Tag: bailout

The Spring Program at The Joffrey

by rhealitycheck

This past weekend I saw the Spring Program at the Joffrey Ballet and I think what I was most surprised about was that the theater was half empty. I mean it was just unreal. It’s amazing to see how significantly the recession is effecting everything. The part I found most amazing was that the least expensive seats in the house were completely empty. It’s fascinating that everyone has cut back so much. Even with the bailouts, there is such an impact to the arts. I find it quite tragic because I thought the performance was quite stunning.

I have to say I wasn’t a huge fan of the first piece which was Les Noces – choreography by Bronislava Nijinska, music by Igor Stravinsky. The music was stunning but I wasn’t really into the way Nijinska choreographed the piece. I think I tend to like dances that flow a bit more. To be sure the dancing was beautiful and the choreography was certainly dramatic, just not my style.

Now the second piece, Valses Poeticos – choreography by Helgi Tomasson, music by Enrique Granados, was absolutely stunning. I loved it. It was a piece between two dancers with the pianist on stage with them. It was so simple and delicately done. It was literally like watching a love story played out in front of your eyes by these artists with no words needing to be said.

I also loved the third piece, Round of Angels – choreography by Gerald Arpino, music by Gustav Mahler. I wasn’t really expecting to love this piece at all because I thought it was just some art-house thing about angels. But I believe this is what they call poetry in motion. Literally. It was so visually stunning. It was a piece all about lines and how bodies in motion can look so artful together. I think this was possibly the most visually appealing piece I have ever seen.

The last piece, Carousel (A Dance) – choreography by Christopher Wheeldon, music by Richard Rodgers, was quite good but nothing in comparison to the two in the middle. It was certainly interesting and beautifully danced, just not quite the same dramatic effect of Round of Angels or the incredible simplicity of Valses Poeticos.

I would recommend that if you have the time and the finances and if these pieces are performed anywhere you can find them. I would recommend going to see them. I know that the economy makes things difficult right now but I have always believed in supporting the arts. And I get calls from the opera, symphony and ballet in Chicago, so I know they must be having a difficult time. While I can’t commit to being a subscriber, I certainly do try to make the performances I can budget in.

What Every American Should Know About The Bailout

by rhealitycheck

Now I am no economist, in fact, I will readily admit that there is a wealth of information about the banking system that I know nothing about. But I do try to be informed and to keep up with the news and current events. And considering the state of the economy I have been paying a bit more attention to accounting and how the banking system actually works.

So here are a few things that while everyone has been watching these bailouts go out that should be known. Thanks to John C. Coates (a professor at Harvard Law School) and David S. Scharfstein (a professor of finance at Harvard Business School) who wrote a beautiful op-ed in the New York Times, I now know that the bailouts did not actually go directly to the banks that are having trouble lending but rather to bank holding companies. In their piece they ask why the government would give this money to a bank holding company as opposed to a bank, I mean we aren’t bailing out the automotive companies by giving the money to the equity firms that own those companies so why would we do this with the banks? I realize that we, the people (at large), may not be informed of this. But I would hope that those members of the House Financial Service Committee would be aware of this and would have created legislation to be appropriate to the situation instead of going this awkward (not to mention inefficient) way about it.

The next point was raised by yet another fabulously written op-ed by James Deitrick and Michael Granof (professors of accounting at the University of Texas at Austin). The point that they brought up is how the banks are having such trouble accounting for the money being lent to them by the government. But this should not be so difficult. Every non-profit is required to have their accounting systems in order such that they can be held accountable for the funds they receive from various parties. Now, if a non-profit organization can keep their books accordingly, one would imagine that this should not be such a difficult task for a bank. I mean banks are financial institutions, which leads you to believe that they should have a sufficient understanding of accounting to be able to manage the money that they have. I mean isn’t that the point of a bank. If one were to decide to be a banker, it shouldn’t be so difficult to imagine that said banker could be held accountable for their actions. And that they would be capable of having it done correctly. I mean if bankers cannot do this then why are they managing banks, perhaps we should be turning to the accounting teams at non-profits for some guidance. But in all seriousness, it should not be cause for this much of a stir, it should be standard business practice or at least one that they are familiar with.

Lastly, I’d like our government to remember that these are not free handouts to spoiled children who misbehaved. It may be critical to our economy to aid the banks but it is also critical to our economy to not encourage poor practices. However, it is critical that we encourage those wayward souls to start implementing best practices, such as responsible accounting so that things like this will have less of a chance of occurring. Let us remember that it was no accident that we ended up in this position. And if our lawmakers, who are bailing these irresponsible people out of a self-made crisis, do not set the record straight about what is acceptable and what is not, I have little faith that such an event will not occur again in the future.

Losing Our Morals One Dollar At A Time

by rhealitycheck

It seems to me that this economy is nothing but a product of sheer greed. What has always baffled me are the pay scales for people in different industries. I mean, in the banks people make millions of dollars in bonuses for what exactly? I would like to know why those executives make approx 100x what the lowest paid employee makes. Perhaps I believe too much in equality but I really think that’s a huge problem. When you have no clue what your actions effects are on the general populous and you no longer know how “normal” people live.

Not to mention our law-makers. It’s not just Wall St that let things go haywire, it’s our politicians too. Who quite frankly are totally out of touch with reality. I mean I’d really like to know who thinks that a salary of $169K+ is the salary of any average American (if you don’t believe me here are the links for actual figures for the House and Senate). I believe statistically speaking the average household income in America is approximately $50K, so why is it that our law-makers who are supposed to “be in touch with the pain and reality of regular Americans” make 3x as much as the average American? Not to mention, I don’t know about y’all but I am still a small fry so I only get 2 weeks of vacation but you know congress took 5 weeks just this summer when the housing market was crashing and the auto industry was in distress. Not to mention the fact that they will have government health care benefits for the rest of their lives for themselves and their families if they have served in office for 5 years. I ask you, how many corporate employers would do that? In fact, does the government even do that for any other employees? I know for a fact that isn’t true for teachers, so why are our policy makers so different? What exactly gives them all these rights and benefits when I’m not seeing a return on our hard-earned tax dollars. Sure, I’m upset with the banks. No, I don’t believe that their executives should be making the kind of money that they have been for the past I don’t even know how long, but at least that is their own private wealth that they can choose to dole out howsoever they see fit. (At least that was the case until the bailout and I believe there are no bonuses this year so at least there is *some* change in that field). Congress, on the other hand, is benefiting from *our* tax dollars. I mean the general public is expected to be able to balance our own budgets and live within our means but what about you? What right did Congress have to give themselves these raises? (They give themselves a raise every year, how generous right?) Have they truly made enough progress for us to think they are so above the rest of us? Quite frankly the way things are going, I’d say most of them deserve to lose their jobs *and* their benefits as is what would happen in the private sector if they did such a piss poor job as they’ve been doing for the last 8 years.

Granted I also believe that Wall St became too greedy and too loose with their money and with the government supporting their every move it’s hard to want to pull back. I mean why be smart when you could be getting an incredible bonus. You’ll have the money and will probably be gone by the time the whole thing goes bust, right? So who needs to be responsible. And Paul Krugman wrote a great piece on The Madoff Economy where he talks about what happened with the salaries. I think he makes some great points. I just wonder why no one ever considered him for a position in the White House considering he did just win the Nobel Prize and he has been writing insightful pieces for the NY Times for years now. Perhaps he wasn’t interested but I’m sure there would have been rumors if he had ever been considered and I find it quite distressing that he wasn’t. In fact I find a lot of the appointments to be less-than stellar. I mean it’s just a new set of characters from Wall St isn’t it? Instead of Hank Paulson we have Tim Geithner who headed up the NY Fed. Great let’s put more people who were involved in this giant mess into positions of power. Not to mention Larry Summers, why that man should be allowed anywhere after his Harvard fiasco is beyond me. And I mean let’s face it he’s the one that went along with Alan Greenspan back in the Clinton days and clearly that was not a good choice. But oh, I forgot we’re not allowed to criticize our new fabulous President-Elect because he is, of course, Prince Charming and will save us all. (And yes I am *still* licking my wounds that Hillary is only Secretary of State and not our first female President, not just because she’s a woman but because I still think she is the better candidate even if I have resigned myself to being satisfied with the lesser of two mediocre candidates.)

Yes To Bailouts, No To Thinking

by rhealitycheck

Sometimes I truly believe that is what is going on in our government. Has everyone just decided to leave logic and reason at home for the past few weeks? Because I surely don’t see many good decisions being made. Not that a lot of good decisions have been made in the last 8 years but nothing quite so drastic as what seems to be happening with the economy and our lovely tax-payer dollars today. I was having a lovely ride to work today on the bus until I happened upon this article in the New York Times.

First of all I am absolutely incensed that Paulson believes that the money from the bailout should only go to “investment” in financial institutions rather than “spending” on rescue efforts.” Well quite frankly Mr. Paulson, you and your Wall St cronies fucked up big time, pardon my french. Why should we allow you to fritter out tax dollars away giving these guys golden parachutes and money to “invest”? I’m sorry, I think you’ve done a lousy enough job screwing up our economy thoroughly, I think it’s about time we gave back to the people who are losing their homes. Sure, I believe that one should not invest in something one cannot afford but let’s be realistic, we bailed out Wall St for making poor investment choices, which I would like to mention were based on these same mortgages that we are not allowing to be refinanced. So basically what Hank is telling us is that it is ok for banks to make stupid decisions, let’s not hold them accountable but average people who make those same stupid decisions should be held accountable. Right, I’m glad that we’re all on board with this privatized profits and socialized losses system. I love it. Perhaps I am a little too jaded on this topic but I have to say that this editorial did make me happy that at least someone else thinks Paulson’s thinking is flawed.

Although I have to say I was at least happy to note that Paulson does not want to bailout the auto industry. While I don’t like most of what he has done, in this is one instance I do agree that bailing out the auto industry is a bad idea. I actually think the op-ed by Mitt Romney was a really good take on Detroit. I certainly think he made a really great argument for what should actually be done that would be effective.

Why I Was Wary Of The Bailout…

by rhealitycheck

Really, now we want to bailout the automakers in Detroit who haven’t been performing up to par for years? This is the ultimate in privatized profits and socialized losses. Sometimes I wonder about the Democrats in office… Are they actually paying attention or do they just think handing out money to anyone who asks is a good idea? Because I don’t. I may be a liberal but I still believe you should have to earn your own bread and butter. I have come to terms with the fact that our entire economy would have collapsed if we had not bailed out the banks. That I can accept, unhappily but accepted nonetheless. If the automakers cannot create vehicles that people in this country would like to buy then they should not be rewarded for their incompetence by being bailed out.

Yes, I do realize that allowing the auto-giants in Detroit to fail does mean a significant amount of jobs lost. But let’s be realistic, if you run your business poorly, you don’t pay attention to your consumers and the fact that your sales have been going down for years then you are going to run yourself into the ground. And it is not the general public’s problem to clean up. You fail, you close, too bad for you.

And I know Detroit is crying out that we bailed out the banks so why not them. Well, to put it simply, yes the banks made a mess of things but unfortunately they effect every other industry in the United States and, with these fantastic global markets, the rest of the world too. So not bailing them out would have most likely guaranteed a Depression that would have been unprecedented. While I may not like that we bailed out the banks, it certainly was necessary in order to maintain some semblance of an economy, even if it is in crisis. The automakers on the other hand, well ok too bad they go out of business, we still have a bunch of foreign automakers that have factories in the US. This will not effect the entire country much less the world even an iota of what the banks failing would have done.

Perhaps it isn’t fair but it’s true and the less socialized losses we take the happier I am because let’s face it we’re not a socialized country. I am all for socialized losses as long as we start socializing the profits, you just let me know when that happens cause I’m not gonna be holding my breath for that one. And just one final thought, perhaps we should take a look at Britain and learn from their mistakes, bailing out a lousy automaker does nothing for anyone. It’s just plain stupid.