for his family, friends and workers. He was charitable with his time and money for causes he believed in. He would have turned 100 today.
Inside Job received excellent reviews. It is a documentary about the financial meltdown crisis. I went to see it yesterday while Gilda was at work. I am now depressed.
I’m not depressed because my savings were ravaged in the stock market fallout (they weren’t). I’m not depressed because my mortgage is higher than the value of my home (the mortgage was already paid off). I’m not depressed I lost my job because of the lousy economy (actually, the economy was a contributing factor to my “retirement,” but I’m happy to be retired).
I’m depressed because in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the vultures on Wall Street continue to believe they did no wrong and are just as powerful as before to screw our country and the rest of the world. I wonder how these people can sleep at night. Then I realize it must be easy to nod off into dreamland on a mattress stuffed with our dollar bills, make that our thousand dollar bills. Our system of finance rewards incompetence and chicanery. We have a system wherein credit rating companies (e.g., Moody’s, Fitch and Standard & Poors) are not accountable, hiding behind the argument their work is just “opinion,” therefore should not be construed as an endorsement of a company’s solvency. In other words, investor beware. Days before Lehman Brothers imploded, they still were issuing AAA ratings for its bonds.
Deregulation opened the gateway for financial excess and distress. Yet Wall Street and the banking community resist oversight. Republicans as well as Democrats share the guilt of blind acquiescence. Economists at prestigious universities have been co-opted by the lure of big bucks from financial institutions. Deregulation intensified a culture of greed and envy. Gross compensation (reportedly a record $144 billion in 2010) turned everyone into crazed Gollums, whose only thoughts are for “precious” bonuses to buy more, more, more that are “mine, mine, mine.”
It’s too painful to recount all the details. Go see Inside Job. You won’t be happy when you exit the theater, but you’ll be more informed.
Twerp Alert: Gilda is on a crusade, a jihad against twerps, who she defines as short, inconsiderate, measly-faced, well-tailored commuters who refuse to clean up after themselves.
On Metro North Tuesday morning she encountered a twerp who threw his discarded newspaper on the floor and refused to pick it up when the train reached Grand Central Terminal even after she and others admonished him and advised a newspaper receptacle stood right outside the door on the platform. Once before Gilda had remonstrated against this twerp, telling him it was not the conductor’s job to clean up after him. He’s apparently a slow learner, someone who believes he’s above participating in train car housekeeping, though he no doubt wants a clean environment during his commute.
Sounds to me like another one of those “entitlement” guys who got us into the financial mess we’re still in.
Happy Birthday: My father was a successful businessman. He sent his children to private schools, graduate schools, sleep-away summer camps, trips abroad. His one vice was buying a new car every five years. He bought Buicks all but the one time our mother talked him into a Cadillac. He was not stingy, not profligate. He provided for his family, friends and workers. He was charitable with his time and money for causes he believed in. He would have turned 100 today.
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