Today's WTF Moment is Brought to You By Wall Street.........

I am so working in the wrong business..........




For example, every fourteen minutes in 2009, hedge fund manager David Tepper made President Obama’s annual salary. No matter how well compensated our Hollywood and sports stars are, the real money comes from the business of money. The AFL-CIO’s PayWatch noted that recently major bankers, apparently embarrassed by their dependence on record taxpayer subsidies, have tightened their belts. Thomas Montag, president of global banking at Bank of America, received only $29 million, or $14,500 an hour. But the hedge funds have demonstrated no such restraint. The magazine Institutional Investor declared David Tepper the best paid hedge fund manager in 2009 at $4 billion. To put this in perspective, that is $2 million an hour. That is one million dollars every half hour. A Pittsburgh native, he donated $55 million to Carnegie Mellon University, which gratefully changed the name of a graduate program to the David Tepper School of Business. That was half a week’s paycheck.

(no subject)

It's after midnight my time, so it's time to send out some birthday wishes.

Sending out...

*~*~*~*~*GREAT BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY WISHES*~*~*~*~*


To my best friend, that I have never actually met, Hevel, aka morzsa, poeticceadsearc, manwithamission and also to his twin brother, Daniel.

I hope you guys have a super great and special day today. :)

(no subject)

This just goes to prove there is no reality in reality tv/celebrities......

Rep. Duffy: I Only Make $174,000 -- I'm Not Living "High On the Hog"
posted by: Robin Marty

As a former Reality TV star, you would think that freshman Congressman Sean Duffy would be well acquainted with working for nothing. But instead, the Wisconsin Republican complained during a recent local event that he wasn't "living high on the hog" on a mere congressional salary, even if it was much more than the amount that the teachers he was advocating pay cut for were making.

Via Think Progress:


At a townhall meeting in Amery, Wisconsin last week, the "Real World's" Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI) exposed just how out of touch with ordinary Americans he is. According to progressive blog Rightguardia, one constituent -- an underemployed construction worker -- explained that his wife, a teacher, may have to take a cut in wages if Wisconsin's draconian budget bill goes through. "I'm just wondering what your wage is and if you guys would be willing to take a cut," he asked Duffy.

Displaying that delicate sense of empathy characteristic of conservatives, Duffy whined about his $174,000 congressional salary and his "used minivan." When the man pointed out his salary was "three times what I make," Duffy reassured him that "I have more debt than you." "I'm not living high off the hog," he added:

Constituent: But a hundred and seventy-four thousand, that's three times — that's three of my family's — three times what I make.
( Read more... )

Today's WTF Moment Pt. 2 is Brought to You by Maine's Legislature.......

Maine Wants Children To Work For Sub-Minimum Wage
posted by: Robin Marty


So much for just letting kids be kids. First Missouri began floating rescinding child labor laws, stating that the family should always be the one to decide if a child should work or not. Now Maine wants to get in on the act, too.

Via Huffington Post:


[U]nder a new piece of legislation introduced in the state's House of Representatives, employers would be able to pay anyone under the age of 20 as little as $5.25 an hour for their first 180 days on the job.

The bill, LD 1346, also eliminates the maximum number of hours a minor 16 years of age or older can work on a school day and allows a minor under the age of 16 to work up to four hours on a school day during hours when school is not in session.

What? Only when school isn't in session? Why not go all the way, and allow them to dash out and put in an hour or two over their lunch break or study hall? Or maybe you can use that recess period the elementary students have?

As Maine legislators argue to Huffington Post, there's no shortage of people in Maine looking for work. The issue is that employers have no incentive to hire them if the legislature is willing to create a new subclass of workers that companies can hire for even less than the already paltry minimum wage, and who, with no families to support, can afford to live on that amount.

Americans used to try to stop sweatshop practices in other countries. Now, it turns out we're quite eager to create them in our own.