FALUN GONG AND THE FUTURE OF CHINA
By David Ownby
By 291 pp. Oxford University Press. $29.95
Top female talent is particularly skittish.
Eighty-four percent of women in this study are considering leaving - compared to 40% of men.
The voices in this study are powerful. A male investment banker (who has lost 80% of his net worth in the last year) tells of bad dreams and grinding his teeth so badly he recently cracked two molars. A woman trader talks about being "almost glad" of a recent diagnosis of breast cancer. In her words "it's only stage one and it sure puts the crazy stress around losing my job into perspective."
Source: http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/hewlett/2008/09/in_finance_embattled_top_perfo.html
First eBay installed a string of executives who came out of eBay into the company. Over time, dedicated Skype executives prior to the purchase left or were asked to leave.
Second, when the first wave didn't work, Skype hired more people, some with ties to eBay and others recruited by headhunters employed by eBay.
At each turn Skype has grown, but heck, a rolling boulder going down the hill picks up more snow too. Skype is growing by sheer inertia and problems like the ones reported in the Register are evidence of that.
They can't keep up with the issues.
This means Skype has cost eBay more than they paid...and likely isn't really paying back.
Do you think any of those executives or headhunters gave back any money when their advice didn't pan out?
Nah!!!
Capitalism at its finest!
Eamon Javers, Jonathan MartinSat Aug 23, 2:44 AM ET
Forget the idea that opposition researchers got cracking the very moment that Sen. Barack Obama announced Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his running mate—they’ve long been poring over his records and background, and those of all the most likely vice-presidential picks.
For all that, though, the likeliest attacks in Biden are all matters of public record, and often problems of his own making.
Biden, who dropped out of the 1988 Democratic primary after he was accused of lifting sections of his stump speech about his humble origins from British Labour party leader Neil Kinnock, more recently took heat in 2006, when he said, “You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent.”
This year, he managed to blow up his official announcement he was entering the race when he deemed Obama “the first mainstream African American [candidate] who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.”
Reporters and opposition researchers are already salivating at the verbal grenades yet to be launched.
More substantively, Biden supported the 2002 resolution that authorized the war in Iraq—a resolution that Obama opposed and, in the primaries at least, painted as “the most important foreign-policy decision in a generation.”
Biden was on the wrong side of that thinking, by Obama’s lights. In 2002, he said that America had “no choice but to eliminate” Saddam Hussein.
While preparing for his own run at the party’s nomination last year, he took several shots at Obama’s inexperience, warning that “If the Democrats think we’re going to be able to nominate someone who can win without that person being able to table unimpeachable credentials on national security and foreign policy, I think we’re making a tragic mistake.”
When Obama gave a speech saying he’d send troops into Pakistan if he had actionable intelligence and the Pakistani government was unwilling to act, Biden told NPR that “It’s a well-intentioned notion he has, but it’s a very naïve way of thinking how you’re going to conduct foreign policy,” adding of his then-rival, in a remark Republicans are sure to revive, “Having talking points on foreign policy doesn’t get you there.”
Biden also said last year of his now running mate, that “I think he can be ready, but right now I don’t believe he is. The presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the-job training.” He may also see clips from his 1988 presidential run, when he ran an ad in which the narrator warns:
”The White House isn't a place to learn how to deal with international crisis, the balance of power... the economic future of the next generation,'' the narrator of Biden's 1988 ad for the Democratic nomination said. "The president has got to know the territory.”
Biden, 65, came to Congress at the age of 30, meaning he’s spent more than half his life in the institution, which Republicans will surely charge makes him an unsuitable running mate for a candidate of change.
Another moment likely to be re-used against him is his August 2, 2005 Daily Show appearance where Jon Stewart asked him of a potential 2008 run, “You may end up going against a Senate colleague, perhaps McCain, perhaps Frist?”
Biden replied, “John McCain is a personal friend, a great friend, and I would be honored to run with or against John McCain, because I think the country would be better off — be well off no matter who...”
First elected to the Senate at the tender age of 29, Biden has now spent more than half his life there, which cuts against Obama’s change message, even as it insulates the first-term Illinois Senator from charges that he’s too green for the White House.
Biden has accepted $5,133,072 in contributions from lawyers and lobbyists since 2003. Obama does not accept contributions from federally registered lobbyists.
And he has one other weakness that hasn't received much attention to date. One of Biden's sons, Hunter, is a registered Washington lobbyist in a year in which Obama has been excoriating lobbyists and the culture of corruption in Washington. The younger Biden is a name partner at the firm Oldaker, Biden & Belair, LLP, and seems to have specialized in lobbying for just the kind of earmark spending by Congress that Obama has vowed to slash. Republican insiders say the party is likely to make an issue of Biden's family lobbying ties.
Also expect to hear more about Biden's close ties with credit card companies. His largest contributor (based on total contributions by employees) over the past five years has been MBNA, the Delaware-based bank aquired in 2005 by Bank of America than until then was the world's largest independent credit card issuer and a major supporter of the 2005 bankruptcy bill that Biden crossed the aisle to support.
Top five donors (including employee donations):
MBNA Corp. (Delaware-based bank acquired in 2005 by Bank of America)
Pachulski, Stang et al. (law firm with major Delaware officers)
Young, Conaway et al. (large Delaware law firm)
Law Office of Peter Angelos (mid-Atlantic trial law firm)
Simmons Cooper LLC (national trial law firm)
Top five industry group contributors:
Lawyers/law firms
Real estate
Retired
Securities & investment
Miscellaneous finance
You and I — let's call us "schmoes" — will now be paying $224-million to Warren Buffett — let's call him "one of the richest guys in the world."
The state of Florida decided the other day to ask Buffett to take our money, which he no doubt will.
Now, what are we buying? A nice chunk of his company, Berkshire Hathaway? No.
We are buying the right to borrow money from him later, in case a really big hurricane (or series of hurricanes) hits Florida this year.
If we get Andrew-sized damage, then Buffett agrees to lend us up to $4-billion by buying our bonds.
(The state says there is about a 3 percent chance of that happening.)
If we don't get that hit — well, we're out the $224-million. But we'll have had the security of knowing his money was there for us.
This is why Warren Buffett is one of the richest guys in the world, and we are schmoes.
In the lingo of the market, what Florida is buying is called a "put option." We are buying the right to borrow money later. This is one big honker of a put. We are paying top dollar for it, too.
The decision was made last week by Gov. Charlie Crist, by Florida's chief financial officer, Alex Sink, and by Attorney General Bill McCollum.
The governor is always cheerful, but Sink and McCollum were not.
"This is not a good deal overall," McCollum said. But he called it "the only responsible choice at the moment."
"We waited until the last minute," Sink said, noting Florida is already more than a month into the hurricane season. "We're not thinking ahead. This is not the way to run policy."
Here is the immediate problem: Florida has a hurricane catastrophe fund, called the "Cat Fund," that kicks in if a storm is bad enough.
But we would have to borrow most of that money, and pay it off by future assessments on insurance policies.
In theory, this works.
In practice, we are at the mercy of the markets. We might not be able to borrow that much on the spot. So we looked around for safe options and came up with Buffett.
I asked Dr. Jack E. Nicholson, director of the Cat Fund, if this was the ideal way to do things.
He said no, but it is the right thing to do now. There has been a lot of upheaval in the state's investment setup —there was a big scandal; you might have heard of it. Florida has been racing in recent months to redo things.
With more time, the state could line up its options earlier. Maybe we wouldn't be paying top dollar to Warren Buffett for a put option at the last minute. Maybe.
Here's another thing: Earlier this year, Sink proposed changing the rules for the Cat Fund to reduce Florida's exposure by $3-billion or so. But the Legislature didn't like it because it might have led to a small increase in premiums.
Oh, and here's one more thing: The governor, a "let's pay later" fellow, decided we will pay Buffett out of what cash we have in the Cat Fund now, instead of dunning everybody's insurance policy.
Nicholson sounded like a guy I could kid, so I told him: "If we get that storm, you'll be the smartest guy in the world. If we don't, you'll be the idiot who gave $224-million to Warren Buffett for nothing."
He said that for Florida's sake, he hopes he is the second guy instead of the first. I hope so, too.
July 23, 2008
Apart from becoming more and more unpleasant, recently business travel is also becoming far less necessary. With videoconferencing technologies improving and fuel prices rising, more businessmen and women seem to be choosing the option to stay put and use new technology to cut down on travel.
Companies too are making an active effort to limit employees’ air travel for the duel-pronged benefits of cutting costs and being environmentally friendly. AT&T has reportedly reduced employee air miles by 15% through video conferencing and Web meetings, while Accenture plans to have 22 video conferencing rooms installed around the world by the end of this year.
The union also paid for a full-page ad in Wednesday's USA Today addressed to "our valued passengers." The ad accuses the airline of "a program of intimidation to pressure your captain to reduce fuel loads."
Ray said soaring jet fuel prices have sent all the airlines scrambling to find ways to cut the weight of airliners because the heavier the plane, the more fuel the plane burns. US Airways, based in Tempe, Ariz., has recently removed movie players, redesigned its meal carts and replaced glassware with plastic to cut weight.
But US Airways recently crossed the line when it ordered eight pilots who requested "an extra 10 to 15 minutes worth of fuel" to attend training sessions, or "check rides," that could put their pilot licenses in jeopardy, Ray said. The pilots were supposed to report for their training sessions Wednesday, he said.
"We feel they're trying to set an example," Ray said. "Captains shouldn't be intimidated into thinking, 'If I say I need this fuel, they may send me for a check ride.' ... Cutting peanuts off the plane, that's one thing. But cutting a captain's fuel level below his comfort, that's another thing."
US Airways spokesman Morgan Durrant said the decision to bring in the eight pilots for extra training was not meant to be punitive. "That's totally not true," he said.
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1. Six Degrees From Dave: Dave is a principal of recruitment-training firm Dave Mendoza & Associates Inc. Self-described as a “master cybersleuth," Mendoza is an affiliate partner of Shally Sheckert’s Jobmachine.com. His blog spotlights HR-industry leaders, sourcing gurus, global-staffing practices and social networking. It was also recently named Best Overall Recruitment Blog of 2007 by Hireability.com.
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TheNoting the state of affairs in some
meetings will include participation by The Reid Group, a non-profit
that bills itself as "...a consultation and mediation service which
specializes in assisting Catholic organizations transform challenges
into opportunities."
In a May 26 letter to priests, Braxton
stated, "The goal of the discussions was to explore ways of working
toward better communication among priests in order to move beyond the
current situation."
The discussions will be coordinated by the
Presbyteral Council, a priests' organization that was instrumental in
raising criticism of Braxton for misusing money donated to restricted
funds and failing to meet with priests concerning other issues.
The sessions, which will continue into the fall, will not be made public.
"It
is important that these conversations take place in the prayerful
spirit of Christian fraternity and not in the public spotlight," the
letter said.
Today, like many Catholics, Kennedy has a hard time reconciling her own views with some of the teachings and actions of her church; in
fact, she often can't. So Kennedy decided to talk with well-known
Americans about their often complicated relationships with the Catholic
faith; the result is a revealing book being released tomorrow.
The
book, "Being Catholic Now," offers an unusually intimate view of how
much being raised Catholic shapes the identity of many prominent
Americans, but also how much tension many feel with the institutional
church.
"Don't even let me go into Cardinal [Bernard F.] Law and
that he has been rewarded with a princely title in Rome," House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi told Kennedy, referring to the former archbishop of
Boston, who resigned over the sex abuse scandal and now oversees a
prominent basilica in Rome. "It is just appalling. I cannot deal with
that, so I don't."
Bill O'Reilly, the FOX News personality, told
Kennedy, "Cardinal Law is a villain. I got him removed from office in
Boston. I pounded him relentlessly, because he was not doing what he
should have for the protection of children in this country."
And
Anne Burke, an Illinois Supreme Court justice who was appointed by the
American bishops to a board overseeing the church's response to the
clergy abuse scandal, was clearly infuriated by her up-close view of
the church's upper management.
"It's the culture of the
administration of the Catholic Church in the United States that
permitted a climate of cover-up to go on for the past 50 years; it's
the same culture and it's still out there today," Burke said. "Things
have hit rock bottom in the Catholic Church, and it's going to get
worse."
-----------------------------
9/17/08
"Our present infrastructure isn't sustainable," said Msgr. John J.
Bonzagni, director of pastoral planning at the Diocese of Springfield,
which expects to have 25 fewer priests in just seven years.
The trend also suggests that scars from the six-year-old clergy abuse scandal may be deepening rather than fading.
The
scandal has cost U.S. Catholic archdioceses $2 billion, and it is not
over. In May, a former altar boy who accused a priest of molesting him
30 years ago won an $8.7 million jury verdict against Vermont's Diocese
of Burlington. A judge put a $10 million lien on the diocese's
headquarters.
More than 850 parishes nationwide have shut since
1995 -- the majority since 2000, according to figures compiled by the
Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown
University, a Catholic university in Washington.
--------------------------------