Bonuses!!!

Main Street America is still in the grips of the worst recession since the 1930's. Unemployment is close to 10% and health care costs are shooting through the roof. Most people will see marginal if any increase in their pay checks, that is if they are lucky enough to have a job.

But if you are from Wall Street, the Mecca of global finance, thats a different story. People here will not only see an increase in salary, but can expect a big fat bonus come year end, whether the company that they work for is in business or not.

So why is that, people who brought the world to the brink of financial oblivion are still getting paid outrageous amounts so that they can keep doing more of the same.

Daniel Gross in his column for Slate magazine tries to explain.

"Just as Tiger Woods was placed on this earth to whack the dickens out of dimpled balls, Wall Streeters were placed on this planet to dispense and receive bonuses."

So if you are from Main Street and still have a job, keep you chin up and head back to work. After all you have to pay your taxes so that Wall Street can pay its bonuses.

So Much for Austerity

The central government's austerity drive doesn't seemed to have filtered down. At least in the states which have the opposition BJP in power.

According to the BJP spokesperson,

"The timing of the austerity drive was suspect. It is an election gimmick. The prime minister has said the worst of the economic crisis is over, then where's the need for austerity now? It's all cosmetic. They will go back to their usual ways once the state elections are over."

This is the same BJP whose government in Karnataka spent Rs 1 Cr on a single cabinet meeting. Out of One Crore spent, about 28 Lakhs was spent on flowers alone. I don't know about you, but that's a whole lot of flowers.

And This is the City Which Will Host the Commonwealth Games

Home Minister PC Chidambaram's pleas towards Delhiite's to learn some manners before the upcoming commonwealth games seem to have fallen on deaf ears.
Forget the common man, even the Delhi cops, the enforcers of law and order, don't seem to care. While they are busy fighting over who has jurisdiction a women is being tortured.

Whats on the Net

Some interesting articles that I have read over the last couple of days

1. Breaking American addiction of Fast Food in one of the most un-healthiest regions in American by cooking food British Style
2. If you followed the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the US Supreme Court, you will remember the controversy surrounding the "Wise Latina" comment. Ever wondered how this obscure comment made by the now Supreme Court justice become the focal point in her confirmation hearings. Mark Bowden in an excellent article for The Atlantic magazine explains.
3. I have heard alcohol addiction, drug addiction, even gambling addiction. But Internet Addiction, this is news to me.

With that thought, I will end my post as I don't want to be addicted to the internet.

Why Republican Party is in Crisis?

In his recent column for the NY Times, David Brooks provides a candid and lucid analysis for why the Republican Party is in crisis. In reacting to how the radio jocks Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Sean Hannity have taken control of the Republican party from its rank and file, David Brooks writes:

They pay more attention to Rush’s imaginary millions than to the real voters down the street. The Republican Party is unpopular because it’s more interested in pleasing Rush’s ghosts than actual people. The party is leaderless right now because nobody has the guts to step outside the rigid parameters enforced by the radio jocks and create a new party identity. The party is losing because it has adopted a radio entertainer’s niche-building strategy, while abandoning the politician’s coalition-building strategy.

The rise of Beck, Hannity, Bill O’Reilly and the rest has correlated almost perfectly with the decline of the G.O.P. But it’s not because the talk jocks have real power. It’s because they have illusory power, because Republicans hear the media mythology and fall for it every time.

Read the entire column at The Wizard of Beck. Its good to see that there are still sane people associated with the Republican Party who can see through the veil of mis-information being spread by some in the media and have the courage and fortitude to stand up to it.

Celebrating Mahatma Gandhi's Birthday Google Style

Netizens who visited Google today could see the new doodle celebrating Mahatma Gandhi's 140 birthday. The doodle has the Mahatma's bust intertwined into the word "Google".


Google also has other doodles that celebrate various birthdays, festivals and holidays. To get a glimpse search for Google Doodles, where else, but on Google.

Image obtained from Google website.