Arrogant f**kwit.
You know I'm hoping some good will come of all of this.I heard the other day that American personal debt went down for the first time in fifty years.I've been saying for years people are living beyond their means and Ithis this is proof of it.Kids are driving brand new cars,couples have their first homes custom built rather than buying a starter home,people fill their homes with electronic goods that didn't exist years ago and pay the usage fees that go along with them.$5 coffee!
The US may still be number one but it's close and we're getting winded,time to get back in shape.
LATER!!!
Agreed. I also rented Tropic Thunder on Sat. and, sorry, but I did not find it funny at all.
Yeah, I'll say it was. Wifey looked at me and we both said "was that it?"Agreed. I also rented Tropic Thunder on Sat. and, sorry, but I did not find it funny at all.
Iron Man was OK.
I guess the last film I saw I actually liked was No Country For Old Men (although the ending was a bit "out there").
I used to like action and horror but being a parent has softened me.
Another guy got hurt and my role may change for awhile.It's the thought that counts.
I am hoping for a better standard of sheltered accommodation for myself when the time comes.
So do you get to use it?Well my friends, I thought I would cheer you all up by posting the costs so far for setting my daughter up with her MAC "minimal" songwriting studio.
Mac Pro Book =£1628
Carrying case =££48
Apogee Duet sound module=£318
Logic Pro 8 (with student discount) = £108
Yamaha Clavinova CLP370 digital piano = £1629
Total =£3791
In dollars at approx $1.5 =£1 = $5596
This excludes monitor speakers, mic, mic stand, external hard drive etc.
I can only rationalise it by thinking this is an investment in the future.....MY future
If this works well, I can see me ditching the PC environment and going MAC too. I am just sick of the freezing issues and anti-virus measures I have to take with a PC.
Tom Cruise cracked me up!His best role ever.
Can't say I'm a Tom Cruise fan,or that I even like any of his movies.....Isn't that sort of like owning the best house in a really bad neighborhood?
So do you get to use it?
I guess she couldn't get by with just a Fostex four track huh?
LATER!!!!
. Her college dictates what she can and cannot use.
Can't say I'm a Tom Cruise fan,or that I even like any of his movies.....
I can't say I ever seen a movie because of who acted in in,except for porn of course.
(Breeding like bloody rabbits - that's in Laws for you)
Unusually, the outgoing incumbent was on the interview panel - very strange.
When I left my last job (not IEEE, but the one before that), I was asked to interview the candidates for my replacement. I thought it strange also.
I really toyed with idea of recommending a loser - since I figured it would make me look good in hindsight.
You might want to remember that in case they make you an offer.
Weather
We're getting our second snowstorm of the year today. This is pretty early in the year for us. The first one (Tuesday) melted pretty quick, and I never even had to shovel it.
I'm hoping this one won't interfere with the Dachay's tonight. They are saying it is supposed to change over to rain, so hopefully it will all wash away before evening - although the rain/snow line is going to be pretty close to us, and depending on where it falls exactly, will determine whether we get rain or more snow.
I'm not proud. Surely not? ) are bailing them out provided they restructure by March and match salaries of foreign owned car plants, which are much less.
My brother told me that the average salary of a Car worker (Unionised) in the US is $150k
(BTW, this is not only true for the auto companies, but our local goverments (city/state) have done the same thing. Policeman, firemen, etc. can typically retire after 20 years on the job and receive about 67% of their pre-retirement pay. (Mind you, these are typically people in their early 40's!!) And if they stay another 10 years (still only in their early 50's), they retire with FULL pay.
No way!
My recollection is that the salaries at the unionized U.S. plants are more like $50/hour, whereas the Japanese and European mfgs who are building in the U.S. are paying around $35/hour.
However, that is not the real issue. The U.S. companies have ALREADY negotiated a dual wage scale, whereby newly hired employees make essentially the equivalent of what the non-US companies are paying, and only the older (grandfathered) employees make the $50 rate.
What is killing the US companies are the legacy payments for retirees (pension and medical costs). This nut doesn't exist for the non-US companies since 1) they only built their plants recently and probably don't have very many retirees, and 2) they didn't negotiate gold-plated retirement benefits to begin with.
Don't get me started, but I believe the former managers of these companies deliberately offered up premium retirement benefits to the union, rather than pay increases. The reason? Retirement benefits would hit down the road and be someone else's problem. In the meantime profitability under their watch remained high - and, hence, so did their compensation.
Anyway, it's possible that the number your brother is citng is the "full labor cost" to companies like GM/Ford. In other words salary, benefits, PLUS the cost of their retirement plans calculated back to a "per hour worked" basis. I'm not sure about that, but that would be more credible.
There certainly aren't any auto workers making $300k a year.
). Same over here; the only peolple really hiring are the public sector. How about a street naming executive? Yours @ $90k per annum. Or an addictive smoking health advisor for $65k per annum So the Public sector always pays better pensions than the private sector now. But your example is ludicrous; 67% of pay aged mid forties In France, it is 15 years of public service for 60% of final pay. So refuse collectors, street cleaners and parks dept employees who start work at 16 can retire on 60% salary aged 31 Teachers at 37!!! So far, thay have resisted the offer and they look forward to retire mid fifties, in a couple of years time. Except I see one of the US banks are using the US govt bailout to pay staff bonuses to half the value of the funds thay had from the Feds
The one I liked was Credit Suisse. They are paying their executive bonuses in Mortgage-Backed Derivatives.No free lunches anymore.
The one I liked was Credit Suisse. They are paying their executive bonuses in Mortgage-Backed Derivatives.
"You thought they were so great, so here, you can have them."
And the best part is that executives can't really complain.
Brilliant, best laugh I have had all day Hope it chokes em