OT opinion I can believe in

I don't normally like posts that just quote other people, but here I am
doing that.

The following is by Bill Moyers, it's how he closed this week's show.

It moved me greatly.



"As Washington obsessed all week over the fate of one nominee to the
cabinet, and as we watched hearings about the failure of watchdog agencies
going to sleep on the job, we heard almost nothing of the people across the
country suffocating in the wreckage of their lives. Some of us born in the
Depression still remember the song made famous by the Carter Family singers,
called the "Worried Man Blues".

"I went across that river and I lay down to sleep. When I woke up there were
shackles on my feet."

The day my father was fired from his job at Manly's Appliance Store, he came
walking home as if he had shackles on his feet. I still remember the look on
his face. He wasn't yet 50, but had suddenly turned old, the way a lot of
people look today who are losing their jobs. Their stomachs are knotted with
fear as the life they had come to expect is fading fast. Not because of
their own failures but because our political and financial elites rigged the
economy for their own advantage.

John F. Kennedy famously said, "Life is unfair," and so it is. But it
wouldn't feel as unfair if the shackles wound up instead on the well-heeled
feet of Wall Street and Washington's elect. That's the change we need, the
change we can really believe in. "





thanks for your time

On Feb 7, 1:20*pm, "Larry L" wrote:
I don't normally like posts that just quote other people, but here I am
doing that.

The following is by Bill Moyers, it's how he closed this week's show.

It moved me greatly.

"As Washington obsessed all week over the fate of one nominee to the
cabinet, and as we watched hearings about the failure of watchdog agencies
going to sleep on the job, we heard almost nothing of the people across the
country suffocating in the wreckage of their lives. Some of us born in the
Depression still remember the song made famous by the Carter Family singers,
called the "Worried Man Blues".

"I went across that river and I lay down to sleep. When I woke up there were
shackles on my feet."

The day my father was fired from his job at Manly's Appliance Store, he came
walking home as if he had shackles on his feet. I still remember the look on
his face. He wasn't yet 50, but had suddenly turned old, the way a lot of
people look today who are losing their jobs. Their stomachs are knotted with
fear as the life they had come to expect is fading fast. Not because of
their own failures but because our political and financial elites rigged the
economy for their own advantage.

John F. Kennedy famously said, "Life is unfair," and so it is. But it
wouldn't feel as unfair if the shackles wound up instead on the well-heeled
feet of Wall Street and Washington's elect. That's the change we need, the
change we can really believe in. "

thanks for your time

Well spoken, but its worse than you know. A friend here in HK was the
CFO of a major international bank. One Friday at lunch, the CEO came
in and told him that the financial crunch had taken his job, and at
the close of business that day, he had to turn in his Blackberry,
clean out his desk, and turn in his keys.

He was given his annual bonus (most likely in the hundreds of
thousands) and 6 months severance pay (his annual salary was in the
high 6-digits) since the local 'policy' prohibits laid-off execs from
taking new positions within six months....something about protecting
trade secrets and being under retainer or something. I asked him if he
had lost any savings in the market collapse, and he said no, he had
seen it coming about a year ago and had liquidated all his investments
and put them into some kind of secure fund that gains interest at a
fixed rate no matter what the markets do....a fund that is not
generally known to the general population. He grinned and said that
the entire market collapse had given him a six month vacation and had
not affected his savings, his investments, his bonus or his salary.
His only regret was that he had to turn in his Blackberry.

Sucks to be one of the 'little people'.

--riverman