Years ago on a summer vacation to Hawaii my father grabbed the attention of our potential cab driver by shouting out “hey Mack.” It became more humorous as I read the name on his hack license: Nokomura Yogasushi. This is standard fare for men of my father’s generation and there is actually no harm meant by it, to add “Thanks Mac,” “Morning John,” etc. Initially it is seen as a term of endearment or acknowledgement.

I wonder how we would feel if every morning while waiting for our company’s elevator, a worker from another company greets us by saying “How ya doin’ John,” and continues this practice every morning?

What started as well meaning would eventually gravitate to annoying. Hopefully we would approach the person and say “perhaps you have me confused with someone else,” or correct the situation by formally introducing ourselves.

Short of any action on our part, continuing to be addressed by the wrong name becomes downright disrespectful and displays a lack of true concern by the offending party to actually get to know us.

Why then would we wish someone a “Merry Christmas” if we don’t know them or their religious affiliation, if they have one at all?

The answer is simple: people are accustomed to a monogamous environment of the past where a majority of Americans were some form of Christian, with the occasional Jewish person correcting us along the way.

This is not to say that people aren’t well intentioned, and wishing one glad tidings is a great example of what we feel at this time of the year, good thoughts for all mankind we hope carries throughout the whole year.

Why not go the extra step to find out about our neighbors by asking them what Holiday they will be celebrating? This would show a caring concern and respect for their beliefs. Continuing to take for granted people who are Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu or Sikh, Taoists, or Atheists is insulting.

It’s time we broaden our horizons, acknowledge a new America and its diversity which also happens to be its strength; people of different backgrounds living in peace and harmony.

This is hard to accept for a generation who still believes that somewhere in our constitution it is stated America is a Christian nation even though our founding fathers went to great pains to devise a country where religion and state were separate and free.

David DiBello

Unemployment Vacation

As I enjoy my fourth recession and second market crash since graduating college in 1981 I am reminded of the statement by President Reagan that unemployment is a “prepaid vacation for freeloaders.” Reagan’s recession was made possible by drastic tax cuts with no way to pay for it, resulting in government layoffs and state budget cuts that saw unemployment rise to over 10%.

The unemployment benefit then was $260 a week in the metropolitan area, average rents at $600 a month. Today, the weekly NYC benefit is $435 a week with an additional $25 thanks to the Federal government, yet average rents regardless of borough is $1000, more if you want a bedroom. That’s just under $2,000 a month (slightly below the NYC poverty rate) before one considers utilities, food or public transportation. Add on the cost of a computer and job search materials i.e. resumes, postage, faxing, etc and we get to the real P & L, excluding the realistic costs of healthcare, auto insurance and maintenance.

Oh yeah, one could be married with children, or paying alimony or child support, but I digress.  As I experience my fourth recession I know the lifestyle. In addition to the hopefully “breakeven” status thanks to unemployment, a benefit paid because workers, not freeloaders, had an insurance policy whose premiums were paid for by the employer (much like health insurance, but at a lot lower rate) there are all those other costs of daily life which are put on hold or disappear. In the post 9/11 recession I had a car repossessed. We cancel our vacations and terminate our health club memberships. Friends and family gather for dinners, holidays or celebrations and we are AWOL or show up with the miniscule of gifts if any at all.  We look at new clothes or jewelry in store windows and divert our eyes. We reuse disposable blades. There is that woman we’d like to date but now can’t approach, concerts, sporting events and weekend getaways we won’t be attending. Let’s not forget those credit card bills manageable as long as we were employed. We struggle with bouts of self worth repeating the mantra “it’s not our fault,” as we watch TV and remember “hey I’m on vacation!”

In 2007 I hedged myself against the oncoming storm and became part of the 7.5% of children in the US over 29 who have moved back home with their parents from a generation when “doing nothing” was considered a vacation. No it’s not as much fun as it sounds.

What are unemployed parents doing for fun when the tuition bill comes? Mr. Reagan is in no position to answer, but I would like to know “when does the vacation start?”

Fortunately I have chased my unemployment with periodic bouts of “temp” work, which is the “better than nothing” alternative. This employment pays one at 60% less than what they previously made with an equivalent hourly rate (the other half of one’s pay) going directly to the agency. Companies now get to test the water before hiring, but that doesn’t help the purchasing power of the temp.

Adding insult to injury, Cato Institute fellow Alan Reynolds has declared the stimulus created extended benefits are the reason unemployment remains high because he believes, much like Reagan, the unemployed are happy with their “time off.” This is an extraordinary, self serving belief in light of an $11 trillion mortgage and housing industry collapse, continued layoffs and the bankruptcies and depression avoided with the extended benefits. No, Mr. Reynolds, the unemployed are merely waiting for a living, deserving wage.

Vacation will end when employers take the chance and rehire workers, paying them a wage to stimulate the economy back to full throttle. Until then the unemployed will be at the local tanning salon….waiting.

David DiBello

Great Golfer, Low Life Jerk

Earl Woods made a very wise decision in our capitalist society which rewards supplying demand, and by virtue that which is “popular,” to encourage his son to become a professional golfer. Tiger Woods will not be solving any mathematical equation, creating a product for the betterment of mankind, finding a cure to a terminal disease, or assisting in world peace; he will be hitting a golf ball really far.

People looked at such a dedication to the puritan ethic of hard work to obtain a goal, we assumed high moral characteristics and integrity came attached to the extraordinary effort. No one saw the development of a narcissistic personality that felt his “golf prowess” made him deserving of everything he wanted in his life, unlike mere mortals who raise a family at a sacrifice, work two jobs or risk their life in civil service or the military. None of us knew of a person who felt he can do and get away with whatever he wanted because “he is who he is.” Like our addiction to “celebrity” we came attracted to superficial images than substantive truths.

Earl Woods’ intention was for Tiger to succeed so he would not have to struggle in this life, get things the father probably didn’t have. Woods Sr. did not put into his equation the development of a displaced ego that felt deserving of doing and getting anything he wanted regardless of price, or who he was stepping on or injuring. This emerging personality disorder was hidden to the public that judged on surface appearance.

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction and thus the cat is now out of the bag. Tiger is now getting what he does deserve; a golf club to the head, and revelation of his true image. He hits a golf ball accurately and far, so he feels he is better than the rest.

Consequently, like birds that flock together Tiger has managed to attract people who share the same values: money and fame at any cost, similar values as the White House gate crashers. We are now saturated with the numerous women who have no qualms claiming they slept with a married man, doing interviews to parade around their morals that have taken a back seat to “celebrity.” Like kinds attract one another.

We can now do an effective appraisal of the man whose character was in the closet and whose ego out of balance with reality. Tiger, who in ordinary life would be confused with a fast food bike messenger, is now enjoying the fruits of his “negative” labor. Here again he has been granted his wish and is getting what he deserves.

As long as we continue to focus our attention and praise on false values, we will continue to be let down and deservedly so. Perhaps it’s time Mother Teresa grace the cover of a Wheaties box.

David DiBello

In answer to the question “what if you threw a party and nobody showed?” the FOX News sponsored Tea Bag parties managed to garnish 618,000 protestors in about 800 American locales. That’s two tenths of 1% of the U.S. population, an average of 78 people per location (some sites had about ten people while others numbered in the thousands).

Put in perspective, Elton John, Simon and Garfunkel and Diana Ross each drew crowds of 500,000 in Central Park, New York, a city that drew 12,500 tea bag protestors (in Miss Ross’ case she drew the same crowd twice due to late rain out). New York is comprised of 8.36 million citizens, and borders Connecticut, New Jersey and Up State which can draw an additional 2 million from each area.

Sean Hannity of Fox News, who broadcasted from the Georgia party site of 25 to 30,000, often maligns the Million Man March hosted by Farrakhan claiming they only drew 400,000 people (the police department reported 800,000). Yet he claims the Tea Bag party to be a ground swell movement!

Where is this so called anger and uprising we were told to expect? Most viewers expecting to see the equivalent to an Abortion Rights or Pro Life march on Washington, or remember Anti War or Anti Nuke rallies, or the ground swell of the Civil Rights marches were severely disappointed.

Adding to the confusion is the mixed messages being delivered. While some were protesting taxes (although none have been raised yet and we are still under the Bush tax plan), others were against government bailouts of anybody. One sign read “Reverse NAFTA now” definitely not a conservative Republican theme, while many simply voiced their displeasure with Obama in not so polite terms.

The protestors were not the wealthy elite (they brainwash others do their dirty work) but average Americans who either retained their job due to a bailout, received unemployment benefit extensions and COBRA provisions, had their homes secured through new mortgage re-writes, and had their 401K’s further secured by TARP funding to banks. The result is we avoided a wave of bank liquidations and corporate failures along with 25% to 30% unemployment.

Not helping this “Day of Outrage” was recent polls that showed while 44% don’t want any bailouts, 39% did want some form of government intervention and 12% didn’t mind intervention at all. Add to this Obama is still polling in the low 60% favorability, and we have a new “silent majority” amused at the lost message and circus atmosphere of the Tea Bag Parties.

Of course Democrats can’t leave well enough alone. Jeanine Garofalo damned all protestors as racist, she who demands open mindedness as part of the radical liberal sect, and Pelosi belittles people who did show up as “Astroturf,” in case we needed to be reminded of what a foot in one’s mouth sounds like.

The Tea Bag turnout was laughable and reiterated most Americans are behind President Obama and the need to do what is necessary to correct the economy and economic injustice. Democrats, radical or otherwise, should have more self confidence, shut up and let the facts speak for themselves.

David DiBello

The mentality of narcissistic greed was created during our first supply side debacle during the Reagan Revolution, which created Yuppies, Junk Bonds, and Mergers and Acquisitions which ended in the market crash of October 1987.

We are now suffering from another crash and burn supply side voodoo economics created by Bush Jr., the new "Uber rich" because rich wasn't good enough, and a fraudulent real estate market that provided that mirage of 55 months of consecutive GDP growth - we thought.

We should have always taxed those who make more in one year than a person makes in a lifetime at the 50% level. That would have provided a balanced budget, not the mess Bush Jr. left us.

Then we should raise the minimum wage which is ludicrously below the poverty level (as sane as war time tax cuts) and adjust the working class salaries, the ones who ultimately bear the brunt of this disaster.

We’ll never hear a capitalist talk about that inequitable wage distribution, and now it has come back to bite them wear it can really hurt. Americans are screaming for wage EQUITY and not falling for the "have's" argument of redistribution; As Lincoln said, one can only make a fool of people for so long.

 If wages were fair we wouldn't be in this mess today, and wouldn't be resorting to living on credit while our wages stagnate, yet health premiums, tuition and rent have all doubled in a decade thanks to NAFTA and our competition with third world economies.

I feel sorry for Timothy Geitner who was first demonized for failing to pay taxes amounting to 1% of his overall tax burden, an oversight at worst, and then making the mistake of thinking “the have’s” wouldn't have the audacity to want a bonus after their company failed.

That’s the new America. While 1% of our nation endures the military sacrifice, the rest wear flag lapels and scream "Me, Me, Me!"

David DiBello

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNJ1qTmWHHI

George Weber was a good decent person, who easily became a fabric of news radio and thus NYC. He was without pretense, having a few brews with the gang at the Blarney Stone after work, not a place to go if you claim to have "airs" about you.

He was also most likely a homosexual, given the circumstances surrounding his death; a murder by someone he knew in his apartment late at night. He lived on Henry Street, which is Brooklyn's version of Greenwich Village.

That’s all irrelevant because what will remain is that he was a good and decent person, not his sexual preference, or the fact that he came to a demise that no one deserves, and no one, no matter whom they are, are immune. He was the kind of person that made you think of what it was like to be a New Yorker, and what a gift it is to live in NY - nothing else. He was a normal gentleman, the kind one would have to be told of his sexual proclivity because that was not how he was defined. He was a regular guy.

Of course we all want the same thing from life, most importantly - to love and be loved. Unfortunately in the depths of our despair or loneliness, we are vulnerable to people who prey on such desires. George probably hoisted a few with the boys after work Friday night, shared a few laughs and headed home to Brooklyn, and apparently later that night met up with the wrong person.

It does give us pause to know that a moments bad decision can lead to our demise, but no one - no one - should pay with their life because they opened up their heart prematurely.

And no one can steal what this man, George Weber, meant to so many New Yorkers. That he was a good and decent man who loved New York and New Yorkers loved him in kind.

Upon reading A.I.G.’s Jake DeSantis’ resignation letter one is almost moved to feel sympathy for a man who felt “duped” by company management, and anger towards a firm that did not fulfill its “commitment.”

As sympathy fades, one focuses on the fatal flaws with Mr. DeSantis’ logic, along with his isolation from a corporate world most of us live. Yes, Mr. DeSantis worked for a portion of A.I.G. that was profitable, but management views the whole in financial terms, not fragmented or decompartmentalized parts. This is why it is important for employees to consider themselves part of the whole, and concerned if a segment of their company is not performing well. As the saying goes, “we are as strong as our weakest link.”

In short, an employee is an agent of the entire company, and much like King Solomon’s test, cannot be cut in half. In dire situations, a company files bankruptcy not on a segment of their firm, but on the company as whole. As an executive Vice President, Mr. DeSantis should know he worked not for A.I.G. Northeast, or A.I.G. Southwest, but A.I.G. period; one Federal Tax ID number, one company.

It is understandable Mr. DeSantis’ pride is irked, but perhaps a few months’ reflection will set in on where he made his errors. First, being that he was able to work for $1.00 a year, unlike 98% of America, means he was well compensated in years past and has the luxury to be part of an ivory tower culture of waiting for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Has he any gratitude for A.I.G.’s past compensation, or is it all about “what have you done for me lately?” The fact Jake is in a position to “give back” his “bonus” attests to A.I.G.’s past benevolence.

As for A.I.G.’s “lying,” welcome to corporate America, the kind us working class have experienced for many years. However, in this age of enlightenment and spirituality, this could be construed as A.I.G. engaging in the power of positive thinking; management gave a rosy scenario because negative ones insure failure. Perhaps they felt past year’s extravagant remuneration deserved a level of loyalty, if not pay back?

If there is a lesson for DeSantis, he will learn, in financial terms, to reduce his exposure by joining us mere mortals, accepting a salary each and every week, forgoing the variability of a pay out in the end. Join workers who experience rainbows in black and white, if we enjoy them at all. As the clichés goes, “a bird in the hand is worth more than two in the bush.” Mr. DeSantis wants the best of both worlds: paid like an Executive, but when things go wrong, employing the rules of the working class?

However the most affronting assertion in Mr. Desantis’ resignation rant where he loses any popular support is he was due a “bonus” from a firm that was bankrupt; in short, he wanted his bonus to come from OPM; other people’s money, an ethic strongly adopted and utilized by the Wall Street elite (the reason we are where we are). This smacks of sheer arrogance bolstered by outright naiveté, and blind ego.

Or is this a measure of Jake’s one way commitment, and part of his lie?

David DiBello

How dare our new President tell the American public we are in a crisis? Doesn’t he know that the best tool any salesperson possesses is the power of positive thinking, to always look at the glass as half full and to put a positive outlook i.e. spin, on anything being sold?

Do capitalists and Wall Street, stuck in their Ivory Tower, think Americans don’t know things are bad, even after the layoffs, stagnating wages, crumbling home values and reeling stock portfolios. Has President Obama just shocked us like some naïve spouse who unveils the evidence of her/his cheating mate?

Haven’t we endured enough in 2008 of Wall Street analysts seeing through rose colored glasses telling us time and again that rebound is around the corner and we have just bottomed out, or that the fall is bound to pick up any day? Are we to listen to the Larry Kudlow’s of the world telling us not to panic on the “stimulating news” commodities haven’t fallen as much as in the past as reason to rejoice?

Perhaps we should adhere to the mind numbing positive self talk theory that’s allows us to walk around believing everything is wonderful because we want it to be so as we sit down for another dinner of Styrofoam we envision as filet mignon.
Here’s an idea: acknowledge the truth and identify the problem. Only then can we know what needs to be corrected and work on the solution.

However after eight years of a supply side economy that doubled the federal debt, outsourced American jobs for more favorable returns, and favored one class while forgetting about the rest, Republicans and Capitalist rather one didn’t look to hard at the root cause of the problem, choosing to continue playing upon the magical belief of keeping a stiff upper chin.

They want to stay the course and not upset the applecart that has benefited them, rather than facing the reality of what will need to be done – raising taxes, wage equity and treating Americans as if we are all created equal, one nation under God.

We’ve had enough of that; sometimes the fat lady has to stop singing and look in the mirror.

I am delighted with the Madoff case and have absoultely no sympathy for people who invested with this man because their greed clouded their judgment to put all their eggs in one basket.

Never did they question why they were getting 10% dividend and interest income when everyone else in America received less than 5%. This is a saga of the "have's" thinking they know better, are smarter and have better connections because they are above us all.

As the old saying goes, "birds of a feather flock together," and "like kinds attract." Bernie Madoff was the perfect medicine to people who thought they were better than the rest.

HE KNEW HE COULD TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THEM BECAUSE HE COULD PLAY UPON THEIR GREED, A PREREQUISITE FOR ANY CON ARTIST.

May they stew in it, and may Bernie get pardoned, because in factual situations murder and rape are far worse crimes, but in this capitalistic society we are indoctrinated to think other wise. Tell that to someone who lost a loved one recently, or from survivors of the holocaust who saw their loved ones starve and get slaughtered.

Enjoy the stew; everyone got what they deserved!

It was pathetically hysterical to watch Rick Santelli poll the floor of the Stock Exchange, home of all those "year end" bonuses, creators of derivative shenanigans and ironically beneficiaries of government bailout of the industries with which they trade.

Perhaps Mr Santelli would be more convincing had he walked down Main Street and polled those people. The only point made by Santelli's impromptu unscientific poll is the division in economic classes in our country, and how what is good for the goose ain't necessarily good for others in Wall Street's Ivory Tower.

Wall Street and Pure Capitalists, like Larry Kudlow, keep up the canard of "attracting and keeping" executives. This is a scam theory not backed by facts.

Under the law of supply and demand, the very theorems Capitalists aspire, the market is flooded with talented people competing against one another, and Investment Houses, thanks to CEO's fine (greedy) efforts are disappearing or already gone.

Reggie Jackson was replaced. If all the CEO's on Wall Street perished on 9/11, the economy wouldn't have come to a grinding halt. The threat that they will be attracted or “lured away” by other entities is a fallacy. These are not the best of times, thanks to their failed strategies of high risk investments with no regard and reckless abandon.

If the Working Class negotiates with one's boss, the salary ceiling would be the amount that a boss would no longer pay because he can get cheaper workers elsewhere.

This is the way all companies should act regardless of federal funds, but fairness smacks in the face of capitalism.

And still, we have grown men and women putting in a hard week’s work, some back breaking, for minimum wage. What a National Disgrace that has now come back to harm our economy since "disposable income" makes the economic wheel go round.

David DiBello