From the "Horror File"

[Backlighting]

WASHINGTON - The stimulus package Congress passed last night imposes new limits on executive compensation that could significantly curb multimillion dollar pay packages on Wall Street and goes much further than restrictions proposed by the Obama administration last week.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29192298/

Our Politburo and its Czar move quickly.

What a disgrace. Depressing.

[BaalChatzaf]

WASHINGTON - The stimulus package Congress passed last night imposes new limits on executive compensation that could significantly curb multimillion dollar pay packages on Wall Street and goes much further than restrictions proposed by the Obama administration last week.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29192298/

Our Politburo and its Czar move quickly.

What a disgrace. Depressing.

Wait until the find out that all this nonsense does little or nothing to help the economy.

Ba'al Chatzaf

[anonrobt]

It was never intended to - that was all hype...

[Backlighting]

The proponents of this bill waved carrots.

A lot of people seek the unearned.

[Rich Engle]

The public is not buying the stimulus package, and legit industrialists aren't buying it. And it doesn't matter--that was an inside move that was going to happen one way or another, regardless of who got elected. It was easier for them via Obama, but either way that was going to get done. If you follow the money (and sometimes you can't because, well, for example, the Fed Reserve has loaned to people that they don't have to disclose), it's just a cycling back...it cycles right back upstairs. It is the most overt thing I've ever seen them pull off. Heck, we're likely to never know where some of the early bailout money went there at the end of Dubya's regime. This one is right in our face.

Really, all you have to do is look at the top end of global banking. One thing you'll find out is that, in that respect, we've never stopped being a British colony.

Edited February 15, 2009 by Rich Engle

[Selene]

Rich:

You are quite wise. I remember being at a significantly important Democratic NY City political "dinner" and it was during the mega fear mongering about the Japanese buying America. I believe they had just purchased Rockefeller Center which, of course is basically like holy ground in my mind because of Atlas, and I laughed and pointed out to a few of the powerfully assembled that what they really needed to do was turn around and realize that the Brits owned and controlled more of America than Americans did.

A very powerful democratic fundraiser who was meandering by snapped a look at my arrogant face and, as they say, if looks could kill.

Adam

[Rich Engle]

Well, thanks, Adam. I dunno about the wise part, other than saying wisdom is really just the reward you inevitably get if you have experienced life enough, been there...nothing replaces experience, it fixes things as far as misconceptions you might have developed while using your mind as best you could... reality is a harsh mistress, sometimes, but it certainly gives you full resolve, if you accept it and then act based upon, but not entirely limited to, what experience has given you to date.

What sticks out in what you said is the reverence for places like Rockefeller Center, etc. This kind of thing is, for anyone who has been lifted up by reading Rand, say, tantamount to holy ground, in a way. And then to find out that so many that one once revered are, in fact, filthy, anti-life degenerates.

Rockefeller in particular lights me up, because I have lived in Cleveland most of my life, but got to spend my wonder years in NYC. My dad had offices in a Rockefeller building here. I had offices in what was once their summer place in East Cleveland. I was heavily involved by just being there and experiencing it. Experience which included how things ended up. You should see the area that was, at one time, all his rolling property (around the University Circle/East Cleveland area). There is a lake there that was turned into a public park. East Cleveland is one of the most depressed, dangerous shitholes in the United States. How sad to come and find out that it was not merely run down by post-Rockefeller doings, but that he actually had the major hand in it. But, of course, by that time he was gone.

I still go to the various buildings and properties, from time to time. I look at it and don't know what to think anymore, other than I have less reverence than I used to.

When my dad went back to Cleveland, he had an office in what's called (among too many others) The Rockefeller Building. This is where I used to go to work with dad. It sits right downtown, on the edge of the Cuyahoga River. Lincoln spent the night there once, when it was a hotel. I think it was David (I could be wrong) that got that from John, and he proceeded to run it down, bigtime, and John had to take it over again. Now, it's just another red brick office building sitting there, with a historical plaque on it.

I wrote an essay about American business and how it shaped me. I am obsessed with the feel of an office. I'm one of those guys that stay out of OfficeMax because it's like the toy store. I can smell ink, and revel in the sound of staplers and printers. This is the beauty and tragedy for me.

EDIT: Here's a little dealio on the Rockefeller Building (I needed to refresh myself, thought you'd enjoy). I'll try to find stuff on the Tudor-style country estate on Mayfield Road, too--that one was a real beauty to work in...it still has a country garden patio in the back, and housed a beautiful grand ballroom in the middle, later made into a bank.

"Rockefeller Building (Knox and Elliott, 1903; addition, 1910) 614 Superior Avenue

Cleveland architects William Knox and John H. Elliott, products of the renowned Chicago firm Burnham and Root, designed the 17- story Rockefeller Building bringing the Chicago Style and the Sullivanesque to Cleveland. It is considered to be their masterpiece.

Originally, the building had seven bays; four additional bays were added in 1910. The Rockefeller Building was the first large scale building in Cleveland to utilize a structural steel skeleton, and therefore, also one of the first to use curtain wall construction. Inspired by the famous Louis Sullivan's 1895 Guaranty Building in Buffalo, New York, the first three floors feature a decorative cast iron relief design much like those of Sullivan.

The Rockefeller Building housed coal, lake-shipping and iron industries as well as the offices of John D. Rockefeller's oil empire. Standard Oil, chartered in 1870, was headquartered in Cleveland until 1896. Disillusioned with the onslaught of federal anti-trust laws and run-ins with local tax officials, Rockefeller decided to leave Cleveland for a more accommodating New York City. Previous to the construction of the Rockefeller Building, the site was occupied by the Weddell House, Cleveland's preeminent hotel. Five stories tall with two hundred rooms, the 1847 structure housed Cleveland's most distinguished guests among them then President-elect Abraham Lincoln, en route to his inauguration in Washington, D.C. He gave a speech to a sizable crowd from the second floor balcony on February 15, 1861. Other notable guests included Jenny Lind and Henry Clay. The Rockefeller Building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a Cleveland Landmark.

EDIT EDIT: Got lucky, here's the Heights Rockefeller building. We had three floors there. It''s still a real beauty. If you are in town, you can just buy lunch, walk into the back garden, and eat there and no one will know the difference. The garden is still well-maintained, and you are right next to the coach house, which is still in use for storing cars, I think.

http://www.rockefellerheights.com/main.html

r

Edited February 15, 2009 by Rich Engle