class warfare? that is rediculous. The poor & middle class are simply oppressed by the elites. I pray for class warfare to actually begin. Eat the rich!
Defending AIG again???!!! GOOD GAWDS! why are you a corporate shill Stef? FUCK the AIG jackasses...the ought have all their assets confiscated & distributed among their VICTUMS. Actual carpet bombing of AIG buildings world wide sounds fine to me.
@genghisdon1 They did NOT perform successfuly or well, are you temporarily insane?
THEY SHOULD BE IN JAIL, NOT MAKING $250000+
The banks/firms in question should have been ELIMINATED (and the upper management along with them)
Again you speak to (admitedly larger) other crimes as if it negates lesser offenses. HTF does your brain figure NO justice is better than a little bit of justice? Suffer from ALL OR NOTHING thinking much? A couple dollars? Get a grip, man
Stefbot, I believe you to be a paid a paid shill who is excepting money to manipulate public opinion.
To do nothing now is to endorse a system that has been perverted by the wealthy to earn terrific gains in the short term but is doomed to collapse over and over again. I.E the the bubble forming boom bust economy.
Also, the price these companies were allowed to fail, like in any try economy, these senior executives would be out of the job, and would receive no pay.
He is way off the deep end here arguing that theses bankers have some kind of valuable talent. Might as well argue that limiting the money the mafia can earn will mean the best gangsters will go elsewhere. These bankers are criminals. I hope they do all get out of the financial industry. The percentage of our economy skimmed off by the financial sector has risen to over 40% at the expense of people who actually produce something.
This is kind of a bizarre moral question to bring up isn't it?...I mean AIG should not have received any bailout money in the first place...it is definitely amusing that the public thinks it's amazing that obama did this...blows my mind..how about ending the war!
And the ONLY thing whihc could affect their decisions is if they ran in the street and skinned a smal child alive !
They are gangs of public school boys, who gather together to screw YOU and me, as they did our ancestors, and that is their ONLY relationship with us.
If we were not profitable, they would either move somewhere else, or murder us (as they did with the american indians).
And fools like you think they will look after your sorry ass, over mine ? They will kil us both one day !!
Not that I agree with the war in Iraq, but stef you really dont seem to know whats going on there. Compared to our crappy economy there economy is boomig they have there lavish housing, satelite tv, designer dresses, cell phones, its basically America in the Middle East, that war is basically over, People should be mad at AIG they got what three gov bailouts or four I lost track. People should be mad at the government to, I say its time for some vigilante justice.
Thats impossible, aLL peopel in the east, live in those mud brick houses, like we see on tv. Sometimes we see a proper city on the TV, but are normally able to dismiss it form our minds, as some sort of "glitch" in the TV, or our minds. We certainly dont "believe" in foreign civilisation, as such.
They NEED us to liberate them, and bring them unemployment, mass debt and wage slavery.
Seriously thoug, i THINK its all countries who ARENT in the western Rothschild banking sytem who are LAUGHING.
I just happened to notice your comments. Do you mean to say that the same Iraqis who were previously bombed out of their homes now live in "lavish housing"?--that the the same individuals who had their doors kicked in by foreign troops and were trotted out to prison camps are now idling their time away chatting on cell phones?-- Women who were widowed and left to die in the streets are now strolling along those very streets in "Designer dresses"?.... Man have we been duped!
So, its ok, if you give someone some money after youve vitimised them ?
If you murder someone, is it ok, as long as you can pay tehir family, after ?
If you rape someone, what is the price, in your mind ? Because americans have raped lots of iraquis, apparently.
Do you have some mental list of "compensations", per crime, or are you just making this up, as you go along, based on your immediate opinion, with no comparitive thought, prior to your mouth opening ?
What I find ridiculous in this situation is that people don't see this is a diversionary tactic. Here's Obama ready to spend trillions of taxpayer dollars for various plans that may or may not work and bailout plans for failing institutions and Americans are screaming at Congress to literally re-steal the money back.
I still think you're idea of closing down over-seas bases and stopping this ridiculous "war on terror" will do America some great good.
Normally I would agree completely with this analysis. However, AIG was a different case. First, AIG was simply a shell company to protect the banks. Secontly AIG would not exist at this point if not for the govt bailout and there would have been no bonuses for anyone. Therefore the govt should own AIG and has every right to demand the execs not take bonuses. All could have been avoided if the govt had not gotten involved and let AIG fail and the banks take their losses.
Seach wikipedia and look at the list of the various nations on ex-post-facto laws. There you find 'enlightened' western nations allowing it under various circumstances, wheras in 'primitave' eastern nations such as iran it is flatly prohibited. Makes you wonder if 'freedom and democracy' is a codeword for glib oppression.
It is ONLY the fact that about 1/3rd of the population passes money, or leaflets, or brochures around, and gets a free car, binuses, health care etc., for producing NOTHING, which drives our country down.
The only peopel who cant seeit, are the suits.
Dont get me wrong, a GOD organiser like stefbot is worth money.
My lovelly brother (and he is), cant unblock his own toilet, fix his own fence, or anything USEFUL.
Ergo, the worlers could EAT the rich in a battle for survival !
Setefan you missed a point. There were other things going on this was misdirecting us from. For instant they started monetizing our debt. Watch the magicians in action. There are less people outraged than we are lead to believe. They stured this up to distract us.
I am glad to see at least one of the more prominent v-loggers, speaking out against the ill advised mob mentality of allowing our government to "recoup", contractually obligated "bonus" payments for services rendered, through despicable and unconstitutional taxes. If only my fellow Americans in the mob, truly understood the damaging precedent this kind of thing sets. But of course we Americans have been so enraged by our jealousy of the well to do, that we can't see the forest for the trees.
Thanks for speaking somewhat slower. Far better so!
Subject is bulls-eye tmho. Indignation = envy inspired, not morally inspired. BUT: how to change this archaic, outdated and corrupt Church based-system that about 350 years now tries to rule amidst lies, fantasies, utopias, criminality and violence?
What about: a vacuum of power should the 'western' (Christian) world collapse. And it already does for demographic reasons! What's the tangible alternative?
The outrage over the bonuses is a diversion so you don't notice that no one is being prosecuted for the fraudulent practices which created this meltdown. Give the people their money. Investigate AIG, prosecute the people who perpetrated the fraud. AIG paid a fine for fraudulent accounting practices in the past. Companies should not be allowed to pay fines for fraud...people should go to jail.
The people who pull the strings to produce a war must believe in what they are doing on some level or drink a gallon of denial every night. I mean it's easier for the every day citizen becasue there's always a layer of the unknown but for a human to know that he's gonna make some phone calls to put the wheels in motion that will end thousands of lives for his own profit is... I can't find the words.
Although less expensive/bloody than the war, it's improper to exploit workers to feed taxes toward executive bonuses. AIG overextended themselves by going into those contracts when they couldn't sustain themselves. Too bad for AIG!
Awesome commentary. I think the evolution of government always becomes perverse in the end. There is just no better alternative to this. Mankind is a puppet of Fear. Fear destroys everything.
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
You lost me when you made moral equated the AIG bonuses to the Iraq and Afghan wars. I guess we should only look out for our self interest, about what I would expect from atheist.
Well, we should look out for our self interest. If you believe we should not be looking out for our self interest, then I must say I can certainly use a million dollars. Since it would be a marvelous act of charity, I'm sure you'll give it to me. If you won't give it to me, then you, too, are looking out for your own self interest, you selfish pig!
I am glad a rather innocuous comment would affect you so.
The freedom of all peoples especially those in a strategic region such as the middle east and central asia is in our national interest. Comparing that noble goal to the fraud of the AIG bailout and the anti-American seizure of property of these executives mocks the sacrifices made by the few in liberating the oppressed.
Hussein was overthrown because he wanted to trade oil for euros instead of dollars, threatening the standing and petrodollars of Bush's friends and business partners in Saudi Arabia (see: SAMA).
It's never "national interest", just the government/president's interest -- they're exploiting Americans (and Iraqis) to achieve it with no benefit to us.
I was there. Saddam's Iraq was a giant concentration camp masquerading as an ammunition dump. There are mountains of evidence of Saddam's intentions, past history and his capabilities. If you are going to sex up despotism, at least get paid to do it otherwise why have propaganda ministers?
No, religion... emplies the worship of something, the beleif sytem of something, atheism is just like antibodies....it is rejection, its rejection of a maligne object that seeks to enter the body.
I also have to add that your analogy of 3 days of spending on the Iraq war is ludicrous.
Seriously, you are talking about a major offensive taking literally 100's of 1000's of employees - Air transport, food, lodging, medical, weapons, and a country 1/2 the side of the USA...
compared to 73 overpaid, underqualified, self agrandizing buddies of Paulson that did nothing but betray and collude to destroy their own people.
Please remember, without a bailout: no job, no bonuses, no additional pay.
stefbot: you talked about how new laws can be turned around & used to harm the very people who demanded them in the first place.
When I think about what's being done with the tax codes to punish AIG for embarrassing the powers-that-be, I think about how the new legislation might be warped to squeeze even more tax dollars out of the common people. There's been talk of taxing healthcare benefits as they were "bonuses."
We need to be very very careful what we demand b/c we just might get it.
Stef, what if these 'additional payouts' as you put it (which in Corp. America is a bonus - I used to get them along with all the other Exec's) wasn't for doing a good job, but instead for extorting as much possible profit in interests charges and transaction fees while keep a lid on the fact that the company was insolvent or to keep employees from bailing out early (as happened in the Corp. that was destroyed that I worked for)?
How could 73 employees have done work worthy of millions and fail?
Excuse me, Psyogi, but I daresay I must call your background into question. You say that you've been a high powered executive?
Furthermore, you don't know for sure what those executives did or didn't do to receive that pay. Don't act like everyone else is a corrupt turd just because the company you supposedly worked for was full of them.
Your logic seesm ot imply that, if a firm does badly, wages should stay the same. But if it does well, its ok to throw that money at the employees (or some of it), in the form of bonuses.
Never reduce prices, or give it back to customers,in any way, though ?
Thi smethod (the "tilted teble") means that ALL money will slowly, or quickly roll in the direction of those who's only work, is to inform other of their desire.
Communism is what happens, if you leave me in the gutter - that MY weapon !
Well no, what he's saying is that if a firm does badly but some employees are very valuable you should not cut their wages, lest they leave. If you can't make a profit with the highly paid but even more valauble workers then how could you once they scarper.
You kidding me? Banks make money. Otherwise they'd never be in business in the first place. What the hell do you think interest rates on loans are for?
Banks (if they're run well) produce a temporary transfer of economic capacity from those who aren't now able to use it productively to those that can. This is valuable. For instance suppose that I had created $10M dollars worth of hardware suitable for mining, would it make sense for me to keep it if I didn't have a mine? No. Banks can lend money to miners so that they can temporarily have the value and create more value with it. This is a valuable service.
Communism is not a good system because (most of) those people in suits do create value. Can you hedge a mining companies position? No? Then your claim that your brother not being able to fix a car is proof he's not valuable is no more valid than if I claimed you create no value because you can't perform a complex task.
They make a connection between two trading parties, each of whom employ (enslave) a few workers.
However, since there will be erhaps 5 salesmen, sellign very similar products (the difference being minimal in most cases), you must logically calculate that several salesemn are doing the job of 1 salesman (sharing it, splitting it into 5 categories of product).
Also, thye gte paid more.
But who can you do without ? The salesman or the "makers"?
And if the professional talkers didn't tell you whether or not anyone wants what you produced, how productive would you be? How productive would you be if people didn't estimate demand? If people don't find out what the best way to make something was how productive would you be?
How about if i produce enough food for myself, and perhaps some elderly neighbours and friends, and dont pay the man in the suit ANYTHING, cus we dont need a washing machine or playstation ?
How about if i just think thats a fair loss, ot get rid of him ?
And the heating etc., How about if i live in th ehills, and YOU have no one to serve you ?
I think we'd all survive better without you than you would survive without people who do the things you don't think are productive. Note that you didn't answer a single one of my questions. I very much doubt that you could produce enough food to survive without people who don't "produce anything" by your standards.
Hey, im not worried what you think,know what i mean ?
Im not saying you dont produce anything. Im saying its mainly posionous. Lawyers produce misery, bankers, businuessmen, and many others.
The main problem seems ot be an extreme desire to defend the belief that you are in some way "entitled" to more than the workers, because of your education.
Surely the priestly class of an intelligent nation, would be modest ?
But here, they look and behave as vampires, sucking the goodness out of life
And yet you continue to try and convince me of things through simple assertion. You specifically said that people like me don't produce anything so don't claim you didn't. I do not say that I or anyone else is entitle to more than workers because of education, people are entitled to what they gain consensually. Simple claims that people are unproductive that fly in the face of evidence are unconvincing.
You can't talk anymore because you've run out of arguments that can convince yourself, you certainly haven't been convincing anyone else. The claim that the information I share implies what I think instead of states it is clearly untrue and irrelevent since implication can be valuable. If I produce nothing of value then why do people pay me? Tell me how you can create the same amount of value without the people you claim are valueless as is now created.
But I don't control the use of police, crooked lawyers etc. so how do _I_ get paid? Nobody is forcing anyone to pay me. You are simply lying about me and what I do based on zero information and therefore making yourself look foolish. Who puts a gun to the shareholder's heads and makes them pay executives? If nobody does why do they do it if executives aren't productive?
I don't just "pick at" your criticism I destroy them. You claimed I got paid through use of the police, crocked lawyers ect. which is untrue. You claimed that the shareholders have no choice, which is certainly not true since they don't have to invest in the company. If the board is made up of the main shareholders then the main shareholders definitely have a say don't they? They can fire the CEO etc. So why don't they?
You really think that competition is worse that brutal enslavement to the State? I assume therefore that you moved to a communist country as soon as possible? Name one communist State that actually was run on common sense. Oh and Gordon Brown is not ushering in communism, fascism maybe.
I never had any authority over the workers. You said you couldn't talk not me. You are now making up stuff about me with no basis in fact, an admission of defeat. You have no dealt with a single point I have made and simply want to bring Isreal in so you can make it seem like I don't care about the troops. I don't but what's that got to do with it? I didn't send them anywhere.
When the lights go out, who will survive ? Well, my brother will because i will watch his ass. But you see ? If a man cant DO anything without electricity and phones, he is FALSELY productive. he is ACTUALLY a cost, disguised as an asset.
If the workers go home, the hwole company is screwed. ONLY they are essential. And they are paid the least, and appreciated the least.
THIS is what causes anger. If the salesman didnt get 3 times more, plus a car, there woudl be NO credit crunch.
And if the water stops running, the plumber isn't useful either. If the managers go home, who pays the workers? If the workers aren't paid, why do they show up? There is work to be done above basic production, and unskilled labor doesn't tend to do it.
I'm dead? Why? Who's blackmailing whom? You can do all this now. Quit your job. I'm not making you go. Your water system, if you refuse to share it, remains unproductive to humanity as a whole, in the same way you believe "suits" are unproductive.
Humanity does not move forward without economic incentive to research and distribute new technologies.
What's wrong with the phrase unskilled labor?
How are managerial types stealing, if every transaction is voluntary and without fraud?
Playing 'devil's advocate' as you claim to be does not mean you must stoop to insults. I think you are also taking thorell's comments waaaay out of context, to the point of taking the words out of his mouth, as it were.
The government has no problems breaking contracts between workers and corporations. GM, Chrysler, Ford & the UAW. Another FINE example of class warfare, at that. My "bonuses" which were negotiated for in 2007 will NOT be paid to me.
I do NOT agree with how congress is dealing with the bonuses, Article 1, Section 9.
Why even bother arguing this, let's talk about how the whole debacle could have been avoided if we had people interested in sound economic policies in congress.
Now, now old timer, information is always better from a wise old coot, especially if he's got a funky hat, or no hair on his head! ;P
Really, though, when I initially saw this video, I thought you were ill, then it occured to me that your lighting was *eh-hem!* not showing you as the "young and vibrant bull" I'm used to seeing.
There, that better? :)
Anyway, you really know how to put this "market" filth into perspective.
I find the most Ironic part of it all is that the government has something like a 60% share in AIG, of which 116 million is a pittance, and that through all of this they have driven the price of AIG's stock down by a good 50%-- which was far, far more overall capital than 116 million. The government essentially destroyed it's own capital by pure stupidity.
I think by definition that makes them Losers right?
And to think the arrogance that they believe that rather than being unemployed or flipping burgers (which I oddly think they'd screw up as well) these idiots believe they are in every way entitled to millions in bonuses - beside the job they should have lost.
It's not a bonus; it's hush money. (association by guilt). Everybody's guilty of something and there's always somebody who knows what to disclose just in case there's a temptation to get out of line. In other words, instead of bribing people with good things(gifts)to perform criminal acts, they control to them with threats to expose bad things they've done to make them do more;( Welcome to Casino America!
Stefan, I don't know what to say. Your commentary is salient beyond description. You have gotten beyond anger, disbelief and outrage. You have moved into the realm of realization. Thank you so much! I'd give you 100 stars, if I could.
class warfare? that is rediculous. The poor & middle class are simply oppressed by the elites. I pray for class warfare to actually begin. Eat the rich!
Defending AIG again???!!! GOOD GAWDS! why are you a corporate shill Stef? FUCK the AIG jackasses...the ought have all their assets confiscated & distributed among their VICTUMS. Actual carpet bombing of AIG buildings world wide sounds fine to me.
It's not a "feeling" it is a fact Stefan
genghisdon1 4 months ago
@genghisdon1 They did NOT perform successfuly or well, are you temporarily insane?
THEY SHOULD BE IN JAIL, NOT MAKING $250000+
The banks/firms in question should have been ELIMINATED (and the upper management along with them)
Again you speak to (admitedly larger) other crimes as if it negates lesser offenses. HTF does your brain figure NO justice is better than a little bit of justice? Suffer from ALL OR NOTHING thinking much? A couple dollars? Get a grip, man
genghisdon1 4 months ago
Thanks for the content Stefbot. I respectfully disagree with the assessment.
ShinEmperor 9 months ago
Stefbot, I believe you to be a paid a paid shill who is excepting money to manipulate public opinion.
To do nothing now is to endorse a system that has been perverted by the wealthy to earn terrific gains in the short term but is doomed to collapse over and over again. I.E the the bubble forming boom bust economy.
Also, the price these companies were allowed to fail, like in any try economy, these senior executives would be out of the job, and would receive no pay.
dapple33 1 year ago
lol, these bankers got skills. immoral skills but skills nevertheless.
sniped101 1 year ago
He is way off the deep end here arguing that theses bankers have some kind of valuable talent. Might as well argue that limiting the money the mafia can earn will mean the best gangsters will go elsewhere. These bankers are criminals. I hope they do all get out of the financial industry. The percentage of our economy skimmed off by the financial sector has risen to over 40% at the expense of people who actually produce something.
klard 1 year ago
@klard Can you tell me where you bought your crystal ball in which you can see that bankers wouldn't have a valuable talent in a free society?
fps0chris 1 year ago
@fps0chris : They are parasitic by nature. They are dependent upon a host and produce nothing of value themselves. No need for a crystal ball.
klard 1 year ago
Comment removed
mikeybrumbrum 2 years ago
This is kind of a bizarre moral question to bring up isn't it?...I mean AIG should not have received any bailout money in the first place...it is definitely amusing that the public thinks it's amazing that obama did this...blows my mind..how about ending the war!
errorspending 2 years ago
And the ONLY thing whihc could affect their decisions is if they ran in the street and skinned a smal child alive !
They are gangs of public school boys, who gather together to screw YOU and me, as they did our ancestors, and that is their ONLY relationship with us.
If we were not profitable, they would either move somewhere else, or murder us (as they did with the american indians).
And fools like you think they will look after your sorry ass, over mine ? They will kil us both one day !!
mikeybrumbrum 2 years ago
these include:
Iran
Nth Korea
Pakistan
Irag (till recently)
Afghanistan (Tille recently)
Can anyone see a pattern here ?
Oh yes, its as though ALL the evil peopel are refusing credit form Rothschild !!
Arent they all evil, for oding that ? Lets call them an "Axis of Evil".
mikeybrumbrum 2 years ago
Not that I agree with the war in Iraq, but stef you really dont seem to know whats going on there. Compared to our crappy economy there economy is boomig they have there lavish housing, satelite tv, designer dresses, cell phones, its basically America in the Middle East, that war is basically over, People should be mad at AIG they got what three gov bailouts or four I lost track. People should be mad at the government to, I say its time for some vigilante justice.
JustinS87 2 years ago
Thats impossible, aLL peopel in the east, live in those mud brick houses, like we see on tv. Sometimes we see a proper city on the TV, but are normally able to dismiss it form our minds, as some sort of "glitch" in the TV, or our minds. We certainly dont "believe" in foreign civilisation, as such.
They NEED us to liberate them, and bring them unemployment, mass debt and wage slavery.
Seriously thoug, i THINK its all countries who ARENT in the western Rothschild banking sytem who are LAUGHING.
mikeybrumbrum 2 years ago
I just happened to notice your comments. Do you mean to say that the same Iraqis who were previously bombed out of their homes now live in "lavish housing"?--that the the same individuals who had their doors kicked in by foreign troops and were trotted out to prison camps are now idling their time away chatting on cell phones?-- Women who were widowed and left to die in the streets are now strolling along those very streets in "Designer dresses"?.... Man have we been duped!
primelimelite 2 years ago
So, its ok, if you give someone some money after youve vitimised them ?
If you murder someone, is it ok, as long as you can pay tehir family, after ?
If you rape someone, what is the price, in your mind ? Because americans have raped lots of iraquis, apparently.
Do you have some mental list of "compensations", per crime, or are you just making this up, as you go along, based on your immediate opinion, with no comparitive thought, prior to your mouth opening ?
mikeybrumbrum 2 years ago
@mikeybrumbrum thats the point of the free market. lol
fps0chris 1 year ago
What I find ridiculous in this situation is that people don't see this is a diversionary tactic. Here's Obama ready to spend trillions of taxpayer dollars for various plans that may or may not work and bailout plans for failing institutions and Americans are screaming at Congress to literally re-steal the money back.
I still think you're idea of closing down over-seas bases and stopping this ridiculous "war on terror" will do America some great good.
Crustanarchy 2 years ago
Normally I would agree completely with this analysis. However, AIG was a different case. First, AIG was simply a shell company to protect the banks. Secontly AIG would not exist at this point if not for the govt bailout and there would have been no bonuses for anyone. Therefore the govt should own AIG and has every right to demand the execs not take bonuses. All could have been avoided if the govt had not gotten involved and let AIG fail and the banks take their losses.
lorax2013 2 years ago
Wow Stef. I think you created a very convincing, cozy, and spooky production.
Thought provoking delivery, pitch, lighting, tone and content!!! Bravo!!
neotechdrag 2 years ago
Arbitrary taxation. Very scary.
namename654 2 years ago
Seach wikipedia and look at the list of the various nations on ex-post-facto laws. There you find 'enlightened' western nations allowing it under various circumstances, wheras in 'primitave' eastern nations such as iran it is flatly prohibited. Makes you wonder if 'freedom and democracy' is a codeword for glib oppression.
Gromitdog1 2 years ago
He manages to inform us greatly, in the lessest way.
mikeybrumbrum 2 years ago
(by the way folks, please dont panic, im just playing "devils advocate")
mikeybrumbrum 2 years ago
Comment removed
mikeybrumbrum 2 years ago
It is ONLY the fact that about 1/3rd of the population passes money, or leaflets, or brochures around, and gets a free car, binuses, health care etc., for producing NOTHING, which drives our country down.
The only peopel who cant seeit, are the suits.
Dont get me wrong, a GOD organiser like stefbot is worth money.
My lovelly brother (and he is), cant unblock his own toilet, fix his own fence, or anything USEFUL.
Ergo, the worlers could EAT the rich in a battle for survival !
FEAR US !!
mikeybrumbrum 2 years ago
Epic end.
Rokasomee 2 years ago
excellent, thanks for the perspective!
JiangalangG 2 years ago
Setefan you missed a point. There were other things going on this was misdirecting us from. For instant they started monetizing our debt. Watch the magicians in action. There are less people outraged than we are lead to believe. They stured this up to distract us.
jadam914 2 years ago
I hadn't thought about my reaction to the AIG bonuses in that way before... nice video. Keep it up.
Eragmus 2 years ago 2
I am glad to see at least one of the more prominent v-loggers, speaking out against the ill advised mob mentality of allowing our government to "recoup", contractually obligated "bonus" payments for services rendered, through despicable and unconstitutional taxes. If only my fellow Americans in the mob, truly understood the damaging precedent this kind of thing sets. But of course we Americans have been so enraged by our jealousy of the well to do, that we can't see the forest for the trees.
xxxchaindrive 2 years ago
Hay I was against the war from the beginning!
nietsnevel 2 years ago
very nice stef
SloganLogan 2 years ago
I want a hammer of justice!
hughtub 2 years ago
New studio lighting scheme? Props in the background?!
FDR's budget is rising I see. :)
snipa4lyfe 2 years ago
Those bottles make the scene look elegant and professional.
hahahah =]
Doomsetter 2 years ago
Thanks, Stef. Once again, you reveal my illogical/irrational assumptions with your shiny, lateral thinking.
Valelacerte 2 years ago
Great video, stef. Enlightening. I would like to see some sources on some of that info about contracted pay, etc.
TedWillingham 2 years ago
He says it at 1:30 - The Nazis have basically installed "national socialism" in america. NOT happy socialism.
mikeybrumbrum 2 years ago
Thanks for speaking somewhat slower. Far better so!
Subject is bulls-eye tmho. Indignation = envy inspired, not morally inspired. BUT: how to change this archaic, outdated and corrupt Church based-system that about 350 years now tries to rule amidst lies, fantasies, utopias, criminality and violence?
What about: a vacuum of power should the 'western' (Christian) world collapse. And it already does for demographic reasons! What's the tangible alternative?
YahiaAlWajid 2 years ago
Im sure that doesn make any sense, but it could be me.
mikeybrumbrum 2 years ago
The outrage over the bonuses is a diversion so you don't notice that no one is being prosecuted for the fraudulent practices which created this meltdown. Give the people their money. Investigate AIG, prosecute the people who perpetrated the fraud. AIG paid a fine for fraudulent accounting practices in the past. Companies should not be allowed to pay fines for fraud...people should go to jail.
davidcarrig 2 years ago 7
davidcarrig, I wish I could give your comment five thumbs up.
aarythmic 2 years ago
The people who pull the strings to produce a war must believe in what they are doing on some level or drink a gallon of denial every night. I mean it's easier for the every day citizen becasue there's always a layer of the unknown but for a human to know that he's gonna make some phone calls to put the wheels in motion that will end thousands of lives for his own profit is... I can't find the words.
DCLugi 2 years ago
Although less expensive/bloody than the war, it's improper to exploit workers to feed taxes toward executive bonuses. AIG overextended themselves by going into those contracts when they couldn't sustain themselves. Too bad for AIG!
giygas666 2 years ago
Awesome commentary. I think the evolution of government always becomes perverse in the end. There is just no better alternative to this. Mankind is a puppet of Fear. Fear destroys everything.
stahrman 2 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
You lost me when you made moral equated the AIG bonuses to the Iraq and Afghan wars. I guess we should only look out for our self interest, about what I would expect from atheist.
lordtiberius 2 years ago
Well, we should look out for our self interest. If you believe we should not be looking out for our self interest, then I must say I can certainly use a million dollars. Since it would be a marvelous act of charity, I'm sure you'll give it to me. If you won't give it to me, then you, too, are looking out for your own self interest, you selfish pig!
LeksServices 2 years ago
:D
I am glad a rather innocuous comment would affect you so.
The freedom of all peoples especially those in a strategic region such as the middle east and central asia is in our national interest. Comparing that noble goal to the fraud of the AIG bailout and the anti-American seizure of property of these executives mocks the sacrifices made by the few in liberating the oppressed.
lordtiberius 2 years ago
Hussein was overthrown because he wanted to trade oil for euros instead of dollars, threatening the standing and petrodollars of Bush's friends and business partners in Saudi Arabia (see: SAMA).
It's never "national interest", just the government/president's interest -- they're exploiting Americans (and Iraqis) to achieve it with no benefit to us.
giygas666 2 years ago 2
I was there. Saddam's Iraq was a giant concentration camp masquerading as an ammunition dump. There are mountains of evidence of Saddam's intentions, past history and his capabilities. If you are going to sex up despotism, at least get paid to do it otherwise why have propaganda ministers?
lordtiberius 2 years ago
So, how many children ought to die for your noble goal?
WorBlux 2 years ago
Do you beat your children?
lordtiberius 2 years ago
"about what I would expect from atheist. "
-That's just...such outrageously stupid comment.
Nebelung13 2 years ago 2
You seem very well qualified to make that determination.
lordtiberius 2 years ago
Well actually yes, im atheist, and i know what true atheism stand for, so i have my consciense clean.
Nebelung13 2 years ago
I was not talking about your religious preference and atheism is its own religion.
lordtiberius 2 years ago
No, religion... emplies the worship of something, the beleif sytem of something, atheism is just like antibodies....it is rejection, its rejection of a maligne object that seeks to enter the body.
Nebelung13 2 years ago
For reference, $160M is what it costs to run a Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier for one year.
bwelkk 2 years ago
And Kellog Briand seemed to work out so well.
lordtiberius 2 years ago
Comment removed
mikeybrumbrum 2 years ago
Comment removed
mikeybrumbrum 2 years ago
good vid stef, in total agreement.. AIG is something to stay focussed on while the real deception is taking place.
navtel 2 years ago
I also have to add that your analogy of 3 days of spending on the Iraq war is ludicrous.
Seriously, you are talking about a major offensive taking literally 100's of 1000's of employees - Air transport, food, lodging, medical, weapons, and a country 1/2 the side of the USA...
compared to 73 overpaid, underqualified, self agrandizing buddies of Paulson that did nothing but betray and collude to destroy their own people.
Please remember, without a bailout: no job, no bonuses, no additional pay.
PsyogiBottoms 2 years ago
stefbot: you talked about how new laws can be turned around & used to harm the very people who demanded them in the first place.
When I think about what's being done with the tax codes to punish AIG for embarrassing the powers-that-be, I think about how the new legislation might be warped to squeeze even more tax dollars out of the common people. There's been talk of taxing healthcare benefits as they were "bonuses."
We need to be very very careful what we demand b/c we just might get it.
FriedDaisy 2 years ago
This is all so Atlas Shrugged... I am glad Rand isn't around to see all of this...
Durthalion 2 years ago
Stef, what if these 'additional payouts' as you put it (which in Corp. America is a bonus - I used to get them along with all the other Exec's) wasn't for doing a good job, but instead for extorting as much possible profit in interests charges and transaction fees while keep a lid on the fact that the company was insolvent or to keep employees from bailing out early (as happened in the Corp. that was destroyed that I worked for)?
How could 73 employees have done work worthy of millions and fail?
PsyogiBottoms 2 years ago
Excuse me, Psyogi, but I daresay I must call your background into question. You say that you've been a high powered executive?
Furthermore, you don't know for sure what those executives did or didn't do to receive that pay. Don't act like everyone else is a corrupt turd just because the company you supposedly worked for was full of them.
thelastholdout 2 years ago
Your logic seesm ot imply that, if a firm does badly, wages should stay the same. But if it does well, its ok to throw that money at the employees (or some of it), in the form of bonuses.
Never reduce prices, or give it back to customers,in any way, though ?
Thi smethod (the "tilted teble") means that ALL money will slowly, or quickly roll in the direction of those who's only work, is to inform other of their desire.
Communism is what happens, if you leave me in the gutter - that MY weapon !
mikeybrumbrum 2 years ago
Well no, what he's saying is that if a firm does badly but some employees are very valuable you should not cut their wages, lest they leave. If you can't make a profit with the highly paid but even more valauble workers then how could you once they scarper.
newperve 2 years ago
Because BANKS make NOTHING !!!
They MOVE money, and take a cut from every movement - thats it !
I make things, but owe the banker money.
There is a mob ocming, and everyone needs ot undersatnd this.
Its gone too far. But wil the middle class kill the mob ?
Then you will BE the mob, next year ! And you will be the NEW workign class, when we are gone (and e will abandon the country, if we have to).
What will the upper and middle class make of this land ?
YOu cant unblock your own toilets !!
mikeybrumbrum 2 years ago
You kidding me? Banks make money. Otherwise they'd never be in business in the first place. What the hell do you think interest rates on loans are for?
thelastholdout 2 years ago
Banks (if they're run well) produce a temporary transfer of economic capacity from those who aren't now able to use it productively to those that can. This is valuable. For instance suppose that I had created $10M dollars worth of hardware suitable for mining, would it make sense for me to keep it if I didn't have a mine? No. Banks can lend money to miners so that they can temporarily have the value and create more value with it. This is a valuable service.
newperve 2 years ago
when you say "more valuable", surely you are not talking baout peopel who wear suits ?
Surely you can see that its the wearing of a suit, whihc prevents a man from performing ANY useful tasks ?
My suit wearing brother almost took his car into a garage last week - cus a screw fell out of the number plate, for gods sake ! So I fixed it.
It annoyes me, that people who CREATE nothing, and FIX nothing, get everything.
Communism is actually a GOOD option, ofr peopel like me, and that SHUD scare u
mikeybrumbrum 2 years ago
Communism is not a good system because (most of) those people in suits do create value. Can you hedge a mining companies position? No? Then your claim that your brother not being able to fix a car is proof he's not valuable is no more valid than if I claimed you create no value because you can't perform a complex task.
newperve 2 years ago 2
Sorry, i cant wear that. if you odnt make anything, or fix anything, you are NON productive.
Yes, an organiser will speed things up. 2, 3 5 or 50 organisers are a drain on th emoney.
Business today is 1 bankers, 1 salesman, 1 office manager, 1 shareholder , and a man making things.
Only the man making things is valuable, the rest are liabilites.
In my family, i am a plumber, my 1 borther is a salesman (selluing signs), other brother is vicar.
THEY, are professional TALKERS !
mikeybrumbrum 2 years ago
salesmen create jobs, sir! roughly twenty per salesman! that's productive!
throwntomato 2 years ago
Right, but thye dont PRODUCE anything, od they ?
They make a connection between two trading parties, each of whom employ (enslave) a few workers.
However, since there will be erhaps 5 salesmen, sellign very similar products (the difference being minimal in most cases), you must logically calculate that several salesemn are doing the job of 1 salesman (sharing it, splitting it into 5 categories of product).
Also, thye gte paid more.
But who can you do without ? The salesman or the "makers"?
mikeybrumbrum 2 years ago
And if the professional talkers didn't tell you whether or not anyone wants what you produced, how productive would you be? How productive would you be if people didn't estimate demand? If people don't find out what the best way to make something was how productive would you be?
newperve 2 years ago
How about if i produce enough food for myself, and perhaps some elderly neighbours and friends, and dont pay the man in the suit ANYTHING, cus we dont need a washing machine or playstation ?
How about if i just think thats a fair loss, ot get rid of him ?
And the heating etc., How about if i live in th ehills, and YOU have no one to serve you ?
HOW on earth woudl YOU survive ?
mikeybrumbrum 2 years ago
I think we'd all survive better without you than you would survive without people who do the things you don't think are productive. Note that you didn't answer a single one of my questions. I very much doubt that you could produce enough food to survive without people who don't "produce anything" by your standards.
newperve 2 years ago
Hey, im not worried what you think,know what i mean ?
Im not saying you dont produce anything. Im saying its mainly posionous. Lawyers produce misery, bankers, businuessmen, and many others.
The main problem seems ot be an extreme desire to defend the belief that you are in some way "entitled" to more than the workers, because of your education.
Surely the priestly class of an intelligent nation, would be modest ?
But here, they look and behave as vampires, sucking the goodness out of life
mikeybrumbrum 2 years ago
And yet you continue to try and convince me of things through simple assertion. You specifically said that people like me don't produce anything so don't claim you didn't. I do not say that I or anyone else is entitle to more than workers because of education, people are entitled to what they gain consensually. Simple claims that people are unproductive that fly in the face of evidence are unconvincing.
newperve 2 years ago
Yesp, thats what i mean. YOu prodeuce nothing of any value. Even the information you share, "implies" what you think, rather than saying it.
Sorry, cant talk to you any more.
bye !
mikeybrumbrum 2 years ago
You can't talk anymore because you've run out of arguments that can convince yourself, you certainly haven't been convincing anyone else. The claim that the information I share implies what I think instead of states it is clearly untrue and irrelevent since implication can be valuable. If I produce nothing of value then why do people pay me? Tell me how you can create the same amount of value without the people you claim are valueless as is now created.
newperve 2 years ago
a small group of people who are able to subjugate a large number of people, with the use of police, crooked lawyers etc., are always paid well.
Just liek the bullies in the play ground end up with all the money in their pockets, so do you.
But your laziness, and "false" feeling of superiority, and natural leadershiop, has left you incapable of surviving if the lights go out.
You are simply a TAX collector, of one variety or another. ALL accountants are tax colectors. What a WASTE of moneytime
mikeybrumbrum 2 years ago
But I don't control the use of police, crooked lawyers etc. so how do _I_ get paid? Nobody is forcing anyone to pay me. You are simply lying about me and what I do based on zero information and therefore making yourself look foolish. Who puts a gun to the shareholder's heads and makes them pay executives? If nobody does why do they do it if executives aren't productive?
newperve 2 years ago
I am truly dissmayed, that even here, i can find no one ntelligent enough to debate.
YOU just pick at my criticisms, then take the awful leap of preuming that your criticisms of my criticism, some how justify your whole arguement.
And the "sahreholders" have NO say ! The board is picked by the board, and paid by the board, and IS the board.
If you think a 3rd hand "shareholder" has ANY influence, you need educating. The BOARD is made up of the MAIN sharholders, and they run themselves.
mikeybrumbrum 2 years ago
I don't just "pick at" your criticism I destroy them. You claimed I got paid through use of the police, crocked lawyers ect. which is untrue. You claimed that the shareholders have no choice, which is certainly not true since they don't have to invest in the company. If the board is made up of the main shareholders then the main shareholders definitely have a say don't they? They can fire the CEO etc. So why don't they?
newperve 2 years ago
Gordon Brown has now announced the NEW WORLD ORDER, proper, at the G20 summit, so it doesnt matter what we think.
However, a communist world govt is gonna be a good thing, since it stops all the pointless competition, and replaces it with common sense.
See you in the new land (as jesus called it)
mikeybrumbrum 2 years ago
You really think that competition is worse that brutal enslavement to the State? I assume therefore that you moved to a communist country as soon as possible? Name one communist State that actually was run on common sense. Oh and Gordon Brown is not ushering in communism, fascism maybe.
newperve 2 years ago
I dont care WHAT you call a system.
If it charges me for existence (council tax, for instance), it is evil, and i KNOW it.
Commie, nazi, republic, monarchy, i dont give a monkey's.
While there is "existence" tax, i am anti-govt, in my mind. When i can live for free, i will rest.
until then, i am in my own little battel wiht the state.
I often shout at magistrates who tell me i owe money, just because i like to see them "wobble" on their chairs.
The price is more, but i like to see it.
mikeybrumbrum 2 years ago
And yet you support communism and lie to support it. Or was the claim that it is based on "common sense" a delusion rather than a lie.
newperve 2 years ago
Oh and look, annoyingly, i AM still talking, It seems your authority over the worker has ended.
May i recommend (for the next planet you live on), that you dont win your way to the top with lies and deceipts ?
Even our soldiers are coming back with open eyes. They saw their buddies die, to pretect, who ? Rothschild form ISRAEL !!
If our lads want to wear white saucers on their heads, instead of berets, they would tell you !
You have sold our blood !!
mikeybrumbrum 2 years ago
I never had any authority over the workers. You said you couldn't talk not me. You are now making up stuff about me with no basis in fact, an admission of defeat. You have no dealt with a single point I have made and simply want to bring Isreal in so you can make it seem like I don't care about the troops. I don't but what's that got to do with it? I didn't send them anywhere.
newperve 2 years ago
newperve.
When the lights go out, who will survive ? Well, my brother will because i will watch his ass. But you see ? If a man cant DO anything without electricity and phones, he is FALSELY productive. he is ACTUALLY a cost, disguised as an asset.
If the workers go home, the hwole company is screwed. ONLY they are essential. And they are paid the least, and appreciated the least.
THIS is what causes anger. If the salesman didnt get 3 times more, plus a car, there woudl be NO credit crunch.
mikeybrumbrum 2 years ago
And if the water stops running, the plumber isn't useful either. If the managers go home, who pays the workers? If the workers aren't paid, why do they show up? There is work to be done above basic production, and unskilled labor doesn't tend to do it.
thorell9 2 years ago 4
Comment removed
mikeybrumbrum 2 years ago
I'm dead? Why? Who's blackmailing whom? You can do all this now. Quit your job. I'm not making you go. Your water system, if you refuse to share it, remains unproductive to humanity as a whole, in the same way you believe "suits" are unproductive.
Humanity does not move forward without economic incentive to research and distribute new technologies.
What's wrong with the phrase unskilled labor?
How are managerial types stealing, if every transaction is voluntary and without fraud?
thorell9 2 years ago
Comment removed
mikeybrumbrum 2 years ago
Playing 'devil's advocate' as you claim to be does not mean you must stoop to insults. I think you are also taking thorell's comments waaaay out of context, to the point of taking the words out of his mouth, as it were.
simplewhimsy 2 years ago
Comment removed
mikeybrumbrum 2 years ago
The government has no problems breaking contracts between workers and corporations. GM, Chrysler, Ford & the UAW. Another FINE example of class warfare, at that. My "bonuses" which were negotiated for in 2007 will NOT be paid to me.
I do NOT agree with how congress is dealing with the bonuses, Article 1, Section 9.
Why even bother arguing this, let's talk about how the whole debacle could have been avoided if we had people interested in sound economic policies in congress.
r7n7 2 years ago
Not to mention, doesn't an 80% stake in AIG constitute some power or control over what the company does?
r7n7 2 years ago
Good video, but your voice is sexier through the headset thingy.
ThePointlessPoint 2 years ago
I don't mean to offend you, Stefan, but the lighting on this video adds fifteen years to your age. You might wanna change that.
Nice info, thought!
Cailwyn 2 years ago
Would the info be better if I looked younger? :)
stefbot 2 years ago
Now, now old timer, information is always better from a wise old coot, especially if he's got a funky hat, or no hair on his head! ;P
Really, though, when I initially saw this video, I thought you were ill, then it occured to me that your lighting was *eh-hem!* not showing you as the "young and vibrant bull" I'm used to seeing.
There, that better? :)
Anyway, you really know how to put this "market" filth into perspective.
Cailwyn 2 years ago
My, my, Cailwyn...what an INCREDIBLY shallow comment to make! Breathtaking, really...Un-fucking-believable!
kittencartman 2 years ago
Oh, come on! I'm just ribbing the guy. Mr. Molyneux seem to have a good sense of humor about things, otherwise I would have refrained.
Cailwyn 2 years ago
I find the most Ironic part of it all is that the government has something like a 60% share in AIG, of which 116 million is a pittance, and that through all of this they have driven the price of AIG's stock down by a good 50%-- which was far, far more overall capital than 116 million. The government essentially destroyed it's own capital by pure stupidity.
RogueSwordThesco 2 years ago
Or rather my tax dollars, and not its own capital.
RogueSwordThesco 2 years ago
I think by definition that makes them Losers right?
And to think the arrogance that they believe that rather than being unemployed or flipping burgers (which I oddly think they'd screw up as well) these idiots believe they are in every way entitled to millions in bonuses - beside the job they should have lost.
Ain't that America.
PsyogiBottoms 2 years ago
It's not a bonus; it's hush money. (association by guilt). Everybody's guilty of something and there's always somebody who knows what to disclose just in case there's a temptation to get out of line. In other words, instead of bribing people with good things(gifts)to perform criminal acts, they control to them with threats to expose bad things they've done to make them do more;( Welcome to Casino America!
Strong ending statement.
moreaudan 2 years ago
Moral Indignation seems like a lifetime ago.Jesus and Thomas Jefferson can suck my ass!
VCADD 2 years ago
Stefan, I don't know what to say. Your commentary is salient beyond description. You have gotten beyond anger, disbelief and outrage. You have moved into the realm of realization. Thank you so much! I'd give you 100 stars, if I could.
wetalmorker 2 years ago 3
I had heard from some local media that some of the bonuses were contractual and would be in breach if not paid out.
Mahoivlich 2 years ago
Well said as always stef.
wispaintstyle 2 years ago
Excellent video. Excellent Stef!
Freemarketeer81 2 years ago