I ust love working my ass of for peanuts....make my day so worthwhile.

I don't understand why my american counterparts work so damn hard. Yah there's nothing wrong with a good work ethic, but when your boss is constantly bending you over and sticking it to you why should you continue to work so hard. Life is short. The time has long since past when I would say to my boss" Thank you sir, can I have some more"(and I don't mean pay)

George Carlin Nails It

I am sending this letter that I sent to Congresswoman Giffords from Arizona to your comments in hopes that someone has a way to get this to all of the Congress people to be wary of briefings from general officers. I haven’t figured out a way to send it to all of Congress at once.

I have no sour grapes here. I had a very successful career, but decided to leave the service when it was convenient because I could not compromise my integrity to become a general officer.

Creston Shields, Ph.D.
LtCol USAF, retired

RECOGNIZING THE LIMITATIONS OF GENERAL OFFICERS

I was the command briefing officer in the 7th Air Force Headquarters(the headquarters for all air operations during the Vietnam war) in 1969. My job was to prepare the overall briefing on the war that was given to the dignitaries that came to Vietnam to “learn” what was happening there. I was expected to put the brightest face on the war possible. I sat in conferences with other more specialized briefing officers when all of us were charged with preparing large briefings for a large group of dignitaries. One of them prominently stuck in my mind. I will explain it because of its pertinence to the words we get from the military headquarters in Iraq.

The group coming to Vietnam was the Blue Ribbon Defense Panel established by Mr. Nixon to discover what was going on over there. As we prepared, the different briefing officers and plans officers had to get coordinated positions from all of the general officers in the headquarters on every point to be made. The process was like this. A staff officer, probably a captain or a major made a proposal. That had to be coordinated and approved by all of the officers in his chain of command up to and including the general in his chain. Then once the general got the position letter, he put his comments on it and then it had to be coordinated with all of the other generals (around ten generals) in the headquarters. This could take several weeks taking the letter back and forth between the generals. The final letter basically said nothing. It certainly said nothing that anyone could criticize any general about. (As an aside, colleagues of mine at the Lt. Colonel level in the Pentagon, told me that they had cases that took over twenty rounds coordination to get position papers signed by the generals in the Pentagon. This was after much more coordination just to get it to the general level.) With the final approval of the generals, the briefing preparations began. A brigadier general, the chief of staff, ran this conference to prepare the final briefing. All briefing officers gave their prepared briefings hoping for approval by the chief of staff. One rarely got approved on the first go. So there was more watering down and covering up of what was really going on in the war. The Blue Ribbon Defense Panel got there briefing. We know what happened with Nixon’s policy for the rest of the war.

Congresswoman Giffords, all of Congress, and all American citizens must understand the limitations of statements coming from the commanders in Iraq. The military system causes generals to be master politicians. The difference between generals and most civilian politicians is that the generals have been playing politics longer. They are for the most part better educated than the average civilian politician. They are very smart. They are masters at insuring that nothing will get out that will bring any criticism on them. Thus you will never really know exactly what is going on in their theatre of operations.

Please share this with your congressional colleagues and please be aware of this as you formulate your questions of general officers in your committee hearings. Also please don’t be misled by any reasons the generals give that they need more time in Iraq. THEIR TIME IS UP!

Dig it: the American worker produces more value than anyone anytime in history. However the American worker does not see the fruits of those efforts, since the average income, adjusted for inflation, has been stagnant or slightly declining for thirty years. The Dow Jones is near record high, but only 15% of Americans own stocks, and those are mostly the wealthy. And the oil companies are recording quarter after quarter of record profits - which is to say, "more extra money than ever earned in history."

What does this tell us? That the Wealthy are getting wealthier and wealthier, not in sips but in great raging torrents of wealth, and that you and I and everyone you know are working suckers, playing a game designed so that we will never win, a game designed so that one person out of a hundred takes half of the chips on the table and leaves the other half for everyone else to fight over.

And how do they get away with it? Fear is the tool in their left hand, and Television is the tool in their right. Scare you into submission, and then blind you with bullshit.

That's America: 99.9% of us, working our asses off, so that .1% of us can live large, rewrite the laws, torture, occupy nations, take all the wealth, and then sneer at us should we have the temerity to speak up.

Wow creston, well said. Gen. Petreaus' presentation before Congress is already a forgone conclusion that was scripted many months ago as the Surge escalation was in its planning stages. He will predictably report "mixed progress" in an effort to kick the ball down the field for another Friedman Unit (six months). The supporters of the war occupation will always call for another six months before their actions can be judged. Recently, Generals in Iraq have even extended that to another nine years.

Albatross @ 9:

....

That's America: 99.9% of us, working our asses off, so that .1% of us can live large, rewrite the laws, torture, occupy nations, take all the wealth, and then sneer at us should we have the temerity to speak up.

yep! and I STILL gotta go to work tomorrow!

Even as new reports show strong second quarter GDP growth and trumpet U.S. workers' world-leading productivity, two inescapable truths threaten their American Dream:
1. The American people aren't focused on economic growth; they're concerned about economic insecurity.
2. Working conditions are worst in precisely those states that voted for George W. Bush for President.

For the details, see:
"A Labor Day Look at the Bush League Economy."

Tony Snow @ 14:

Hey, don't remind me! At least your jobs don't involve lying constantly with a straight face and talking down to people who are still operating under the delusion that anything you've said in the past still applies.

Sorry, but you're wrong. I work in corporate america.

What a bunch of crazy bastards. Vote for the guys that are going to enslave you. You wonder why you work longer hours for less pay. Vote against your own self interests. It's time to take our country back.

creston @ 7 -

Thanks fer the letter and yer service!

Seems to me that somewhere along the line the US military leadership forgot the old saw that fortune favors the bold. Makes me wonder how Pershing or Eisenhower would have succeeded in an enviroment of c.y.a. politics.

Ali @ 16:

Yup - lest we forget they pay less than their share of taxes and over the last 6 years they have gained more power than ever!

There has to be some cheese in the trap, or we wouldn't keep going back to work day, after day, after day.

Although I don't have the numbers in front of me I did see the comparison of what CEO's in Europe make compared to their employees salary. Then I saw what CEO's in the US make compared to their employees. The difference between our European counterparts and our workers was staggering. The imbalance between US CEO's and their employees shows the greed between the have and have nots. To make matters worse this trend really jumped in the last 10-12 years. I'd like to wish everyone a Happy Labor Day as well but with the shrinking of trade unions, crippling free trade agreements, outsourcing of jobs, etc, there really isn't much to be happy about.

As a CEO of my own company, (one who hasn't gotten a paycheck in almost 3 years), I resent the implication that all CEO's do is play golf and sit on their asses.. It's a LEVEL OF RESPONSIBILITY that they get paid for, not what they DO, but what they know and what happens if they screw up. Somebody has to run the show. If you are an average guy working on a production line and you screw up, maybe a few pieces hit the trash that would have been OK. No biggie. If you are a CEO and screw up, thousands of people could lose their jobs, plants close, vendors go bankrupt, etc etc. Think about THAT. No, the playing field isn't level, nor has it ever been...it's what's called "incentive", and the lack of it is the reason Socialism, and Communism, ultimately fail. If you want to fool around instead of getting yourself a decent education, if you are unwilling to take risks, if you lack the nerve to promote yourself and take the big leaps needed to get to the top (and many fail anyway) then you end up on the production line, and WHOSE FAULT IS THAT?
note-----Usually this site pulls my comments because I don't always agree 100% with them...

BaScOmBe @ 17:

Tony Snow @ 14:

Hey, don't remind me! At least your jobs don't involve lying constantly with a straight face and talking down to people who are still operating under the delusion that anything you've said in the past still applies.

Sorry, but you're wrong. I work in corporate america.

Heh, so do I. Heh heh heh.

we work harder because we are scared

scared to lose benefits....scared to lose our homes

european workers have protections we do not

we have allowed our employers and our gov to destroy the unions that once protected us

too many came to the realization that the american dream is all an illusion....way too late

oh well....its good to be an american....roflmao

capnmike @ 27:

As a CEO of my own company, (one who hasn't gotten a paycheck in almost 3 years), I resent the implication that all CEO's do is play golf and sit on their asses.. It's a LEVEL OF RESPONSIBILITY that they get paid for, not what they DO, but what they know and what happens if they screw up. Somebody has to run the show. If you are an average guy working on a production line and you screw up, maybe a few pieces hit the trash that would have been OK. No biggie. If you are a CEO and screw up, thousands of people could lose their jobs, plants close, vendors go bankrupt, etc etc. Think about THAT. No, the playing field isn't level, nor has it ever been...it's what's called "incentive", and the lack of it is the reason Socialism, and Communism, ultimately fail. If you want to fool around instead of getting yourself a decent education, if you are unwilling to take risks, if you lack the nerve to promote yourself and take the big leaps needed to get to the top (and many fail anyway) then you end up on the production line, and WHOSE FAULT IS THAT?
note-----Usually this site pulls my comments because I don't always agree 100% with them...

maybe you should see the carlin comments on youtube.

SEPT 2.
SAN FRANCISCO -- The Bush administration can go ahead with a pilot program to allow as many as 100 Mexican trucking companies to freely haul their cargo anywhere within the U.S. for the next year, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."

-- George W. Bush (August 5, 2004)

Karike @ 34:

We are corporate slaves!

I guess that means you have to work tomorrow.

L.A. Confidential @ 23:

Ali @ 16:

Yup - lest we forget they pay less than their share of taxes and over the last 6 years they have gained more power than ever!

There has to be some cheese in the trap, or we wouldn't keep going back to work day, after day, after day.

The cheese is the promise that our short attention spans developed over the last few generations will be satisfied with a continuous dazzling array of new products and eye-candy that are within our economic reach if we don't rock the boat . The spell will only be broken if the draft is re-instated . Even ADD sufferers will not run into a burning building when told to .

capnmike @ 27:

As a CEO of my own company, (one who hasn't gotten a paycheck in almost 3 years), I resent the implication that all CEO's do is play golf and sit on their asses.. It's a LEVEL OF RESPONSIBILITY that they get paid for, not what they DO, but what they know and what happens if they screw up. Somebody has to run the show. If you are an average guy working on a production line and you screw up, maybe a few pieces hit the trash that would have been OK. No biggie. If you are a CEO and screw up, thousands of people could lose their jobs, plants close, vendors go bankrupt, etc etc. Think about THAT. No, the playing field isn't level, nor has it ever been...it's what's called "incentive", and the lack of it is the reason Socialism, and Communism, ultimately fail. If you want to fool around instead of getting yourself a decent education, if you are unwilling to take risks, if you lack the nerve to promote yourself and take the big leaps needed to get to the top (and many fail anyway) then you end up on the production line, and WHOSE FAULT IS THAT?
note-----Usually this site pulls my comments because I don't always agree 100% with them...

wait a sec....let me dry my tears from my kerchief

you work without compensation??? then you must have a very rich daddy

you forgot to tell us about your expense account, your home taken as a biz expense, your vacations taken as biz expense, your cars taken as a biz expense....your mistress taken as a biz expense

go cry a river on some wingnut blog

cuz all your post proves is that too many employers give no worth to the employees who allow them to live in the manner they are accustomed to

Yo! Green Party Naderites! Still think there's no difference between Bush and Gore?

Thanks for (worse than) nothing.

capnmike @ 27:

As a CEO of my own company, (one who hasn't gotten a paycheck in almost 3 years), I resent the implication that all CEO's do is play golf and sit on their asses.. It's a LEVEL OF RESPONSIBILITY that they get paid for, not what they DO, but what they know and what happens if they screw up. Somebody has to run the show. If you are an average guy working on a production line and you screw up, maybe a few pieces hit the trash that would have been OK. No biggie. If you are a CEO and screw up, thousands of people could lose their jobs, plants close, vendors go bankrupt, etc etc. Think about THAT. No, the playing field isn't level, nor has it ever been...it's what's called "incentive", and the lack of it is the reason Socialism, and Communism, ultimately fail. If you want to fool around instead of getting yourself a decent education, if you are unwilling to take risks, if you lack the nerve to promote yourself and take the big leaps needed to get to the top (and many fail anyway) then you end up on the production line, and WHOSE FAULT IS THAT?
note-----Usually this site pulls my comments because I don't always agree 100% with them...

Nobody ever said you, as a CEO and owner who has risked a lot should not make more money than others. But 300 times More?! Get real dude. Something is wrong with that. And what is the big pressure you are talking about. In this country, the US, when you CEOs screw up what happens to you? You have probably already made so much money that you collect a nice monthly check from your mutual funds etc. If you had to comit suicide if you failed I would feel better about the 300 times average worker pay. CEOs in this country do not really pay a high price for failure as far as I can see. In Japan the margin is much smaller. I seem to remember hearing something around 40 times average worker pay over there. This is much better. Heck, it is still 40 times more! But you are a greedy pig who wants 300 times more. You simply do not deserve that. Tell me I am wrong and explain why.

You just don't understand how HARD it is being a millionaire!

If only you lowly peons would remember just how lucky you are to even have the ability to make your better the money he needs to vacation in the Alps (in his own house. How could expect your master to stay in a hotel, pulease!)

You scurvy rats need to remember your place, NOW GET BACK TO WORK!

Just remember: the average CEO could fire 364 of his/her average workers tomorrow and do all of their jobs single-handedly. That's how good he is. Dear and Glorious Leader!

capnmike @ 27:

As a CEO of my own company, (one who hasn't gotten a paycheck in almost 3 years), I resent the implication that all CEO's do is play golf and sit on their asses.. It's a LEVEL OF RESPONSIBILITY that they get paid for, not what they DO, but what they know and what happens if they screw up. Somebody has to run the show. If you are an average guy working on a production line and you screw up, maybe a few pieces hit the trash that would have been OK. No biggie. If you are a CEO and screw up, thousands of people could lose their jobs, plants close, vendors go bankrupt, etc etc. Think about THAT. No, the playing field isn't level, nor has it ever been...it's what's called "incentive", and the lack of it is the reason Socialism, and Communism, ultimately fail. If you want to fool around instead of getting yourself a decent education, if you are unwilling to take risks, if you lack the nerve to promote yourself and take the big leaps needed to get to the top (and many fail anyway) then you end up on the production line, and WHOSE FAULT IS THAT?
note-----Usually this site pulls my comments because I don't always agree 100% with them...

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ all praise the almighty dollar.....you excuse me while I rest for tomorrow.
What is it you manufacture?

capnmike @ 27:

As a CEO of my own company, (one who hasn't gotten a paycheck in almost 3 years), I resent the implication that all CEO's do is play golf and sit on their asses.. It's a LEVEL OF RESPONSIBILITY that they get paid for, not what they DO, but what they know and what happens if they screw up. Somebody has to run the show...
note-----Usually this site pulls my comments because I don't always agree 100% with them...

Ahoy, Cap'n.

There is a certain dichotomy ("The teaching that a human consists of two parts: body and soul.") with being a leftie and creating weatlh for oneself or others.

Post on, brother.

Cavuto attacked unions today on his show. The anchors only care about themselves

There is no one "final decision", except if you strictly look at the money spent, which is not the most deterministic source of wealth in the company - it is the human capital and their brainpower. The best companies are the ones that step back and let the the employees innovate in their own areas of expertise, while the upper management's job is to hold rein on the spending; to tell what can be spent but not micromanage how it is spent. Look at the mission statements of companies and you will see the extent to which the CEO actually "plans for the future" of the typical company. Scott Adams captures it well.

This innovation is not encouraged by overvaluing the CEO versus everyone else. See my above examples. I bet many people have similar accounts.

If you are a CEO and screw up, thousands of people could lose their jobs, plants close, vendors go bankrupt, etc etc. Think about THAT.

No thinking required. Just read about it. Those top level CEO's couldn't give one rats ass about layoffs and bankruptcies. Do you actually expect us to buy the idea that the CEO's would actually suffer one bit? They are PAID to run these US businesses, like Delphi, the food industry and GM, into the ground. GM is on the verge of collapse, yet the lending company GMAC is flying high. Guess which one used to employ hundreds of thousands of workers, and which one requires a few geeks in cubicles? The services those companies provide are outsourced to Canada and Mexico, while the poor, poor CEO's retire with their golden parachutes and 3 homes.

Give me a fucking break man. How many fucking ex CEO's are at the local EDD. Not that you even know what EDD stands for. Its the Employment Development Department, aka the unemployment line.

capnmike @ 27:

As a CEO of my own company, (one who hasn't gotten a paycheck in almost 3 years), I resent the implication that all CEO's do is play golf and sit on their asses.. It's a LEVEL OF RESPONSIBILITY that they get paid for, not what they DO, but what they know and what happens if they screw up. Somebody has to run the show. If you are an average guy working on a production line and you screw up, maybe a few pieces hit the trash that would have been OK. No biggie. If you are a CEO and screw up, thousands of people could lose their jobs, plants close, vendors go bankrupt, etc etc. Think about THAT. No, the playing field isn't level, nor has it ever been...it's what's called "incentive", and the lack of it is the reason Socialism, and Communism, ultimately fail. If you want to fool around instead of getting yourself a decent education, if you are unwilling to take risks, if you lack the nerve to promote yourself and take the big leaps needed to get to the top (and many fail anyway) then you end up on the production line, and WHOSE FAULT IS THAT?
note-----Usually this site pulls my comments because I don't always agree 100% with them...

Awww.. how cute.. you actually think that the -big- CEO's get paid for their level of responsibility? Let me inform you my friend, that they get their millions regardless of how badly they fuck up. These guys can bring a company to the brink of disaster and still walk off with millions and a pension.

Nobody's raging against entrepreneurs or the prinicples of free market and incentives to invest, get over yourself, they're raging against multi million salaries which are based on nothing but the whims of global top managers who are having a pissing contest.

capnmike@27
Oh please, gimme a break. We're talking REAL CEO's, not guys like you and me who own little rinkydink companies! Yeah, I'm CEO of my own company too - I'm also the only employee! You wanna be a CEO? Go down to the State Attorney General's office and file your $35 fee. Congratulations. You want to be a REAL CEO? Get born into the right family, get sent to the right colleges, get pledged into the right frats, suck the right dicks, and you too can earn 400 times what your average employee earns, or more money in one day than they get in a year.

I had a happy Labour day, and got the stretch marks to prove it.

Hmm, Norway is actually on top on hourly production, with the US at second, some 3% below us, but you work a hell of a lot more.
Admittedly, might be in great deal due to the oil industry being a large part, which is a finite resource.

Regarding CEO pay vs. employee, I am amazed of the differences you have, but I guess that is part of the american dream, and workers dream of being super rich one day, and are therefore willing to support laws and rules/situations who help the super rich.
Amusing, yet sad.

As for receiving pay for responsibility, that is bullshit, if you screw up as a CEO you put a load of people out of a job, but that the CEO has his parachute to fall back on, as risk security, while his employees have nothing, is patently unfair.

It moves the risk/consequences of a CEO screwup from the CEO, and onto the employees.

My neighbour is one of the highrollers. He has been forced to go from a couple of companies just before bankruptcy, one was a company which had a revolutionary world patent, a process in which to burn garbage and generate power without emissions, one most physicists (sp) said was impossible. But he had some serious delusions of grandeur, and ran the company aground in 2-3 years, and the patent got sold to some company in England. I suspect the professor at the University in Trondheim who invented the process, and had to hand over control to the investors, who gave it to said CEO, is rather bitter about it.

The discussion is raging here in Norway as well regarding this. A lot argue that we have to pay the CEO what they demand, or they will leave the country, bleeding us for good leaders, while others are happy to see any greedy bastards go.

The issue here, is that the larger corporations are very often very intertwined with regards to board members and leadership, so you get an exclusive "club" which easily looses contact with the ground, giving themselves more and more money, and it seems that is what we are fighting here, while you lost that fight in the US some time ago.