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| 2008/7/11-13 [Reference/RealEstate] UID:50533 Activity:nil |
7/11 The Failure Of Neoliberalism
Charlie Rangel and his 4 rent-controlled apartments in NY, including
one he uses as an office.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/11/nyregion/11rangel.html
\_ Is this a sarcastic joke about the previous post on neoliberalism,
or am I missing something?
\_ I didn't post the 'neolib' comment. Some dumbass keeps adding
it. -op |
| 2008/7/11-13 [Uncategorized] UID:50534 Activity:nil |
7/11 Oops, Obama's 16-month withdrawal strategy isn't even possible.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Z4ba2KkIwI [GMA]
\_ yeah, we're screwed. i really hope Bush crawls into a hole
somewhere and starves himself in shame when he leaves office.
\_ Yeah, because I'm 100% sure that what they are saying is the
gospel truth. Really I am. |
| 2008/7/11-13 [Transportation/Airplane] UID:50535 Activity:nil |
7/11 More TSA Craziness:
http://www.salon.com/tech/col/smith/2008/07/11/askthepilot283 |
| 2008/7/11-13 [Uncategorized] UID:50536 Activity:nil |
7/11 Significant Israeli Air Force presence in Iraq on training exercises.
Real, fake, or psy-ops fake? |
| 2008/7/11-13 [Politics/Domestic/California, Industry/Jobs] UID:50537 Activity:high |
7/11 Regarding the below discussion about "overpaid" government
employees, here is a result of a search on all programmers
who work for the State Board of Equalization:
http://www.sacbee.com/1098/story/766730.html
As you can see, the pay is below industry standard.
\_ You know who makes way too much in California? Firefighters.
Screw those guys. Just as soon as they're done fighting the 3000
simultaneous fires going on now all over the state and turning
my sunset a pleasant red, I expect a full auditing of their
overtime and massive firings.
\_ If they have to work that much overtime then maybe they need
to hire more firefighters. However, I bet the unions won't
allow that. There are lots of people lining up to be
firefighters and there are no positions to be had, yet these
guys work crazy overtime (which has to be unsafe). They
won't accept making their base salary amount, though, which
is what they'd have to take if enough were hired.
\_ My take all along has been that IT is one of the *few* areas that
the government underpays, which is probably why so many of you
think that government pay is low.
\_ Never worked for the government I see.
\_ Never lived in DC I see.
\_ Show me a job title and employer where the pay is high then:
http://www.sacbee.com/statepay
All I see is mediocre (at best) pay levels.
\_ How about an OC detective making $221K?
\_ Unsourced anecdotal evidence is pretty weak. I presented
you with a database with tens of thousands of salaries,
now go make your case.
\_ Happy?
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-deputies14-2008may14,0,1117569.story
"The average salary for federal employees is
$60,517... the Washington, DC area has an average
salary of $78,593."
(Source: http://www.fedsmith.com/article/687
"The top overtime recipient was sheriff's
investigator Theodore R. Harris, who made $120,000
in overtime, bringing his total pay to $221,000"
(Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-deputies14-2008may14,0,1117569.story
(Source: http://preview.tinyurl.com/5lxapl [la times])
"City workers' average salaries will reach about
$68,850 for civilians and $93,800 for sworn police
and fire by July - placing them in the upper ranks
of comparable cities and far higher than
private-sector workers."
(Source: http://www.dailynews.com/search/ci_9221826?IADID=Search-www.dailynews.com-www.dailynews.com
(Source: http://preview.tinyurl.com/5lb8s9 [daily news])
"What was not reported was her annual salary,
which, according to a database published by the
Daily News, is $104,000. Another DWP mother in
attendance was Wendy Ramallo, the wife of Joe
Ramallo, who, according to the database, makes
$167,478 per year.
By the way, if those two drove to the meeting, they
probably drove a car you own. You see, all DWP
employees with six-figure incomes get, in addition
to their salary, a free car, paid for by you, the
taxpayer/ ratepayer.
Sara Perez and Jo-Del Navarro also spoke out, but
they "only" make $86,025.60 and $72,620 per year."
(Source: http://www.citywatchla.com/content/view/1032
"As the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
seeks a hefty taxpayer rate hike, a Daily News
review of salary data shows the average utility
worker makes $76,949 a year - or nearly 20 percent
more than the average civilian city worker.
More than 1,140 of the utility's employees - or
about 13 percent - take home more than $100,000 a
year. And General Manager Ron Deaton, who is on
medical leave, rakes in $344,624 a year making him
the city's highest-paid worker.
DWP salaries are on average higher than city and
far higher than private-sector workers'"
(Source: http://tinyurl.com/6xctu5 [laist])
LWDP database showing painters making $79K:
http://lang.dailynews.com/socal/ladwpsalaries/?appSession=735104577589687
http://preview.tinyurl.com/64ubs3 [dailynews]
Feel free to search for your own job titles at:
http://lang.dailynews.com/socal/ladwpsalaries/
Even "CUSTODIAL SERVICES ATTENDANTS" make $46K.
"Have you heard about the fire captain in the city
of San Diego who made $242,138 in one year? How
about the city lifeguard who made $138,787? It's
all true - and if you thought the city of San Diego's
pensions were generous, wait until
you see how much some city workers are being paid."
"For years, the city's powerful unions and many
city officials have claimed city workers are
underpaid - using the official salary
schedules published in the budget as their
evidence. It is time that the public be told
exactly what city workers are paid. Taxpayers
should not have to rely on an institute to dig up
the information using W-2 data. City departments
(such as the Fire Department) also put "phantom
positions" in their budget to hide off-budget
expenses such as excessive overtime. Mayor Jerry Sanders
recently discovered that 400 or more salaried positions
are not even included in the budget each year."
(Source: http://tinyurl.com/pz5wo [sd union tribune])
\_ "The average salary for federal employees is
$60,517... City workers' average salaries will reach
about $68,850 for civilian workers..." Sorry, those
numbers just don't seem that exorbitant to me, do
they to you? Perhaps there are a few departments where
employees are overpaid (and it sounds like DWP is
one of them) but to extrapolate from that to all
they to you? Perhaps there are a few departments
where employees are overpaid (and it sounds like DWP
is one of them) but to extrapolate from that to all
government employees is bad logic. I do not
begrudge someone getting paid 2X a normal salary
if they do 80 hrs/week of work and I don't
understand why you would either. It does sound like
their boss needs to hire someone new, but this is
their boss needs to hire an extra person, but this is
not always possible, as should be obvious if you
stop to think about for even a second.
\_ 1. It depends on the job being done. For an
accountant maybe not. For a simple clerk,
painter, or custodian then yes. The
argument was that gov't employees are
underpaid and that is clearly untrue. They
don't have to have 'exorbitant' salaries
for that to be untrue. I make $100K and I
don't have a free car, for instance.
2. I gave data for all federal employees, so
we don't have to extrapolate.
3. Do you really think these people are doing
80 hours/week of work based on the hours
gov't offices keep and your experiences in
working with the city/county? For
instance, in San Diego they get every
other Friday off. And they are still
working crazy OT? No way. It's a farce
caused by lax auditing. Why are people who
make $100K per year getting any overtime
at all? At my company (and most companies)
people at that level are exempt and we just
suck it up or quit. The article is making
a point that "phantom positions" are
created to perpetuate this overtime fraud.
The gov't will never hire appropriately
because it would be akin to a pay cut for
the workers. It's easier to continue with
the status quo because you have an excuse
why you are behind on work (short-staffed)
and make the paper salaries seem small.
4. Like I said, I have two sisters working
for the gov't and it's easy money. My one
sister is very honest and she always says
she doesn't have enough work to do and
asks for more and they tell her she needs
to stop working so hard and just enjoy it,
except she gets bored. She's an executive
secretary (which means she is the personal
secretary for a high-level engineer) and
she makes $70K. In another 4 years (will
have been 20 years) she can retire with
50% of her salary and free medical for
life. I don't begrudge her that, but let's
be honest about how that compares to being
a secretary at, say, Wells Fargo (where my
mom worked for many years) where those
benefits are non-existent and you would be
lucky to make $40K in that position. Put
the 'government employees are underpaid'
thing to rest. At worst, they are
compensated as well as anyone else and
usually better.
\_ You're talking a lot, but you're not
saying anything.
\_ You're a moron who can't read.
\_ Since you are the king of making up things
to support your position, I need a lot more
than "the friend of my sister-in-law over
heard at a party" kind of data. Give me a
job description and a state department and
show me a sector of employees in the
in the State of CA database. All of the data
is there for the world to see, surely if
public sector workers are so overpaid, you
can find at least one of them. $60k/yr for
a mid-career teacher, police officer or
skilled craftsman seems very reasonable,
even underpaid, to me. The majority of
local spending is on education, public
safety and public works, so that is where
the majority of employees are going to come
from. The rest of your comments are mostly
not worth replying to, but I will note that
if these jobs are so great, why aren't people
lining up to fill them? There is a chronic
shortage of police officers and teachers in
CA, hardly indication that they are overpaid.
http://http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.t03.htm
Note that total overtime pay is .4% of
overall salary, so your opinion that
overtime pay in the public sector is
ubiquitous is clearly wrong headed.
\_ Plug in "exective assistant" for the
Dept of Water Resources and you will see
pay varies from $39k to $48k. |
| 2008/7/11-13 [Finance/Investment] UID:50538 Activity:nil |
7/11 Private the gains, socialize the losses. Thanks for the billions,
now I am going to retire suckahs, says the financial sector!
http://preview.tinyurl.com/5ta8n7
\_ You missed the "force the losses" |
| 2008/7/11-13 [Finance/Banking] UID:50539 Activity:high |
7/11 IMB taken over by FDIC. Largest single S&L failure.
\_ Thanks Chuck Schumer for causing a run on the bank!
"The banking regulator said it closed IndyMac after customers began
a run on the lender following the June 26 release of a letter by
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., urging several bank regulatory
agencies that they take steps to prevent IndyMac's collapse.
"In the 11 days that followed the letter's release, depositors took
out more than $1.3 billion, regulators said."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080711/ap_on_bi_ge/indymac
\_ You have a strange way of placing blame.
\_ Schumer tipped it over the brink. You dispute this?
\_ IndyMac was going to die no matter what. You dispute this?
\_ American Savings and Loan in Stockton was bigger, according to the
WSJ.
\- i'd be very surprised if indymac was bigger than continental
illinois ... factoring in inflation and all that. continental
illinois was a money center bank in the top 10 by assets. --psb
\_ Indymac is the #2 largest behind Continental Illinois.
\_ Not to be pedantic, but wasn't Cont. Ill. a bank, not an S&L?
\- not to be pendatic in return :-) ...
that is a fair point, but since ~1980, the S&L vs (commercial)
bank distinctinction is basically trivial, i.e. S&Ls may
offer the same range of services and have comparable
regulations on investments (and have moved more and more
in the covergent direction since like getting rid of the
separate FSLIC). YMERA(barfin jake garn-st. germain,
DIDMCA, Regulation Q). See e.g. FMISHKIN book on post-New
Deal regulation of depository institutions. --psb
that is a fair point, but since ~1980, the S&L vs bank
distinct is basically trivial.
YMERA(garn-st. germain, monetary control act 1980)
i.e. S&L may offer the same range of services and have
comparable requirements investments. See e.g. MISHKIN book.
bank distinct is basically trivial. YMERA(garn-st. germain,
DIDMCA, Regulation Q). i.e. S&L may offer the same range of
services and have comparable regulations on investment.
See e.g. FMISHKIN book.
regulations on investments.
YMERA(barfin jake garn-st. germain, DIDMCA, Regulation Q).
See e.g. FMISHKIN book on post- New Deal regulation of
depository institutions. --psb
\_ Thanks Bush! Ownership society, indeed! |
| 2008/7/11-13 [Health] UID:50540 Activity:nil |
7/11 I heard an interview with the victim in this:
link:www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_9852693
I'd like to see this doctor rot in jail. |
| 2008/7/11-13 [Computer/SW/OS/Misc] UID:50541 Activity:kinda low |
7/11 Does anyone know a way to find out all the environment variables for
a running process aside from ps? I'm doing this on AIX, and while
ps eww <pid> gives some of the environment vars, it seems to stop at
2000 characters or so.
\_ have you tried ps ewww? That works in some flavors of Unix.
\- agree with ps -e. otherwise, on AssOS, /proc/<pid>/environ ...
which I believe is a NULL delimited list (so some unix tools/
functions may have issue operating on it, unless you map the NULs
to something else). Not portable. i dont know anything about AIX
any more. --psb
\_ Lucky. AIX is crap. -op.
\- that, i knew :-) [although GPFS is really neat]. |
| 2008/7/11-13 [Recreation/Media] UID:50542 Activity:nil |
7/11 Commentary on Wall-E's anti-fatty subtext. I think it's kinda funny.
http://www.slate.com/id/2195126/?GT1=38001
Actually, one of the parts I liked about Wall-E was where they blame
weight gain on microgravity. I thought that was a good idea, but they
kinda screw it up since everything in the movie seems to fall at
9.8m/s^2.
\_ The movie blamed bone-loss on microgravity. The auto-couches made
them get fat, and the fact that the 5-year plan went a little long.
\_ The little cartoon that accompanied the bone loss line showed
both bone loss and increased blobishness. |
| 2008/7/11 [Politics/Domestic/Election, Politics/Domestic/President/Bush] UID:50543 Activity:nil |
7/11 Grover Norquist blames Nancy Pelosi for high oil prices:
http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2008/07/every-time-i-tr.html |
| 3/15 |