The View

[BermudaSooner]

At the dentist today sitting in the waiting room. On the TV was a bunch of women spewing the most vial liberal crap I have ever heard. The lady next to me said it was called "The View."

What is this crap--apparently it has been on TV for a while. At one point, Whoopi Goldberg and some old Jewish woman were griping about how AIG employees weren't giving their bonuses back and that the gubment should just fully tax the bonuses. WTF?? Do they realize that AIG employs more than 50,000 people? What if ABC (or whatever channel is was on) took gubment money--would they give some of their salary back--or just allow everything over 100,000 to be taxes 100%? How do they expect to get any of our cash back if all of the talent leaves---(by the way, I've poached several good AIG employees in the last 9 months--that company won't survive, even if they do rename to Chartis).

Entertainers that have never really worked in the real world, and then spout their nonsense really get me going.

[Collier11]

The show itself is a POS joke, what you are referencing I disagree with though. Those people at AIG were given bailout money from the taxpayers and they are still giving themselves 100's of millions of dollars in bonuses, not cool

[Crucifax Autumn]

I assume the "old Jewish woman" was Barbara Walters.

[SanJoaquinSooner]

I can't watch it for more than a few seconds. It makes me imagine four Bill O'Reillys with vaginas.

[Crucifax Autumn]

LMAO

[C&CDean]

I can't watch it for more than a few seconds. It makes me imagine four Bill Mahers with vaginas.

Yeah, me too.

[StoopTroup]

Bill has four vaginas? Man! Now I know why he's so popular.

[StoopTroup]

The View Christmas Special is on right now Dean!

[BermudaSooner]

The show itself is a POS joke, what you are referencing I disagree with though. Those people at AIG were given bailout money from the taxpayers and they are still giving themselves 100's of millions of dollars in bonuses, not cool

Dude, the vast majority of AIG employees had nothing to do with the **** poor decision to load up on CDS on MBS. There is some great talent at AIG--their personal lines business makes lots of money, for example. Why would the management of that company not be entitled to bonus that they earned? Do you want AIG to be able to pay us back some? If you kill the bonus incentive, they will bleed talent and AIG will go down for good.

Said another way, if the OU volleyball team cheats at recruiting, should the football team get the death penalty?

[BermudaSooner]

I assume the "old Jewish woman" was Barbara Walters.

My wife tells me her name is Joy Bayheim, or something like that.

[Scott D]

Yeah, me too.

I thought it was documented that Maher is a vagina therefore cannot have one.

[Scott D]

In the meantime commence to mocking Bermuda for actually paying attention to the yainches on The View.

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

by the way, I've poached several good AIG employees in the last 9 months--

???

[BermudaSooner]

In the meantime commence to mocking Bermuda for actually paying attention to the yainches on The View.

Agree...I can take it. Probably deserve some mocking.

[Collier11]

Dude, the vast majority of AIG employees had nothing to do with the **** poor decision to load up on CDS on MBS. There is some great talent at AIG--their personal lines business makes lots of money, for example. Why would the management of that company not be entitled to bonus that they earned? Do you want AIG to be able to pay us back some? If you kill the bonus incentive, they will bleed talent and AIG will go down for good.

Said another way, if the OU volleyball team cheats at recruiting, should the football team get the death penalty?

OK answer this for me, between all of the major corporations that took tax payer funded bailout money this year, they have combined to hand out $9 billion in bonuses for end of year 09(I believe it was $9 billion, it was def in the billions).

You dont see any issue with that, a lack of ethics in that?

[BermudaSooner]

OK answer this for me, between all of the major corporations that took tax payer funded bailout money this year, they have combined to hand out $9 billion in bonuses for end of year 09(I believe it was $9 billion, it was def in the billions).

You dont see any issue with that, a lack of ethics in that?

AIG is a conglomeration of at least 100 companies--the vast majority of which have made money and continue to make money. Why should these people not get the package promised to them in contracts? Again, why should the football team have sanctions if the volleyball team cheats?

The question isn't whether they should be allowed to keep their bonuses, but whether the gubment should have given them cash to begin with.

[yermom]

if they were so profitable, why did they need to be bailed out?

are they one company or 100 companies?

and i don't watch The View, but Elizabeth Hasselbeck made me watch to punch babies when i saw that show the last time

[Scott D]

only Hasselbeck? they all make me want to drown puppies when I see the smoke coming out of their ears from them attempting to string together a coherent thought.

[yermom]

they, like me were just in awe at the stupid **** coming out of her mouth

i'm thinking she was talking about waterboarding, now that i think about it

[yermom]

i think it was before this. it might have just been this though

wgarV13g6QM

Jesse Ventura is awesome

[Chuck Bao]

I don't have a problem with insurance agents getting a bonus when they sell a policy. Their salary structure is based on that. It would be so easy for them to skip to another firm and bad talk AIG to their clients. As Bermuda said, AIG would go down in a hurry and US taxpayers would eventually be hurt. It's still a nightmare PR thing for them and they should be very careful in not awarding luxury trips, just something a little less conspicuous to motivate and create some brand loyalty.

On the other hand, I have a big problem with the old senior management getting big bonuses. They did have a hand in the 100 companies and the investment side that lost the company and cost shareholders and now taxpayers.

Anyway, isn't the board now controlled by representatives of the US Treasury Department? They may be rewarding some of the new people they brought in to revitalize the company. Maybe they deserve it in the big scheme of things and the potential losses by taxpayers. I don't know.

Maybe there is still an "old boys network" and the fine women expressing opinions on the View are pointing out that "that dog don't hunt." Although I do not watch the View and I wouldn't take any of them to be financial experts, but yet it is probably not worse than some of opinions expressed on the financial channels.

My advice is not to watch women TV if that makes you nervous. Take your IPOD the next time you are at the Dentist office.

[Chuck Bao]

i think it was before this. it might have just been this though

wgarV13g6QM

Jesse Ventura is awesome

Wow! In my opinion, we need more politicians to have convictions and say what they think in pretty plain terms. Not, polling numbers and what the ultra conservative US media is telling us to think. The problem is politicians molded out of cream cheese and their whole family and personnae is just as soft as cream cheese.

[StoopTroup]

That Jesse is bit is old news....

The View is on a new medication now.

[Chuck Bao]

That Jesse is bit is old news....

The View is on a new medication now.

What? They are now passing out doobies? My only beef about this women talk show fest thing is that extension of it is that male kids need to be prescribed drugs to calm them down. If urban male children are aggressive, send them to Dean's farm for the summer. Other than altering males through chemicals, I have no problem with their opinions.

[StoopTroup]

I think you'd have to be medicated to watch an entire View show.

[Chuck Bao]

Never. I still got my allocated medication. "How the Earth was made" on the History Channel is so much more educational to watch with the prescribed medication. And, the Discovery Channel is carrying their "The Universe" series.

[XingTheRubicon]

Wow! In my opinion, we need more politicians to have convictions and say what they think in pretty plain terms. Not, polling numbers and what the ultra conservative US media is telling us to think. The problem is politicians molded out of cream cheese and their whole family and personnae is just as soft as cream cheese.

rly?

[StoopTroup]

Tom Coburn has a narcotics license.

There is a reason so many of you like him.

[the_ouskull]

My wife tells me her name is Joy Bayheim, or something like that.

http://blog.syracuse.com/poliquin/2009/03/large_Jim_Boeheim031909.jpg

?????

the_ouskull

[yermom]

Behar

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

rly?

Actually looking at ratings...it would appear that most people watch Fox News...the rest not...so much

[King Barry's Back]

AIG is a conglomeration of at least 100 companies--the vast majority of which have made money and continue to make money. Why should these people not get the package promised to them in contracts? Again, why should the football team have sanctions if the volleyball team cheats?

The question isn't whether they should be allowed to keep their bonuses, but whether the gubment should have given them cash to begin with.

The difference is this -- AIG DOESN'T HAVE ANY MONEY TO GIVE THEM! When "bonuses" are being paid, they are being paid with other people's money.

If the "company" is passing out multi-million dollar bonuses -- which NONE of them have any legitimate right to claim -- it is literally (legally?) being stolen from one of the following parties:

1. AIG stockholders
2. AIG clients/depositors/creditors
3. The Government of the United States

If I am broke, guess what, I must stop paying my staff. Where does AIG get off passing around the plate to the highest bidder? Frankly, it's sickening.

I hate to see the govt involved in Wall Street. Anybody that reads my South Oval posts over time will see that I am a pretty consistent free-market supporter -- but the facts are that the govt HAS to sometimes has to enter the market to prevent institutions from becoming centers of, frankly no other word, thievery. DOes Bernie Madoff ring a bell? Who could take him down if the govt didn't put him in prison and seize as many of his assetts as are left?

[King Barry's Back]

Please, no one read my previous post as, in any way, a defense of that ridiculous fallopian fest "The View," but as they say, even a blind squirrel gets to find a nut every now and then.

[BermudaSooner]

My advice is not to watch women TV if that makes you nervous. Take your IPOD the next time you are at the Dentist office.

Good advice--although doesn't make me nervous--makes me annoyed that people that have no experience or clue what they are talking about have such a pulpit to spew it from.

[BermudaSooner]

The difference is this -- AIG DOESN'T HAVE ANY MONEY TO GIVE THEM! When "bonuses" are being paid, they are being paid with other people's money.

If the "company" is passing out multi-million dollar bonuses -- which NONE of them have any legitimate right to claim -- it is literally (legally?) being stolen from one of the following parties:

1. AIG stockholders
2. AIG clients/depositors/creditors
3. The Government of the United States

If I am broke, guess what, I must stop paying my staff. Where does AIG get off passing around the plate to the highest bidder? Frankly, it's sickening.

I hate to see the govt involved in Wall Street. Anybody that reads my South Oval posts over time will see that I am a pretty consistent free-market supporter -- but the facts are that the govt HAS to sometimes has to enter the market to prevent institutions from becoming centers of, frankly no other word, thievery. DOes Bernie Madoff ring a bell? Who could take him down if the govt didn't put him in prison and seize as many of his assetts as are left?

Dude, I'm not disagreeing with you. I would have never bailed AIG out. But once you do, you have to stick with the contracts people have or renegotiate them. If the renegotiation involves no bonuses, fine, but don't ever expect to see a dime of that cash back to the government. You lose the drivers of the business, you lose the business.

A little history on AIG. Up until a few years ago, AIG had 3 CEOs in its 100 year history. The most recent, and most successful being Hank Greenberg. The guy is a legend who grew the company into the behemoth that it once was--a $100 billion market cap continual winner.

What happened to Hank? Funny enough, taken down by our wonderful, well meaning (yea right) government. Taken down by a political minded New Yorker by the name of Elliott Spitzer--yep, that one. Once Elliott took out Hank, the company has struggled finding its way. Would Hank have put on the same bets that brought AIG down? Maybe--he certainly was doing it before he left. Of course, Hank has a way of knowing when to get out. Who knows, maybe AIG would have been just fine.

Since Hank's departure, AIG has seen 4 CEOs. 1 more in 3 years than the previous 100 years.

Once again, government mucking around...maybe what we need is just more government...yea, that will help.

[MR2-Sooner86]

The show sucks but it isn't nearly as bad as when Rosie was on there.

[49r]

by the way, I've poached several good AIG employees in the last 9 months--


???

I hear that's the best way to prepare them. Well, that and fried...

[picasso]

I thought Jesse Ventura was laughed out of his brief stint in politics. They may as well have David Walters on there.

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

I hear that's the best way to prepare them. Well, that and fried...Yeah, huh?...HUH?

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

I thought Jesse Ventura was laughed out of his brief stint in politics. They may as well have David Walters on there.I heard Ventura's voice on a commercial for something. UGH! NO MAS, por favor!

[soonerboomer93]

I don't have a problem with insurance agents getting a bonus when they sell a policy. Their salary structure is based on that. It would be so easy for them to skip to another firm and bad talk AIG to their clients. As Bermuda said, AIG would go down in a hurry and US taxpayers would eventually be hurt. It's still a nightmare PR thing for them and they should be very careful in not awarding luxury trips, just something a little less conspicuous to motivate and create some brand loyalty.

On the other hand, I have a big problem with the old senior management getting big bonuses. They did have a hand in the 100 companies and the investment side that lost the company and cost shareholders and now taxpayers.

Anyway, isn't the board now controlled by representatives of the US Treasury Department? They may be rewarding some of the new people they brought in to revitalize the company. Maybe they deserve it in the big scheme of things and the potential losses by taxpayers. I don't know.

Maybe there is still an "old boys network" and the fine women expressing opinions on the View are pointing out that "that dog don't hunt." Although I do not watch the View and I wouldn't take any of them to be financial experts, but yet it is probably not worse than some of opinions expressed on the financial channels.

My advice is not to watch women TV if that makes you nervous. Take your IPOD the next time you are at the Dentist office.

What Chuck said. Their salary is based on the bonus. Instead of paying Joe $80k a year, they pay him $60k with a $20k retention bonus. This is designed to keep them from jumping ship as often.

I do also have a problem with the masssive bonus's paid to senior management and they way that's being handled.