MAD AS HELL AND...

From “The Wall Street Bastards Own the US Government” Department we have this story from Charlie Gasparino of Fox Business on Goldman Sachs and its new “approach” to “Financial Regulation.”

Goldman Already a Step Ahead of FinReg

“Goldman Sachs (GS: 147.09 ,0.00 ,0.00%) has figured out a novel approach to getting around the Volcker Rule’s restrictions on trading: it’s remaking its risk-taking traders into asset managers, and the rest of Wall Street may soon follow, FOX Business Network has learned.

The big Wall Street firm has moved about half of its “proprietary” stock-trading operations — which had made market bets using the firm’s own capital — into its asset management division, where these traders can talk to Goldman clients and then place their market bets.

The move is designed to exploit a loophole in the Volker Rule, part of the recently signed financial-reform legislation named after presidential economic adviser and former Federal Reserve chief Paul Volcker. The Volcker Rule is supposed to scale back on Wall Street risk taking by ending what’s known as proprietary trading, where firms use their own ideas and capital to make market bets.

But by having the traders work in asset management, where they will take market positions while dealing with clients, Goldman believes it can meet the rule’s mandates, avoid large-scale layoffs and preserve some of the same risk taking that has earned it enormous profits, people close to the firm say.”

Oh….what a BIG SURPRISE!  Here’s is what you need to know about the Wall Street Bastards…

They could care less what anyone in Washington DC does or doesn’t do because the Wall Street Bastards are going to do…

WHATEVER THE HELL THEY WANT TO DO!

The Wall Street Bastards will do WHATEVER THE HELL THEY WANT TO DO and not give a thought to what the Fools and Buffoons in OUR Nation’s Capital are up to, because they have bought off (the good ‘ole campaign contributions) anyone and everyone that matters in Washington DC.

Here’s a Fact:  If the Wall Street Bastards call down to Washington DC and tell all of the people they have bought off to strip off all their clothes, to head down to the Washington Monument and then have everyone hold hands and sing Kumbaya….

There would be thousands of Elected and Appointed Leaders, Lobbyists, Media Members and lots of other people in the Washington “Elite” stripping naked, heading down to the Washington Monument, holding hands and singing Kumbaya. 

Here’s the REAL REALITY OF “Financial Regulation”

The Wall Street Bastards could care less what the Buffoons in Washington DC do about anything and if anyone in OUR Nation’s Capital believes that anyone on Wall Street is fearful of the recently passed “Financial Regulation” then OUR Elected Leaders are dumber than we thought they were!

There is only one question that must be asked about whether the recently “Financial Regulation” is legitimate or not (The Warren Buffett proposed plan for Wall Street):

If one of the “Banks” (actually just unregulated Las Vegas Casinos) has to get government support in the future will the CEO of that “Bank” have his (and his family’s) entire net worth wiped out and will the top 1000 executives in that “Bank” have their family’s net worth be wiped out as well?

The answer to the above question is a BIG FAT NO!

Then the so-called “Financial Regulation” is BOGUS!

Charlie Gasparino continues with the Absolute Absurdity of these Buffoons in Washington DC thinking that anything that they do matters at all…

“Goldman’s move also underscores the weakness in the Volcker Rule, which was designed to reduce the same type of risk-taking activities that led to the 2008 financial meltdown. Simply by labeling a trade “customer related” the firm can still make large market bets, and thus engage in some of the same risk taking the rule was designed to eliminate.

A spokesman for the firm had no comment, but people close to Goldman say Goldman will now be weighing other similar moves — taking traders out of the firm’s brokerage division and moving them to other areas of the firm where they can deal with clients and circumvent the rule.

Other Wall Street firms are watching Goldman’s moves closely and are considering similar measures. “If these traders become more client focused they can survive,” said a senior executive at one of the big banks.”

And the Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round, Round and Round, Round and Round, the Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round, All Day Long!

Here’s a little Factoid for you to consider:  Wall Street used to be a place where American Business would go to raise capital to start or expand their companies but it has been taken over by traders at the “Banks” (Just Las Vegas Casinos in Manhattan) that don’t give two rips about anything but working like Hell to find out ways to Rip Off American Business, The American People and even their own Clients and Customers.  The Wall Street Bastards could care less about anything BUT lining their pockets with as much $$$$$$$ as possible and if getting to that $$$$$$$$ they have to take down the American Republic these Bastards would take down the country every time. 

We ask again would you trust any of these Bastards to watch your dog?

If you would then you are a Complete and Utter Moron!

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From the “At Least Half of Official Washington Will be in Prison” by the summer of 2012 if a third-party candidate is elected to the Presidency of the United States, we have this story from the Associated Press on government agencies, the Homeland Security Department in this case, having political appointees deciding on which Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests to approve.  No, we are not making this up!

It seems more and more that as the Stupidity of past decisions by Government Leaders continues to pile up and that there have been lots of people stealing BILLIONS OF DOLLARS from the American People (No, we have forgotten the “Great Wall Street Train Robbery of 2008” where the Wall Street Bastards stole BILLIONS from the American People with the FULL COOPERATION of the US Government!), one can only wonder if these Government Folks have been studying the techniques of Hitler and Stalin….

Here’s a Newsflash for the Bastards that are WORKING FOR US in Government on all levels in the United States:

WE THE PEOPLE own the AMERICAN REPUBLIC and you Bastards WORK FOR US!  If the Associated Press or any other American sends a FOIA request to anyone in the US Government then that FOIA request better be acted on quickly because remember…

YOU BASTARDS WORK FOR US!

Ted Bridis of the Associated Press has this OUTRAGEOUS story:

Playing politics with public records requests

“For at least a year, the Homeland Security Department detoured requests for federal records to senior political advisers for highly unusual scrutiny, probing for information about the requesters and delaying disclosures deemed too politically sensitive, according to nearly 1,000 pages of internal e-mails obtained by The Associated Press.

The department abandoned the practice after AP investigated. Inspectors from the department’s Office of Inspector General quietly conducted interviews last week to determine whether political advisers acted improperly.

The Freedom of Information Act, the main tool forcing the government to be more open, is designed to be insulated from political considerations. Anyone who seeks information through the law is supposed to get it unless disclosure would hurt national security, violate personal privacy or expose confidential decision-making in certain areas.

But in July 2009, Homeland Security introduced a directive requiring a wide range of information to be vetted by political appointees for “awareness purposes,” no matter who requested it.”

“Awareness purposes?”  That sounds something in Hitler’s government would have written and remember Barack Obama promised the most open government in US history! 

We have a Newsflash for Barack Obama:  Your Administration is the most private in US history and that is because the people around you are more interested in limiting “political damage” and getting you re-elected rather than doing what is right or legal even….

The AP continues…

“Career employees were ordered to provide Secretary Janet Napolitano’s political staff with information about the people who asked for records — such as where they lived, whether they were private citizens or reporters — and about the organizations where they worked.

If a member of Congress sought such documents, employees were told to specify Democrat or Republican.

This, despite President Barack Obama’s statement that federal workers should “act promptly and in a spirit of cooperation” under FOIA, and Attorney General Eric Holder’s assertion: “Unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles have no place in the new era of open government.””

Oh, that “Unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles have no place in the new era of open government” is RICH!  Can you say….NOT!

First these Bastards have run up Trillions in Debt that we will never be able to pay back under any scenario and now when the AP makes FOIA requests for information about OUR GOVERNMENT the Homeland Security Department is determining if the information will be released based up “political” considerations…..  Now, if that doesn’t Piss You Off…Nothing Will!

Again….YOU BASTARDS AND SOBs WORK FOR US….

….not the other way around!  One can only wonder…where the Hell is today’s Teddy Roosevelt when we really need him?

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With BP CEO Tony Hayward now sent packing and the oil company taking $32.2 BILLION DOLLAR for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill we here at Mad As Hell And… cannot help but wonder if these Stupid SOBs at BP have learned any lessons from this disaster.

What the American Public has learned since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig went to the bottom of the Gulf is that BP the company has been run like a Texas whorehouse that doesn’t give a damn about its employees or clients.  If there is one thing that we believe in here at Mad As Hell And… it is that legitimate capitalism, not the way the Vegas Casinos on Wall Street and Bastards in Corporate America often operate these days, is the key component in driving America forward.

The Great American Industrialist Henry Ford laid out the principles of what American business used to stand for when he said…

“A business absolutely devoted to service will have only one worry about profits. They will be embarrassingly large.”

“The man who will use his skill and constructive imagination to see how much he can give for a dollar, instead of how little he can give for a dollar, is bound to succeed.”

“There is one rule for the industrialist and that is: Make the best quality of goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible.”

Henry Ford’s above words ARE what used to be the principles of business in America, but in recent years the desire to make money over everything else in Corporate America and on Wall Street, even working for and serving one’s client (A specialty of the Wall Street Bastards that treat their clients like shit and then laugh and high-five when they rip their clients and customers off) has become a complete afterthought.

BP is Example 1A of a corporation out-of-control and putting profits and greed above its workers, customers and the general public, and that reality has been displayed by the company’s complete disdain for safety and environmental laws in the United States and even how its competitors in the oil and energy business believe that BP has been operating in recent years.

At the energy and oil company sponsored website, Save US Energy Jobs, just how far BP moved from Industry Standards in the Gulf of Mexico is laid out for all of the American Public to see…

Save US Energy Jobs

After looking through the above website and its graphics we can only wonder that is if everything that the other energy and oil companies is claiming is true about how far out of the Industry Standards BP has gone with its offshore oil rigs the only question we have is…

Why is now former BP CEO Tony Hayward not in jail or under felony indictment right now?

Clearly, if the Save US Energy Jobs is completely accurate about BP’s behavior then Tony Hayward and lots of other BP executives should be thrown into prison and kept there for a long time, unless of course the US Government is so far in the pocket of BP (Remember BP was the “Green Oil Company” for the Democrats and Wacko Environmental Nuts) that BP could do anything Damn it wants, even destroy entire ecosystems and economies in the Gulf of Mexico and nothing would happen. 

Sounds about right for the Keystone Cops running the US Government in recent years….  The laws are enforced against everyone, except of course those that stuff the pockets of our “Elected Leaders!”  In most of America those kind of transactions would be called Bribes…..In Washington DC they are called….”Campaign Contribution.”  Oh, that’s a laugh…

Yes, BP CEO Tony Hayward should be prosecuted for crimes against the America People.  Will he?  Not a chance in Hell because Tony Hayward and BP could destroy the entire American Economy along all of our coasts and because the BP folks have bribed (campaign contributions) anyone and everyone in Washington DC that matters, they could get away with that destruction and see hardly a whimper from OUR GOVERNMENT!

Another Absolute Absurdity of BP’s handiwork is the Offshore Oil and Gas Moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico region.  Yes, it makes perfect sense for a Moratorium on the entire Gulf of Mexico after a rogue company like BP was allowed to run wild….BY THE GOVERMMENT who has created the MORATORIUM!  Yes, that makes just perfect sense….

NOT!

As the Save US Energy Jobs website says about the Moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico:

“The Six-Month Moratorium on Offshore Drilling Activity will Cost More than $2.4 Billion in Economic Activity Nationwide, and $1.8 Billion in Gulf communities”

Yes, if your goal is to destroy communities along the Gulf Coast, to destroy families and the lives of Americans then you will have put in a 6 month Moratorium after a rogue company like BP, that was not being watched by the US Government (Even though the agency that was supposed to be watching BP was getting TENS OF BILLIONS OF TAXPAYER $$$$$$$)…then….

Yes, if your goal is to destroy American lives and families then you have a 6 month Moratorium on Offshore Drilling Activity in the Gulf of Mexico….

Hell that very well may be the goal of the US Government because it has been show that these Bastards in Washington DC of both political parties don’t give two rips about the American People….

Yes, that’s it, just another day in the office for our “Elected Leaders!”

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In another report from Bizarro-Land otherwise known as the state of California, after a week of Bell, California “public servants” getting paid OUTRAGEOUS amounts of money for doing stuff that any common “D” student could do on the worst day of his/her life, now we have the now resigned executive director of the California Schools Board Association hauling down $500,000 Plus Dollars a year while also getting Thousands of Dollars of cash advances on the organization’s credit card at casinos!  No, we are not making this up!

Of course, the California Schools Board Association is fully supported by “The People’s” Tax Money and of course this Clown former executive director, Scott Plotkin, is just like every other Government Worker on the Planet that….

DOES NOT GIVE A DAMN ABOUT THE MONEY THEY WASTE BECAUSE…

IT IS NOT THEIR MONEY THEY ARE WASTING!

That is what all of the Incredible Waste in Government is really about, these Buffoons are spending “Someone Else’s” MONEY and that means that they could care less how much they make, how much they spend, how much they steal…..because it is not coming out of THEIR POCKETS!

The problem in California and the problem at the Federal Government Level in the United States, which is now running $1.5 Trillion Dollar annual deficits for as far as the eye can see, is that none of these Bastards give two rips about anything but getting as much of OUR MONEY as they can while working and during retirement their multi-hundred thousand dollar a year pensions which they dream of day and night while they are supposed to be SERVING THE PEOPLE!

Here’s a News Flash for you:  Government Workers, from the President of the United States on down…

WORK FOR US not the other way around you IDIOTS!

Yes, this executive director of the CSBA is just another great example of why the United States of America is headed for the biggest crash since the Roman Empire, and the problem is the incredible selfishness and arrogance of people across government and complete disregard of morals or ethics, or even right and wrong, is THE NORMAL WAY OF DOING BUSINESS!

The Educated Guess Forum has the story on this Bastard Plotkin:

CSBA Scott Plotkin’s troubling resignation

“Caught in lies he told the news media last week about questionable credit card expenses and about salary cuts over the past year that he claimed he took – but didn’t, Scott Plotkin resigned Friday as executive director of the California School Boards Association. In a brief statement on CSBA’s web site, Plotkin wrote, “I am sorry if my actions have damaged the reputation of CSBA and the vital work being conducted by the Association.  It was certainly not my intent.”

There is no “if” about it. Plotkin, who effectively led the organization for nine years, has scorched it on his way out. And the CSBA officers and board members must go beyond their tight-lipped responses to questions about pay and expenses if it’s to rebuild credibility with the public and the nearly 1,000 school districts whose CSBA dues are funded through tax dollars.

CSBA, which is suing the state over inadequate funding for K-12 schools, paid Plotkin $540,000 in 2007-08, including a bonus of $175,000. That same year, Plotkin, used his business credit card to draw $11,000 in cash advances at casinos.

A CSBA spokeswoman would not disclose Plotkin’s current salary, and CSBA President Frank Pugh wouldn’t give the answer to another obvious question: What will be Plotkin’s retirement package through the California Public Employees Retirement System? Both said the information is confidential. Pugh said that CSBA would hire an independent firm to review salaries and expenses. What he should have promised is that the CSBA would make those findings public.

A records check of the most recent tax filings by the Sacramento Bee found that Plotkin earled $290,000 in 2005-06, $353,000 in 2006-07 and $365,000 in ’07-08 plus the $175,000 bonus. The base pay was $100,000-plus more than that earned by CEOs of similar California associations that represent local governments.”

What the Hell?  The CSBA will not tell The People what their employees are being paid which are being funded by the Taxpayer or give us information on their public pensions?  What is this Hitler’s Germany that we have going on in California?  Are there now out of control dictators running these publicly funded organizations in the state of California?

OUTRAGEOUS!

Educated Guess continues….

“Last week, Sacramento TV station KCRA first revealed the use of the business credit card for gambling expenses. Plotkin said he repaid CSBA the money, and KCRA said records show that he did. But in an interview with the station, Plotkin said that the CSBA board of directors was aware of the use of the money and that he had taken a 4 percent pay cut this year. In his resignation statement, Plotkin acknowledged both statements were untrue.

Along with lobbying for school districts in Sacramento, CSBA offers an extensive range of seminars and trainings in governance and finances that are supposed to prevent the embarrassments and improprieties in which CSBA now finds itself. The $5 million in dues that districts pay to CSBA is a small fraction of 1 percent of state funding of K-12 schools and a small piece of CSBA’s largely fee-based budget. But the high salary and loose control of expenses won’t help CSBA’s lawsuit for more funding – at least not in the court of public opinion.

“Hearing about this compensation package is absolutely incredulous and undermines any moral authority that CSBA had in filing their lawsuit,” Sen. Gloria Romero, who chairs the Senate Education Committee, told the Bee”

No Damn Kidding Glorio Romero, but then you are one of the ABSOLUTE BUFFOONS in Sacramento that has made a specialty of wasting the People’s Money and Time over the past few years!

Yes, we would say that Scott Poltkin’s salary, credit card use, pension (which will be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for the rest of his life), and behavior are “troubling.”  Actually they are much worse that that, Poltkin’s behavior goes to heart of what is wrong in America today and that is that government workers across the board Don’t Give Two Rips about anything but their own precious hides and if they have to bankrupt a city, a county, a state or even the entire American Republic so they can haul down big salaries and big pensions then the will do exactly that 100 out of 100 times.

Do you think this story on Scott Poltkin is an isolated case?  Please, there are thousands just like him across California and America and when the full extent of the damage that the Poltkin’s of the world have done to our nation the American People are going to be extremely pissed off!

Hell, they are already Pissed Off, but less than .0000000000001 percent of what these Bastards have been up to has even made it in the public forum to date…..

It’s coming though, oh it’s coming and eventually the American People are going to start throwing these “public servants” in jail and start holding them accountable for their OUTRAGEOUS and TOTALLY UN-AMERICAN behavior and activities!  And when that starts to happen guess what?  All of this OUTRAGOUES behavior by government workers will come to a screeching halt because these SOBs will realize that they will give away their freedom if they dare try to steal from the AMERICAN PEOPLE….who own this Damn Country in case you forgot that little factoid!

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The People of Bell, California got some vindication early Friday morning with the forced resignations of three top administrators that were hauling down OUTRAGEOUS salaries that could never be justified for any position in government forget about a small city outside of Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles Times has done great work on this story and the Times should be applauded for going back to its news coverage of yesteryear which was almost always in the best interest of the People of the LA area and not as a co-opted partner of the government/power structures in that area of California. 

The LA Times is again on this OUTRAGEOUS story with the mayor of Bell, Oscar Hernandez releasing an OUTLANDISH press release:

Bell council defiantly defends outgoing officials’ high salaries

“The Times revealed last week that Rizzo was earning a $787,637 annual salary, Adams $457,000 and Spaccia $376,288. Experts said Rizzo appeared to be the highest-paid city manager in the nation. He had nearly three years left on his contract, and it’s unclear whether the city bought it out or whether he agreed to walk away without compensation.

Bell issued its first public statement on the salary controversy Friday, with Mayor Oscar Hernandez calling Rizzo’s salary well within reason for the excellent job he did for the city of 40,000.

“Unlike the skewed view of the facts the Los Angeles Times presented to advance the paper’s own agenda, a look at the big picture of city compensation shows that salaries of the city manager and other top city staff have been in line with similar positions over the period of their tenure,” Hernandez said in a letter to the public.”

Can you believe this SOB mayor of Bell, California?  Absolutely OUTRAGEOUS!

The LA Times continues…

“The League of California Cities, however, released a statement highly critical of Bell and its officials, saying the group was working on possible legislation to prevent a repeat of the Bell salary situation. “We are unaware of any city in the nation where salaries of this level are paid for comparable positions,” the league said.

In an interview, Executive Director Chris McKenzie said this was the first time he was aware of that the league had issued such a statement. “That shows how absolutely concerned we are over these practices,” he said, referring the salaries paid to Rizzo and his colleagues. “City officials across the state are up in arms over this.”

Robin Lowe, president of the league and a Hemet councilwoman, said she found Hernandez’s defense of Rizzo’s salary “nauseating.”

“I have no explanation for the city of Bell right now,” Lowe said. “The reaction I’ve had from elected officials in our organization and across the country has been one of disgust.”

In addition to the high salaries for city administrators, four of the five Bell council members are paid close to $100,000 annually — sums significantly higher than the salaries earned at other cities Bell’s size.”

Disgust and Nauseating is right!  Bravo! to the Los Angeles Times for their great coverage of Bell, California and we can only hope they keep it up.  There was a time when the Los Angeles Times was one of the great newspapers in the United States and it was a “Must” read for anyone that gave a Damn about the LA area, but it has far too often in recent years put the liberal bent of its owners, publishers, editors, etc., above what should be its goal:  Covering the Los Angeles area and the powerful interests that often work against The People of the area.  Again, Bravo to the LA Times and KEEP IT UP!

Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez has also brought his powerful insights and great writing to this story as well:  The Bleeding Bell Blues, Public service means private benefit for the mega-salaried officials in Bell. Angry citizens should put the word ‘former’ before their titles.  Great column Steve and keep it up! 

This entire story of Bell, California is so over-the-top and these supposed “public servants” actions so far beyond the pale of civilized behavior that is hard to know who raised these people, because they clearly don’t have any concern for right and wrong and certainly don’t give a Damn about the People that they are supposed to be working for.

 Of course, Bell, California is but only one example of some incredibly serious and deep problems throughout the former Golden State and since California is a huge part of the United States the actions of public officials in the state puts the entire American Republic in danger.

What America and California needs is someone that will actually start working for The People of OUR country something akin to what the character Brubaker (Robert Redford) did in the movie of the same name when he infiltrated a prison to find out what was really going on before he took over as warden.  What The People of America needs are dozens of politicians across the country that are willing to tell us the truth to what all of these Bastards have been up to so that we can started to hold these SOBs accountable for what they have done before the law.

There is something deeply wrong with government on all levels in our country with often the “Government and Elected Officials” working against The People that actually own the country and put them into office.  Far too often powerful interests will capture our “Elected Leaders” by stuffing their pockets with money and those same “Elected Leaders” will then just turn around and do things that are in direct opposition to what is best for The People, for Our Children and for the Country.

Everyone may not realize it, but the American Republic is in great danger today and it is in such great danger because of the selfishness and greed of many government, political and corporate “leaders” that put enriching themselves over the future of our Republic. 

Yes, there is something terribly wrong in America and that “something” will take down the entire Republic, just as the very same type of things did to the Roman Empire and if WE THE PEOPLE don’t take back our country soon and hold the Bastards that have run OUR country into the ground accountable for their actions we can kiss our country goodbye.

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Do you want to know what is wrong with the state of California and why the Golden Broken State is headed to insolvency, bankruptcy and a complete meltdown?  Read the ultimate ramifications of these Idiot “Elected Leaders” in Bell, California that paid obscene amounts to city workers which are now leading to OUTRAGEOUS pensions for these overpaid clowns.  The Los Angeles Times is on the beat…

Huge checks won’t end with Bell officials’ ouster

“Bell City Manager Robert Rizzo, whose nearly $800,000-a-year salary has ignited community protests and calls for his resignation, will become the highest-paid retiree in California’s pension system when he steps down.

Rizzo, whose forced-resignation could come as early as Thursday, would be entitled to a pension of at least $600,000 a year for the rest of his life, according to retirement calculations made by The Times and reviewed by pension experts.

That would make him the highest-paid retiree in CalPERS, outstripping the $509,664 paid each year to Vernon’s former city manager Bruce Malkenhorst Sr.

Not far behind would be Randy Adams, the man Rizzo hired as Bell police chief last July. If Adams steps down, his pension would be worth an estimated $411,300, placing him just behind Malkenhorst on the list of top CalPERS beneficiaries.

Taking the Bell job was a good career move for Adams, 59. In just one year on the payroll, he more than doubled his retirement pay.”

And you really wonder why California is circling the porcelain bowl?  Please, these Buffoons in California have taken Stupidity to an entirely new level and what is going on in Bell, California is only just the tip of the iceberg because there are tens of thousands of California Government workers that are hauling down salaries in the Hundreds of Thousands that will be eligible for Massive Pensions in the coming years.

The LA Times continues….

 ”As debate over public-sector pensions takes center stage this election year, with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other leaders pushing for reductions at the state and local levels, the potential pension checks waiting for Bell’s embattled leaders have taken even veteran pension watchers by surprise.

 “It’s outrageous and unsustainable,” said pension-reform advocate Marcia Fritz, noting that Rizzo, 55, could receive $26 million in pension income if he lives a normal life span. “High salaries last just a few years — high pensions last for a lifetime.”

Estimating a pension for Assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia, 51, is trickier — she has worked in several different public agencies and won’t be eligible for full retirement until she’s 55. But by conservative estimates, her retirement pay could reach as high as $250,000 a year.

Rizzo, Adams and Spaccia did not return phone calls Wednesday regarding their projected pension benefits.

Bell City Council members are seeking the officials’ resignations amid a public outcry over salaries that appear to be among the highest in the nation, according to sources close to the discussions with the administrators. The council called a special meeting for Thursday afternoon and may announce the resignations then.

Rizzo earns nearly $800,000 a year, making him the highest-paid city manager in California. Adams makes $457,000 — 50% more than Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck. And Spaccia earns $376,288, more than the top administrator for Los Angeles County.”

Yes, that all makes just PERFECT SENSE!  NOT!

“The salaries, first reported by The Times last week, have triggered protest in the small, working-class city southeast of downtown Los Angeles. Cristina Garcia, who grew up in Bell and is part of a newly formed citizen’s group, said fat pensions are another insult to city residents.

“It’s unethical and immoral, that’s obvious,” she said. “What’s amazing is that it is all legal.”

The California Public Employees Retirement System administers pensions for most cities in California, including Bell. A spokesman, citing confidentiality laws, said he couldn’t provide information on Rizzo’s and Adams’ estimated retirement income because they are still active employees.

But a pension expert at CalPERS, who asked not to be identified because he is not authorized to discuss retirement figures for workers who are still employed, agreed that The Times’ calculations were “within the ballpark” of what Rizzo and Adams would earn.

Fritz, a certified public accountant, said her calculations show that pension checks could grow even higher if the managers cash out a number of perks available to them.

Rizzo, for instance, could add unused vacation pay to boost his final year’s salary — one of the factors used to determine a pension. Bell employees are also entitled to buy up to five years of service credit for years they did not actually work, said Fritz, president of the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility, a pension reform group.”

Oh the Absolute Madness!  Hell, we can’t even read any more of this nonsense because it is making us sick so read on yourself….

Huge checks won’t end with Bell officials’ ouster

Here’s a Reality that the United States of America better start thinking about:

These Absolute Idiots in California have set the Golden Broken State up for a Massive Failure and these Fools are going to take down the entire American Republic if someone doesn’t get control of these Buffoons soon!  These Irresponsible Idiots in Sacramento have a 20+ Billion Dollar Deficit that they are not dealing with in a serious way and many of them are in fact praying for Jerry Brown to be elected governor so they can…

SPEND EVEN MORE MONEY!

Yes, these “Elected Leaders” in Sacramento pose a great danger to the American Republic and here is the real kicker…

THEY DON’T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT ANYTHING BUT HOLDING ONTO POWER SO THEY CAN KEEP GETTING “THEIR” BIG SALARIES AND HUGE PENSIONS DOWN THE ROAD!

It is that bad in California and no one in power…

GIVES A DAMN!

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The Madness that is the City of Bell, California may be heading towards a resolution, but don’t think the taxpayers of California won’t be stuck with the bill for the foolishness in this small Southern California city for decades to come!

After it was reported by the Los Angeles Times earlier this week that the city manager of Bell was making almost $800,000 a year the residents of Bell, California have been up in arms and we say…

GOOD FOR THEM!

It’s about time the folks in Bell, California and the rest of America got royally pissed off at these Buffoons on all levels of government that are stealing the American People Blind!

Here’s the latest from the Los Angeles Times…

Bell council seeks resignations of 3 city officials

“Bell City Council members are seeking the resignations of the city manager and two other top officials amid growing public outcry over salaries that appear to be among the highest in the nation, according to three sources close to the discussions.

The embattled council directed its attorney to immediately begin negotiating with the three.

At a closed-door meeting Monday night, as hundreds of residents protested outside, council members also discussed reducing their own pay. Most of them make $100,000 a year.”

City council members making $100K a year?  OUTRAGEOUS!

The LA Times continues…

“Resigning would make City Manager Robert Rizzo, Police Chief Randy Adams and Assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia eligible for lucrative pensions. But the three also have contracts that protect them from being fired without cause.

As a result, unless they agree to resign, the city would face the prospect of buying out their contracts, which could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional payments.

None of the three officials could be reached for comment Tuesday.

Rizzo earns nearly $800,000 a year, making him the highest paid city manager in California and possibly the nation. Adams makes $457,000 — 50% more the Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck — and Spaccia makes $376,288, more than the top administrator for Los Angeles County.

The salaries, revealed by The Times last week, sparked protests in the small, predominantly working-class town southeast of downtown Los Angeles.

The sources, who spoke to The Times on the condition that they not be named because of personnel rules, said attorneys for the city are in talks with attorneys for the three administrators.”

Oh, that’s just great!  All three of these clowns that have been ripping off the people of Bell, California for years are “eligible for lucrative pensions!”

Yes, California is the Bizarro-Land with Bell, California being “Let’s rip off the poor Latinos because we can” Bizarro-community!  OUTRAGEOUS!

Read these lines from the LA Times story and get ready to be really pissed off!

“Some activists have called for an outside investigation or audit of the city’s salaries. At least one council member said he was unaware of the pay levels for senior administrators until he read about them in The Times.

Rizzo’s salary has grown steadily over the years, once going up 49% in a single year. His current contract calls for 12% pay hikes every July.”

What?  49 percent pay raise in one year!  12 percent pay hikes every July?

Can you say that these Clowns in Bell should not only be fired but by all rights should be throw in jail for stealing from the citizens of Bell, California and from the People of California because these Buffoons are going to be “eligible” for pensions worth hundreds of thousands annually each for years to come? (Check out the CalPERS $100,000 Plus former state workers list that are hauling down big bucks in retirement!)  Why, yes we can say that and that is what would HAPPEN if Government actually Gave a Damn about the people it was supposed to be serving!

Yes, these Bastards should be fired and throw out on their ears, but like everything else in California when it comes to “Government Work” it is the Government Workers STICKING IT TO the People of California and laughing all the way to the bank as they do it…with the unions laughing right along with them at the boobs in the public that allow all this BS to go on!

Oh, you think this is an isolated story on Government Workers stealing from The People?  Please, local news stations in California do stories all the time on the amount of money that is flat-out being stolen from the People of California by workers not doing their jobs and here is a recent story by CBS TV 2 in Los Angeles on that very subject:

Investigative Report Exposes Possible City Slacker

Read the story and watch the accompanying video and then look at your children and grandchildren and see their future being given away by the Buffoons in Government!

As Ronald Reagan said…. “The Problem IS THE GOVERNMENT!”  Truer words have never been uttered…..EVER!

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New York Times columnist David Brooks believes that because both the Republican and Democrat parties have grown government exponentially in the past decade that the American People are thus pissed very off…..

Well…..DUH!

At least Brooks has identifies one of the great problems in America today….

The Technocracy Boom

“When historians look back on this period, they will see it as another progressive era. It is not a liberal era — when government intervenes to seize wealth and power and distribute it to the have-nots. It’s not a conservative era, when the governing class concedes that the world is too complicated to be managed from the center. It’s a progressive era, based on the faith in government experts and their ability to use social science analysis to manage complex systems.

This progressive era is being promulgated without much popular support. It’s being led by a large class of educated professionals, who have been trained to do technocratic analysis, who believe that more analysis and rule-writing is the solution to social breakdowns, and who have constructed ever-expanding networks of offices, schools and contracts.”

Can’t say we disagree with any of the above, but here is the Real Kicker with the “large class of educated professionals” that are greatly expanding the size and scope of government on all levels in the United States:

Very few of them have ever held a job in the REAL WORLD during their entire lives!

From President Obama, to Ben Bernanke, to Harry Reid, to Mitch McConnell, to Nancy Pelosi, to Joe Biden, and on and on of the vast majority of the political elite that are now sitting at the top levels of government in both elected and appointed positions are people that have never worked a day in their lives in the private sector and often have never held any kind of managerial jobs in the Real World where they would help to run a division or business based up the reality that if a profit is not made the business goes….OUT OF BUSIENSS!  Forget about someone that has actually started and run a successful business that has grown and had to operate in the ever increasingly difficult regulatory and tax structure that these Buffoons in Washington DC keep piling on the Real Wealth Creators in our country.  Hell, it’s not surprising to us that the “Political Elites” in Washington and Sacramento don’t understand how their Idiotic actions negatively affect The People that they are supposed to working for and serving, because very few of these clowns have ever held any kind of job in the Real World!  Just keep piling the Crapola on, it won’t hurt anyone! 

Memo to the “Technocracy Class”:  You are Utter Morons and it is you that are the Great Destroyers of the American Republic because you have no idea how the American Republic actually works!

How appropriate that with the rise of the “Technocracy Class” as David Brooks calls them, but we here at Mad As Hell And… call them “Do Not Have A Clue to How the Real World Works Class,” that the United States of America has been set on an unsustainable path, driven largely by the desire of this “Technocracy Class” to gain and hold onto power.  You see, when one want to gain or hold political power in the United States one doesn’t think of ways to “serve” The People and the Country, but rather they try to think of ways to give things away to people so that people will be happy and vote for them again and also to “serve” the Bastards that stuffed their pockets with $$$$$$$ so you could get into “Elective Office” in the first place!  The said part is that many in “public service” will tell you there went into politics to “Serve the People” but the Real Truth is that most of these people driving the train in America today have massive egos that need to be stroked and they have a strange love of having power over other people, but not so that anyone can have power over them.  Yes, we are talking Massive Hypocrites here, which makes the Congress exempting itself from 99.9 percent of the laws it passes make just perfect sense, because the “Political Elite” in the United States not only think that they are better than YOU and ME, they believe they should not have to live with or have to deal with the very laws that they pass.  If these Bastards that hold high political office in America are starting to sound like some of the most selfish SOBs on the planet, then you would have accurately identified about 99.9 percent of our “Leaders” in Washington DC.

Let’s face facts:  Here is what the “Technocracy Class” of both political parties have wrought and put onto the backs of our children and grandchildren:  US National Debt Clock

Yes, these are Real Men and Women of Genius that have ascended to the highest corridors of power in the United States, but watching all of these overeducated Ivy League clowns operate in recent decades has only confirmed what all of us here at Mad As Hell And… have known for a long time.  Going to an Ivy League school may mean that you are intelligent, but it certainly doesn’t mean that you have a lick of common sense, and the vast majority of the people that go into “public service” today, often because they could never cut in the Real World, do not have…

A LICK OF COMMON SENSE….

Because often they have never worked a day in their lives in the Real World!

We would include New York Times columnist David Brooks in that group, because he also has not worked a day in his adult life in anything remotely like what the vast majority of Americans have to deal with on a daily basis and thus there is not a chance in Hell he would really understand anything beyond New York, Washington DC and other spots where the elite meet, Aspen, Martha’s Vineyard, etc….  David Brooks is a “serious guy” as he likes to say about “public servants” that he admires, but he suffers from the same problem that most of the other Clueless folks in Washington DC do today:  On the best day of their lives they wouldn’t be able to run an ice cream shop. 

Yes, they can debate the finer points of Iraq, Afghanistan, Nuclear Deterrence, the budget, the deficit or Bullshit, but they haven’t a clue what those things are Really like in the Real World because they live in a world of ideas rather than real action and experience. 

You see, being able to run Printing Press nonstop with no worry about turning a profit or evening giving a Damn about the bills that are being piled up is not the Real World and that is the essential difference between the Fantasyland of the “Political Elite” in Washington and New York and the American People.

David Brooks finishes up his column by saying…

“Already this effort is generating a fierce, almost culture-war-style backlash. It is generating a backlash among people who do not have faith in Washington, who do not have faith that trained experts have superior abilities to organize society, who do not believe national rules can successfully contend with the intricacies of local contexts and cultures.

This progressive era amounts to a high-stakes test. If the country remains safe and the health care and financial reforms work, then we will have witnessed a life-altering event. We’ll have received powerful evidence that central regulations can successfully organize fast-moving information-age societies.

If the reforms fail — if they kick off devastating unintended consequences or saddle the country with a maze of sclerotic regulations — then the popular backlash will be ferocious. Large sectors of the population will feel as if they were subjected to a doomed experiment they did not consent to. They will feel as if their country has been hijacked by a self-serving professional class mostly interested in providing for themselves.

If that backlash gains strength, well, what’s the 21st-century version of the guillotine?”

David, the “the 21st-century version of the guillotine” is the sweeping out of power of the Morons, Buffoons and Idiots that have come to dominate American government and putting into place an Administration and Congress that will actually work for The People of the American Republic.  That new government with ownership of the White House and thus US Justice Department will then investigate the Hell out of all of these Buffoons and their Masters in Corporate America, Wall Street and in the Unions and how those two groups, the “Elected Officials” and “Private Interests,” have worked together to STICK IT TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE!

Let’s just say that if you have held “Elective Office” in the last couple of decades in the United States we would recommend keeping the name of a good attorney in the Rolodex because it is our belief that Federal Grand Juries made up of American citizens when presented with some of the Absolute Nonsense and Facts that have gone on in America in recent years will not be a very happy group of Americans.

The greatest fear of the Political Elites is that the American People might actually learn what these Bastards have really been up to in recent years and what a disastrous course they have set for our country and for our children and grandchildren.  If the American People put someone in the White House that is not a member of either political party, then it will be Katie Bar the Door and you better get a Damn Good attorney time in Washington DC, because the America People will be…

BACK IN CHARGE!

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From the Pragmatic Capitalist via The Business Insider we finally have someone giving the American Republic and the American People the “straight dope.”  There is a lot we could say here, but the Pragmatic Capitalist says it all…

Will The “Cult of the Equity” Investor Die?

“RBS recently published a dramatic and very bearish research note that described equity investors as “the world’s worst cult”.  While I thought the note was a bit over the top it did raise some interesting and thought provoking topics.  More specifically, they said:

“The big turnover in the US economy will lead to dramatic turns down in valuations we suspect – and may finally destroy the world’s worst cult: the cult of the equity, which has no basis in fact, or history, but yet seems universally accepted.”

The credit crisis is a reflection of our excesses and this is best reflected in the markets.   We have become a society that values those who get rich quick over those who create sustainable and productive businesses.  This is nowhere more apparent than it is in the financial sector which has become the epicenter of the crisis.  Our bloated financial sector steals our best minds and puts them to work doing little of real value while rewarding them excessively.  The excess growth of this industry has coincided with Main Street’s obsession with Wall Street.  While the buy side reaps the rewards of 2 & 20 or 2% funds fees for what is effectively an index fund (sorry mutual fund managers) the sell side reels the small investor in with the myth of becoming the next Warren Buffett.  The result?   What RBS would call the worst cult in history – an economy that has become transfixed with making money by effectively doing nothing.

We have spent more than we have and lived well beyond our means.  We buy every new Apple product, houses because we believe it is a right and not a privilege, and think of debt as a way to keep up with the way of life that God bestowed upon us.  It is not sustainable and this is becoming clear to us all as the economy appears to be in a perpetual stall.  The worst part in all of this is that we have tried with all our might to prop up a sector that has failed us all.  While Main Street struggles Wall Street is back to their old tricks.”

Now this is a Man that actually KNOWS UP FROM DOWN!  The Pragmatic Capitalist continues this incredibly insightful post…

“As a nation I sometimes wonder if a depression wouldn’t set us straight.  I have often cited the “greatest generation” in this regard.  They were not great because they believed they were owed a way of life.  They were great because they were raised by a nation of hardened Americans.  A generation that fought in a world war, struggled through a depression and was rewarded with another world war.  Their children were a product of that environment and a general “toughness”.

Many graybeards have proclaimed that the equity markets likely won’t bottom until we see excessively low valuations.  The kinds of valuations that coincide with window jumping and vomiting (usually on ones self).  This would likely coincide with a truly breath taking equity decline – a true death of the “equity cult”.  In a recent letter John Hussman proclaimed that bear markets generally crush Wall Street to powder: “quite honestly, it’s difficult to envision a return to long-term saving, productive investment, and thoughtful allocation of capital until – as happens every two or three decades – the speculative elements of Wall Street are crushed to powder.”

Is this time truly different?  For the good of the country, let’s hope not….”

All we can say here at Mad As Hell And is….

AMEN TO ALL THAT Pragmatic Capitalist!

…..and that Thomas Jefferson knew long ago about the dangers of the Las Vegas Gambling that is often referred to as “Wall Street.”

“All the capital employed in paper speculation is barren and useless, producing, like that on a gaming table, no accession to itself, and is withdrawn from commerce and agriculture where it would have produced addition to the common mass… It nourishes in our citizens habits of vice and idleness instead of industry and morality… It has furnished effectual means of corrupting such a portion of the legislature as turns the balance between the honest voters whichever way it is directed.” –Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, 1792

Thomas Jefferson and the Pragmatic Capitalist are talking the same talk about these Vegas Gamblers on “Wall Street” that are diverting TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS from the Real Economy in our country!

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The Unemployment Insurance Debate in Washington DC seems to dealing with everything but the real problem in the United States today.  The problem is that right now there are very few jobs for job seekers and if the United States Government is going to have a policy of paying unemployed Americans for months on end when they cannot find work then the Government should just go ahead and step-in and create work for the jobless to do.

Our proposal here at Mad As Hell And…

The Work For America Program

Current Unemployment Insurance Amount:  $300 dollars weekly approx.

Since there is lot of work that can be done in communities throughout the United States, cleaning up parks, painting, rebuilding public facilities, cleaning up schools, cleaning up roads, etc., why not create a new jobs program funded by the US Government?  Hell, we are already paying out Unemployment Insurance for what will be over 99 weeks if the Congress acts this week, so why not get Americans to work with that same money?

Work For America Program would pay $100 dollars a week over the $300 dollars weekly amount that Unemployment Insurance now pays and any American could enter this new Work For America Program and they would then report to someone in their local county or city and be assigned work to do in the local community.

Maybe to encourage Americans to enter the Work For America program and to get them out doing work that needs to be done in every local community, we could require that after 90 days (3 months) of not finding work and taking Unemployment Insurance one would be required to then enter the Work For America Program if they still wanted to receive benefits from the American Taxpayer

Would there be waste in this type of jobs program?  Well, the government would be involved so of course there would be some waste, but it seems to us that it makes a lot more sense to create some kind of jobs program to gett long-term unemployed Americans back to work.  Yes, we can do this because we are the United States of America!  Let’s put Americans BACK TO WORK and get the Damn Country Moving Again!

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