January 8, 2012

Bonus battles: Disgruntled bankers threaten to sue or walk

Wall Street bankers are fuming about the prospect of paltry payouts come bonus time — and plan to go nuclear.

They’re taking their cues from their disgruntled brethren in London, who are eyeing lawsuits to regain their over-the-top pay. Here at Jefferies Group, a group of brokerage executives reportedly threatened management that they would walk away from the firm if their year-end compensation was not up to par with The Street.

This hubris is just the beginning of much more to come as the downtrodden banking industry gets ready to dole out the most meager bonuses since the 2008 financial crisis.

Big banks are hoarding some of their bonus pools in anticipation of complaints. And being proactive seems to be the plan.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/bonus_battles_BSxbIOec8IVZhSJeriURzI#ixzz1itYKUeMj

January 8, 2012

Meet Sheldon Adelson, who donated $5 million to a Gringrich for President PAC.

Sheldon Gary Adelson (born August 6, 1933) is an American casino and hotel magnate. Adelson is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Las Vegas Sands Corp., the parent company of Venetian Macao Limited which operates The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino and the Sands Expo and Convention Center. Adelson vastly increased his net worth upon the initial public offering of Las Vegas Sands in December 2004. He is currently the 8th wealthiest American[2] and 16th wealthiest person in the world,[3] with a net worth of $21.5 billion.

-snip-

Originally a Democrat, Adelson became a Republican as his wealth increased. "Why is it fair that I should be paying a higher percentage of taxes than anyone else?" he once asked. He began making major contributions to the Republican National Committee following clashes with labour unions at his Las Vegas properties.[5]


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheldon_Adelson

The funding behind Newt Gingrich’s American Solutions for Winning the Future, an independent political committee, offers an intriguing clue into the financial deep pockets backing Gingrich’s candidacy. This week, McClatchy revealed that American Solutions footed the $8 million bill for private jet charters while Gingrich weighed whether to enter the 2008 and 2012 presidential races. Casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson was the biggest funder of American Solutions, contributing $7.65 million and rumored to have committed $20 million to a pro-Gingrich super PAC, a report denied by an Adelson spokesperson. Whether the report is true or not, the facts increasingly show that the billionaire casino magnate is a central figure in Newt Gingrich’s political career.

Sands Corporation CEO Sheldon Adelson is based in Las Vegas but has business and political interests in Macau, China and Israel. In Israel, Adelson’s importance stems from his close friendship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his ownership of Israel HaYom, a free daily newspaper which supports Netanyahu’s Likud party. Back in the U.S., Adelson sits on the board of the Republican Jewish Coalition and is outspoken about his views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

http://thinkprogress.org/security/2011/12/21/393391/sheldon-adelson-the-deep-pockets-behind-newt-gingrich/?mobile=nc

January 8, 2012

I'm not watching the Debate. Has anyone said anything stupid yet?

Excluding George and Diane.

January 7, 2012

Ninth District: Rothman v. Pascrell

http://www.northjersey.com/news/opinions/doblin/doblin_010612.html?c=y&page=1

I'm not entirely convinced that Rothman independently chose to run in the Ninth District instead of taking on Garrett in the Fifth. Your "sponsors" often lend their opinion on how you should run your campaign and my guess is that donors balked at spending their money and possibly losing it if Rothman lost his re-election against Garrett. And that held great sway on his decision to take on Pascrell.

Rothman's first mistake was to characterize himself as the "Bergen County" representative. Clifton, Paterson, and Passaic will not believe that he will have their interests in D.C. primarily. He wants their votes but he may not deliver the money and services that Pascrell currently does.

January 2, 2012

New China food safety scandal widens to oil, peanuts

Chinese authorities in a southern boomtown have detected a cancer-causing toxin in peanuts and cooking oil that was only recently discovered in milk, in the nation’s latest food safety scandal.

The food safety regulator in Shenzhen said it had found excessive levels of aflatoxin in peanuts sold in three stores, and in cooking oil in four restaurants, the official Xinhua news agency said late Friday.

Calls to the regulator — the Shenzhen market supervision bureau — went unanswered.


The incident comes after leading dairy firm Mengniu revealed at the weekend that authorities found high levels of aflatoxin in a batch of milk before it was sold, caused by cows eating mouldy feed at a farm in southwest China.

-more-



http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/12/31/new-china-food-safety-scandal-widens-to-oil-peanuts/


Do you think any of these products are used in Chinese Take-Out here?

January 1, 2012

Oldie but goldie: my mother's classic 1950s Waring Blendor

Still kicks ass especially making Smoothies with solidly frozen strawberries.

January 1, 2012

Portable DVD Player Question

Mine just went black. Even when loading.

Can flat-screen DVD players "burn out" like the old-fashioned television tubes? Don't know whether to fix or buy a new one. (It's less than 5 years old.)