Probing milk price scheme, housing loan schemes, gas price schemes... etc... - Question:

Looking at all these 'schemes', do you think all the corporate criminals are making their
last grabs before the GOP takes a fall in Nov. and lose all their buds to the Dems? Maybe
a silly/naive' question but Organized Crime comes to my mind. I mean REALLY organized!!
Today someone mentioned ENRONesque....

--------

Their eight-year "smash and grab" is coming to an end...

Good way to put it. I mean, this is unreal!! :grr:

Glad I'm not the only one thinking this. Thanks.

Smash and grab fits these criminals to a tee. We are being screwed over and we should all remember who it is that is screwing us.

It appears that corporate profit-taking is really misaligned with the economy. So a "get it while the gettin's good" mentality fits.

They have to get the money from somewhere, since the stock market is so psychotically flat these days. You see, stock prices were artificially inflated for the past few years because so many people bought them due to the across-the-board 15% tax rates on dividends and capital gains. Even though we had a mini-recession, the market was overbought because that tax rate was so historically low (thanks, W).

Well, when the economy went bad for real, the only place to extract money is from businesses. I'm not a tinfoil hat kinda guy, but it makes sense that some on Wall Street and in board rooms across the country are hoarding profits like a mofo.

Obama will get elected, and they'll all quit and retire into Baby Boom obscurity (while drawing Social Security checks, of course). God, is there anything that generation didn't fuck up (I apologize sincerely to all the Boomers on the board, I know there are a lot of great ones. But damn, your generation sucks as a whole.).

The so-called "Captains of Industry" and people/shitheads like McCain etc. are not Boomers!

I get your point, but according to http://content.spencerstuart.com/sswebsite/pdf/lib/2005_CEO_Study_JS.pdf">this study, 58% of the CEOs of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S&P_500">S&P 500 companies in 2005 were between the ages of 50 and 59, and 29% are from 60-69 (I know that the range there only covers a portion of Boomers, but given the percentage of CEOs over 70 -- only 3% -- it's reasonable to assume most between 60 and 69 are on the young end of the range).

Now does that mean "Captains of Industry" aren't well-represented on boards and in other executive leadership? No, obviously. But CEOs are the ones that can really influence a company's performance, and get highly compensated if that performance is good.

were 69 in 2005, then you were born in 1936. ;)

:hi:

Which is why I said "I know that the range there only covers a portion of Boomers"

Anyway, it doesn't matter...the majority (58%) were between 50 and 59 in 2005, an unambiguous Boomer range, which was my point. The old guard has already left, it's the Boomers pulling the strings now and taking profits.

You need to narrow those you attack... most 'boomers' are not greedy corporate CEO's.

Robber baron was a term revived in the 19th century in the United States as a pejorative
reference to businessmen and bankers who dominated their respective industries and amassed
huge personal fortunes, typically as a direct result of pursuing various anti-competitive
or unfair business practices. The term may now be used in relation to any businessman or
banker who is perceived to have used questionable business practices or scams in order to
become powerful or wealthy.

See how silly it sounds? :shrug:

"Everyone born to "The Greatest Generation" is greedy!" :crazy:

You think a WHOLE generation is like that? :silly:

will be bitter for a long time, as we look at rich Boomers collecting SS checks as our standard of living falls far below theirs.

"Leave it in better condition than you found it" seems to be a lost concept to an entire generation of Americans.

Here's my caveat for the overly-sensitive (again): There are a lot of great Boomers, just like in every generation. And there are a lot more good Boomers than bad.

You have been redeemed, my son....

:P

What makes you think I don't understand? I have kids in your generation, I'm sure.

BTW? I see LOTS of Gen X & Y's driving SUVS and throwing their trash out the windows
after they run up their Credit Cards filling up on gas. You're generation is not immune.

I'm joking, I'm joking. My generation (for the record, I'm 32, so I guess I'm a fringe X-er) is at an age where we can make those choices for ourselves.

But wouldn't you agree that if X-er's and the Y's keep up the wasteful consumption of our parents, this country will be in terrible trouble? In other words, more of us have to choose to live a different way than our parents, which is extraordinarily difficult. That doesn't mean that there won't be plenty of us that choose the more convenient path.

;)

I know I did things differently from my parents. (I cut out the 'hoarding'!) :P

And I didn't pollute and gripe about that 'change' like my Dad did.

But he taught ME about recycling!! I had hand-me-downs for years! :P

We all learn some good and bad from the generation before us. ;)

Btw? You're only a year older than my oldest son. :D

Or corporate crime or creative accounting, for that matter.

:P

My tongue was tied.

:hi:

BIG TIME

cuz they know the regulators are on the way. And that's not good for Corporate Thieves

honestly, honest corporations just doing business have nothing to fear. But the crooks are streaming

out from under the floorboards like they hear the Orkin man at the door.

"the crooks are streaming out from under the floorboards like they hear the Orkin man at the door."

:rofl: :spray: