Who's Minding the Store?

I was reminded of the old saw my grandfather said in response to a statement I often made with knitted brows, "I'm Serious!"

"Well, I'm Roebuck, so who's minding the store?", my grandfather would say with a smile.

The American people are probably getting fatigued by all the drum banging over the bailouts to Wall Street firms and CEOs who now have clearly become anti-heroes. Just when the public has begun to absorb the latest blow, the CNNs and Foxes find one more piece of dry wood to add to the fire. Almost daily we hear what is another nuanced version of how much went to "bonuses" at AIG, how Merrill Lynch also paid bonuses as the ship was sinking, and on and on.

The President defends Treasury Secretary Geitner's behavior, feeling that his expertise is needed to save the country from collapse. And this may be true for all we know. The same argument was made by CEO Liddy of AIG who stated he needs those staffers (who are still there) who got bonuses to to stay on to close those toxic investment "books". That despite their ham-handed, if not immoral tactics, those same folks are now needed to right the ship.

But we heard conflicting stories from Larry Summers, from Senator Chris Dodd, and a lineup of others who seem not to have a view of the big picture. Someone needs to take a sober look at this financial mess in toto, and begin to put the pieces together. I'm serious.

Stimulus Money - Who's Accountable?

President Obama has directly warned governors and mayors that he will be looking over their shoulders as they begin to spend whatever stimulus funds come their way. He has emphasized that all spending will be "transparent" and open for public scrutiny. Woe be to those who spend this taxpayer money unwisely.

Yet this rule only seems to apply to the "good guys" -- the heavily strapped state and local governments. Did it apply to the banks who got the first stimulus money? Did they have to do what they said they would do, which was to loosen credit and allow citizens access to needed loans? Did they have to show that no money was going to be paid for "executive bonuses" which seems oxymoronic (or just moronic) that companies would give bonuses to execs who drove the companies into the ground in their greed for more, more, more.

It certainly makes sense that warnings go out to those who are getting stimulus money or other loans from the U.S. Government. It makes sense that every cent should be looked at "line by line". But what is good for one entity with its hand out, should be good for all.

It is beyond astounding that bonuses keep being paid out in these failed companies. They argue that they are not using the bailout money. Now how does that even make sense? The money in their coffers, whether it came from profits or handouts, should not be paid out as bonuses to anyone if they had to ask for a bailout loan or stimulus money.

The next thing we are going to hear is that AIG, that boondoggle that "could not be allowed to fail", will thumb its nose at the President and others, and begin to pay out more and more bonuses for excellence in failure. Just watch.

Pet Peeves - The List Is So Long!

I used to drive my friends (and relatives) nuts by constantly correcting them when they hit upon my pet peeves, mostly about English usage. This had to be most irritating to them, so if I wanted to be invited to parties and even Christmas dinner, I had to learn to temper my urge to play the know-it-all. I said "temper"; I did not say that I have been totally successful.

So rather than have these peeves push up my blood pressure, I thought I'd share a few things that drive me crazy. I know I should worry about much more important stuff but sometimes I just can't help myself. I apologize (again) to those I correct or chide with these vastly unimportant and vacuous items.

Does it bother anyone else that it seems there are a lot more TV ads these days where the sales huckster yells instead of just talks calmly? That guy Billy Mays hawking various products drives me to mash the MUTE button so much I may break my TIVO control. I would like to "KaBoom" him.

Another ad peeve of mine is those grossly unprofessional ads done locally with the actual staff of the car dealership or jewelry store, or whatever. They do some inane skit and then usually end with the whole cast speaking in unison. Spend a little more and hire an ad agency, please. It will do wonders for your business and they won't have a cast of thousands, all yelling "Come to Boastfull Chevrolet where the deals are Best!!!!!!"

My real peeves have to do with the abomination of the English language. McDonald's has begun to educate the masses on hunger "pangs" not hunger "pains" as some are wont to use. I am not perfect but I know that "irregardless" is not a word, and that Realtor (a person who sells REAL Estate) is pronounced REAL-TOR, not REE-Letter.

I also know that "importantly" is an adverb which modifies a verb, so that you cannot say "most importantly" because you can't modify a superlative. OK, I admit, that one's a little esoteric and although it grates on me, it is not nearly as bad as REE-Letter.

Speaking of esoteric, and one fight that I know I won't win is the use of FORTE to mean roughly, "what one has a talent for, or is good at" (Hey look at me, ending my phrases in prepositions -maybe there's hope yet). The correct pronunciation is simply FORT, not For-TAY as so many say. There is no accent mark above the "e" so it is not For-TAY, but common usage has now made that pronunciation acceptable. But if I said, "English usage is my FORT", I would get looks of scorn, so rather than having to explain this to the ignorant masses, I do not use the word at all (So there).

And finally for today I will end with this mind numbing comment I heard the other day. "The staff interviewed over 1000 people for this study, 55% of them women, and 45% men." Wow, were there other choices?