It was nearly two weeks ago that the House of Representatives, acting in a near-frenzy after the disclosure of bonuses paid to executives of AIG, passed a bill that would impose a 90 percent retroactive tax on those bonuses. Despite the overwhelming 328-93 vote, support for the measure began to collapse almost immediately. Within days, the Obama White House backed away from it, as did the Senate Democratic leadership. The bill stalled, and the populist storm that spawned it seemed to pass.

But now, in a little-noticed move, the House Financial Services Committee, led by chairman Barney Frank, has approved a measure that would, in some key ways, go beyond the most draconian features of the original AIG bill. The new legislation, the “Pay for Performance Act of 2009,” would impose government controls on the pay of all employees — not just top executives — of companies that have received a capital investment from the U.S. government. It would, like the tax measure, be retroactive, changing the terms of compensation agreements already in place. And it would give Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner extraordinary power to determine the pay of thousands of employees of American companies.

The purpose of the legislation is to “prohibit unreasonable and excessive compensation and compensation not based on performance standards,” according to the bill’s language. That includes regular pay, bonuses — everything — paid to employees of companies in whom the government has a capital stake, including those that have received funds through the Troubled Assets Relief Program, or TARP, as well as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The measure is not limited just to those firms that received the largest sums of money, or just to the top 25 or 50 executives of those companies. It applies to all employees of all companies involved, for as long as the government is invested. And it would not only apply going forward, but also retroactively to existing contracts and pay arrangements of institutions that have already received funds.

In addition, the bill gives Geithner the authority to decide what pay is “unreasonable” or “excessive.” And it directs the Treasury Department to come up with a method to evaluate “the performance of the individual executive or employee to whom the payment relates.”

The bill passed the Financial Services Committee last week, 38 to 22, on a nearly party-line vote. (All Democrats voted for it, and all Republicans, with the exception of Reps. Ed Royce of California and Walter Jones of North Carolina, voted against it.)

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I saw this on Russ Daggatt’s blog and I had to send it around — how appropriate for the times we are in……. Last Friday, Federal regulators shut down banks in Georgia, Colorado and Kansas, marking 20 failures of federally insured banks this year. More are expected to succumb to the prolonged recession.

For those interested in a scorecard of failed banks, this is some interesting reading — a page at the FDIC web site offered this list of banks which have failed since October 1, 2000:

The global financial crisis has evolved into a worldwide recession of epic proportions. Analysts fear the sudden slump which has followed the credit crunch could even rival the Great Depression of the early 1930s and lead to global stagnation.

But who is responsible?

The bursting of the housing bubble and the collapse in confidence throughout financial markets was not caused by one individual or a single decision, so pointing the finger of blame is a near-impossible task. But the UK’s Times Money is weighing in with their best shot anyway. Here are their ten suggestions for the nine men and one woman responsible for the mess we’re in. Once you have read their thoughts, make your own suggestions in the comment box at the end of the blog post.

As a loyal Michigan fan (and former manager under Bo Schembechler), I was interested to read this week that in hoops, Michigan has been in two of the Top 5 alltime NCAA Championship games.  Maybe that could spur us on to make a big run this year? (maybe not)

Most Avg. Viewers, NCAA Championship Game (millions)

1979 – Mich St. vs. Ind. St. – 35.1 (Magic Johnson vs Larry Bird)
1992 – Duke vs. Michigan – 34.3
1993 – UNC vs. Michigan – 32.9
1994 – Arkansas vs Duke – 32.7
1983 – NC St. vs. Houston – 32.1 (Phi Slamma Jamma)

I love the awesome acapella sounds of vocal group  Naturally 7 creating their “Wall of Sound” with vocal play. Everything you hear on this video is the human voice! Check ‘em out!
 

Another funny teleprompter gaffe as the President thanked himself during a press coference with the Irish Prime Minister.  I hope the guy can learn to give as speech that he knows and believes in rather than one read off of a teleprompter like the anchor of the evening news.  It’s a little scary when he reads the whole speech which had been written for the Prime Minister of Ireland and doesn’t realize it. Here are two humorous articles written to the teleprompter:

Rush Limbaugh Poses Questions to the teleprompter

Lee Hemphling  calls for the Teleprompter to Resign

Here is a summary of what happened via YouTube:

Today I celebrated my 25,000,000-minute birthday! Can you believe that I have been around for 25 million minutes?…it seems so-o-o-o-o-o-o long!  I guess the average life expectancy is about 40 million minutes so I guess I am am past halfway!

As I am 88 % Irish, I thought I would give you some facts about the Irish on this day, our national Holiday!    There are 3.8 million people in Ireland, but when Saint Patrick’s Day is celebrated on March 17, it seems that the whole world turns Irish.  The day
commemorates St Patrick, who brought Christianity to Ireland in the Fifth Century. Although not an official holiday in the United States, St. Patrick’s Day has a long history of being celebrated with parades and general goodwill toward all things Irish, or at least Irish-American.  (Translation: green beer, corned beef and cabbage and Irish soda bread).

The Irish who immigrated to the United States brought the traditions of the home land with them. Many who fled the poverty, famine and unrest landed on the shores of North America. In the US today, there are 33.7 million residents who claim Irish ancestry. This number is almost nine times the population of Ireland itself.
Irish Mass

Almost a quarter of the people who live in the state of Massachusetts decend from Irish immigrants. With 23 percent of the population of Celtic ancestry, Irish Massachusetts has a higher proportion of residents of Irish descent than any other state, edging out New Hampshire (20 percent) and Rhode Island (18 percent). The remaining New England states — Connecticut, Vermont and Maine — also rank among the top 10 in this category, as does Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Montana. While New York City has the largest number of Irish residents Boston tops the list of cities with the largest percentage of the population.
Some more Irish-American numbers…

156,000 – U.S. residents born in Ireland, which was among the top 10 countries of birth among the foreign-born population as recently as 1970.

373,000 – Tourists and business travelers from “the old sod” who visit the United States annually.

$24 billion – The value of U.S. imports from the Republic of Ireland during a recent 10-month period (January-October 2005). Meanwhile, the United States exported $7.5 billion worth of goods to Ireland.

22 – Gallons of beer consumed per capita by Americans annually. Some establishments offer beer dyed green in honor of St. Patrick’s Day.

9 – Number of places in the United States which share the name of Dublin, Ireland’s capital city. Dublin, Ohio, was the most populous, at 31,392, followed closely by Dublin, California, at 29,973.

4 - Number of places in the United States named Shamrock, the floral emblem of Ireland. Mount Gay-Shamrock, West Virginia and Shamrock, Texas, were the most populous, with 2,623 and 2,029 residents, respectively. Shamrock Lakes, Indiana had 168 residents and Shamrock, Oklahoma, 125.

If you’re still not into the spirit of St. Paddy’s Day after stopping by one of the places named “Shamrock” or “Dublin,” then you might consider paying a visit to Emerald Isle, North Carolina, with 3,488 residents, of whom in a ratio of 1-in-6 are of Irish descent.

With such a fine day like today to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago, I wanted to turn serious for a moment and give you some information about the Irish people and their history in Chicago from the Encyclopedia of Chicago History.

From a few hundred residents in the 1830s, Chicago emerged as the fourth largest Irish city in America by 1860. Unlike their counterparts in New York, Philadelphia, and Boston, however, Chicago’s Irish grew up with their city and exerted influence out of proportion to their numbers. Irish labor—first on the Illinois & Michigan Canal (1836–1848) and later on the lumber wharves, railroads, stockyards, and steel mills—contributed to Chicago’s phenomenal growth from frontier town to urban metropolis. As Chicago became even more ethnically and racially diverse, the Irish continued to be well represented at the highest levels of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese and city government, especially the police force, fire department, and public school system.

As a result of five potato crop failures beginning in 1845, Ireland lost nearly one million of its people to disease and poverty and 1.5 million more to emigration. After the famine, changes in inheritance laws and land-use patterns made emigration the only option for generations of young men and women. In sharp contrast to the migration of German, Polish, and Jewish families and Italian men, Irish women often traveled alone or with groups of female relatives. Chicago’s foreign-born Irish population peaked at 73,912 in 1900, but immigration continued steadily until the Immigration Act of 1924 reduced to 18,000 the number of Irish men, women, and children allowed into the United States each year. More restrictive quotas in 1929 and the Great Depression brought Irish immigration to a virtual halt until the 1950s. The last great wave of Irish migration to the United States, during the 1980s, included upwards of 36,000 undocumented immigrants, many university-trained men and women who settled permanently in Boston and Chicago. Because recent legislation has made it more difficult for them to obtain work permits and to adjust their status in the United States without incurring heavy penalties, they have taken jobs once reserved for unskilled immigrants: nannies, domestic workers, bartenders, waitresses, and construction workers. [Read more...]

The best baristas in the United States battled for the title of United States Barista Champion and Mike Phillips from Intelligentsia Coffee in Chicago emerged the victor. The 2009 United States Barista Championship (USBC), presented by the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) and hosted by DaVinci Gourmet (www.davincigourmet.com), was held March 5-8 in Portland, OR at the Oregon Convention Center. Nick Griffith of Intelligentsia Coffee in Los Angeles, CA, placed second and Scott Lucey of Alterra Coffee in Milwaukee, WI, placed third.

Phillips, who has been working at Intelligentsia Coffee (www.intelligentsiacoffee.com) in Chicago for three years, two as a barista, said, “Winning in a field of competitors at this high of a caliber is one of the most humbling experiences of my life. It is truly an honor.”

As the reigning United States Barista Champion, Phillips will go on to represent the United States in the World Barista Championship (WBC) in Atlanta, Georgia, April 16-19, 2009, hosted by the SCAA in conjunction with its annual exposition, which is the largest gathering of coffee professionals in the world. Photos of the new U.S. Barista Champion can be downloaded at http://twitchy.org/usbc2009/.

Wondering how the US got into the credit crunch? Ever think how all those `rich’ people suddenly become more broke than us? Well, fear no more. Everything is beautifully explained in this wonderful video on Vimeo.

It explains everything from the start where the sun was shining and we were dancing. All the way to where it was raining cats and dogs of formally rich people. It’s not exactly detailed, but it does describe the basics of what happened.  Click below to watch this excellent video,

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis

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Can you believe that today is this American icon’s 50th birthday?

In honor of it, we’ve found some crazy facts (from Barbie’s official website) about the 11.5 inch-tall, 7.25-ounce doll to remind all of you out there just what kind of an impact Barbie has had on pop culture since her birth on March 9, 1959 at the International Toy Fair in New York:

• Barbie’s real name is Barbie Millicent Roberts

• Barbie is from Willows, Wisconsin.  She attended Willows High School

• Barbie has four sisters: Skipper (1964), Stacie (1992), Kelly (1995) and Krissy (1995)

• Barbie’s first boyfriend, Ken, debuted two years after Barbie in 1961 — Ken was named after the son of Mattel founders Ruth and Elliot Handler and Ken and Barbie broke up on Valentine’s Day in 2004 after being together more than 43 years

• During her first year in stores, about 300,000 Barbies were sold at $3 a pop.

• The average price it would cost you to get one of those original dolls in good condition today: $27,450.

•Three Barbies are sold somewhere every second (and sales total around $1.5 billion a year). So just in the time it took you to read this sentence, about nine dolls were sent on their way home from the toy store.

• The best selling model ever? 1992′s Totally Hair Barbie.

• In her 50 years, Barbie has tried out more than 108 different careers. Among some of the fan favorites: pet doctor, Miss America, and Rock Star.

• The toy has represented 50 nationalities thus far. That’s more than most TV networks can say.

• Due to the fact that its used somewhere around 105 million yards of fabric to outfit Barbie, Mattel is considered one of the largest apparel manufacturers in the world.

• Barbie, it seems, spends more time at the “salon,” than most females do: her hair is made up of seven shades of blonde, weaved together to get that token golden look.

• Ninety percent of little girls in the U.S. (ages 3 to 10) own at least one Barbie.
•Still, being a fan of the doll herself isn’t limited by age:

Barbie’s popularity seems to be continuing to grow (there apparently are 1,000 YouTube channels dedicated to the girl and more than 300 Facebook pages in Barbie’s likeness. So today, we toast one of the greatest American icons of all time!

Happy Birthday Barbie!

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