Dodd Watch - Finally a Hostile Interview

By ray | November 12, 2008

There’s a lot of drama around the interview that never aired on a Clear Channel radio station. The reason it never aired is a mystery and may have more to do with radio station politics than Senatorial politics.

The interview is typical political evasion. Senator Dodd clearly says he received market rates but avoids any mention of the fees that were apparently waived. He also complains that people are unfairly drawing conclusions but fails tp explain why he won’t release documentation. As the interviewer says - “Prove me wrong.”

The crutch Dodd uses is that there’s an ongoing investigation. Dodd ignores the interviewers statement that the investigation doesn’t prevent the release of the information. This is investigation being done by his peers who would also qualify for Country Wide’s “VIP Program” if they were customers. At least this interviewer points out that the Senate Ethics Committee is a “club” and “paper tiger”.  My prediction is that once the “investigation” is done Dodd won’t release the documents and claim there’s no need to because the matter was settled.

Read about the interview at the New Haven Independent website or listen to the actual interview (mp3 file link).

Posted in government | Tagged |

Circuit City Implosion

By ray | November 11, 2008

The recent news about the Circuit City bankruptcy tends to blame it on the economy and competition from the internet. Sorry folks, seems to me this was clearly due to wounds inflicted by it’s own poor management. The only good news is that there doesn’t appear to be any taxpayer bailout money involved.

I used to be a Circuit City regular years ago. There was once near my hours and I’d check out the Sunday circulars every week. That was when I was still buying DVDs and their discount bin was also a regular stop. It was convenient and easy to run in and get something, especially with their in-store pickup. I probably stopped in at least twice a month.

Then things started to change. My local store was remodeled and it appears the overall concept was to force the customer to walk all over the store. First to find what they were looking for and then to find someone to take payment. Even their in-store pickup became an adventure. Sure, I can see making me walk past those big screen TVs to get to the DVDs, but even then the sale DVDs would be hidden elsewhere in the store.

Then they fired over three-thousand experienced workers (read as paid more than newbies) and replaced them with lower paid people. By then my visits were infrequent so this change didn’t bother me until Christmas season last year. I stopped in to get a couple DVDs and actually found them, but I left without them. I couldn’t find anyplace to pay. I’m not saying long lines, I’m saying no central registers. I would have had to wait for one of those commissioned sales people to finish with there customers and pay in one of the departments. I haven’t been back since.

Circuit City didn’t fail because of the economy or competition. They failed because of management decisions that caused a terrible customer experience but still at brick and mortar prices. OK, competition was an reason, but just the fact any exists is enough to keep me out of the store. My prediction is the death spiral will continue and they won’t be around in a year, so avoid the Circuit City gift cards.

Posted in corporate america |

  • Pick a Word

Why The Dodd Silence?

By ray | October 28, 2008

The chorus keeps growing for Senator Dodd to release documents related to his mortgage deal with Countrywide. To recap – he says he didn’t ask for or expect a sweetheart mortgage deal with Countrywide although he admits he got special treatment. He says there’s no story but won’t release the related documents until his peers (Senate ethics committee) gets done with its investigation.

Now from today’s Hartford Courant:

Former loan officer Robert Feinberg, who first spoke to Portfolio magazine about the VIP deal last summer, told me Monday that Dodd "absolutely" knew he was getting special treatment from Countrywide.

"A senator becomes a high priority," Feinberg said. "He got the best of everything."

Dodd has called the red carpet treatment "a courtesy," adding that "no one ever said to us you’re going to get some special treatment."

Seems to contradict Senator Dodd. Let’s face it, he probably didn’t have to ask, but to say he didn’t expect it doesn’t ring true.

Even if we believe he didn’t know that he got special treatment because he was a U.S. senator, do we really want a guy that out of it as chairman of the banking committee? Out of it in regards to his personal business and out of it in regards to conflict of interest when doing business with a company his committee oversees.

The need to come clean about his dealings is so obvious it seems everyone is calling for it. Even the normally Dodd friendly NY Times editorialized against Dodd:

The senator has failed to keep his promise, and his excuses are wearing ridiculously thin.

There also a chorus of other papers chiming in for the release of the documents.

So what are the reasons he doesn’t want to release them. Afraid of getting the same jail cell as former Governor Roland? Afraid of a pre-election scandal that could hurt democrats? Trying to string things out until his term is up? It will prove he’s not corrupt, just plain stupid?

Posted in government | Tagged |

Website Changes

By ray | October 25, 2008

As return visitors (both of you) will notice, there’s been some changes at the BWOTAE. For starters, it all looks different. I switched WordPress themes and you can check out information about this one using the link in the footer. I’m not bothering to write about the theme here because, well, you probably don’t care. And, it may just be different in a week.

The one thing I will mention about the theme is it’s highly customizable and extensible while still providing an easy upgrade track. So don’t be surprised if things keep right on changing.

This website, in a addition to being my personal blog, is also a bit of a laboratory where I can try different things out without affecting my main site. Recently added to the lab were:

PollDaddy polls – the first poll question is in the right sidebar and runs through the election.

Disqus commenting – Disqus (pronounced “Discuss”) is a hosted web commenting system. Once benefit is once you get a Disqus account you (and others) can track all your comments. While comments can be imported & exported with my website the comments will remain even after this site goes away. A Disqus account isn’t required to comment here.

Lest you think this wasn’t a big waste of time – I started the day expecting to change this website’s theme to one I’ve already used and liked. Instead I got looking around and 8 hours later I have this theme and rough plans to use it as the framework for my other sites.

Feel free to put your 2 cents in the comments or e-mail me at the address on the About page.

Posted in Misc | Tagged |

Inefficient Government Is Best

By ray | October 24, 2008

I wouldn’t want you to think I’m pro-democrat and anti-republican. It does appear I’ve ranted more against republicans recently (although I’m not sure what party Bloomberg calls home today). But I distrust most politicians and and have no respect for either political party (hence lower case when using their names). It’s just that the extremists come out when they’re down.

These days the talk isn’t about whether Barrack Obama will win and the democrats will pick up seats, but whether the democrats will get a supermajority. The idea of either political party getting what they want without and check on them is scary.

A supermajority means they can react quickly. Why is that bad? Because our politicians are slaves to opinion polls and perceived public opinion. They’re not big on actually working through a problem or thinking about the implications of their actions. I remember my elementary school history and the theory that the founding fathers designed our government to be inefficient and it still makes sense to me today.

A Wall Street Journal opinion piece gives their take (a conservative one) on what absolute democrat control would mean. It’s clear the republicans won’t control either the house or Senate so a republican President would at least bring back some of the inefficiency we need.

Since all those Senate races are out of my control I’m not sure if I should reconsider my statement that I could never vote for today’s McCain. I’m thinking that since my vote doesn’t count anyway, I’ll vote McCain as an empty gesture. But why vote, I can keep 1/2 hour of my life instead.

Posted in Politics |

Chris Dodd: Well Crafted Excuses

By ray | October 23, 2008

Senator Chris Dodd is currently be investigated by the Senate ethics committee for possible rules violations related to some mortgages he got from Countrywide Mortgages (yea, those guys).

He says he never asked for or was offered any special treatment. The Courant quoted him:

I never sought any special treatment. I never was offered any special treatment.

He was in a VIP program and got a good (but available market rate). Some fees were waved which is where he got into trouble (potentially).

I’m sure he’s technically right. I envision something like this.

  1. Under occupation on the application he writes: U.S. Senator. (No request for special treatment, just the facts.)
  2. Under Clubs/Organizations/Special Interests he writes: Chairman – U.S Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs (and if that’s not a question then it comes up in the employment verification phase) – again, no actual request made.
  3. Countrywide reviews the application and decides this would be a bad guy to piss off. No need to offer special treatment, special treatment is a given.
    Countrywide wouldn’t have even had to let Dodd know. They just knew they wanted him to like them, hence the VIP status.Now Senators need to get mortgages and they shouldn’t have to pay more than others at their income level. But Senator Dodd had an obligation to make sure his dealing with a company directly impacted by his committee had squeaky clean dealings with him. When I worked for the feds, even as a temp, the conflict of interest policy was drilled into us and it was up to us to know of any conflicts.You’ll never convince me that Chris Dodd didn’t expect special treatment without asking.

Posted in government | Tagged |

Mayor Bloomberg: Ego Over Law

By ray | October 23, 2008

Mayor Bloomberg got the NY City Council to extend term limits so he can stay in office. Forget whether or not term limits are good or bad, Bloomberg’s hypocrisy is reason enough to never vote for him again.

He was pro term limits when they benefited him (harder to run against an incumbent). Now that he’d had to leave his position of power he’s anti-term limits (well, for now – more on that in a moment).

He’s says it’s:

….to give the people of New York a fuller choice…

Really? In 1993 voters endorsed a tow-term limit. In 1996 the rejected a referendum (led by the city council) to extend the limit to three terms. So this time Mayor Bloomberg gave the people what they wanted by not bothering to ask them and ignoring the results the last time the were asked. As the NY Times City Room blog put it:

…a plan that was hatched with a handful of fellow billionaires and business moguls…

Who made the decision? Fifty one city council members, 35 of which were at the limit and can now run again.

Not all of the Mayor’s typical cronies supported the term limit extension so the Mayor bought the support of a key crony. There was one billionaire that that stuck to his principles until the Mayor was able to buy his support by agreeing to let the guy sit on a committee to examine term limits after the election and put the question to the voters (gee, maybe they were right the first two times). There are those who feel this guarantees the return of the two-term limit. Me, I see a fourth term. They are using the crutch that these aren’t ordinary times and the “crisis” demands Bloomberg remain.

So, New York City government is in the hands of the billionaires. Term limits when we don’t like the guy (or gal) and no term limits when one of us is in there. I guess just spending a lot of money in a campaign is too risky.

If the government requires manipulation to keep someone in (or out), whatever the reason, then it’s a failure. What happened may be legal, but New Yorkers should reclaim their city by voting against the current mayor, no matter who runs against him.

As for the people who support lifting the term limits now – it’s the height of hypocrisy then return term limits later.

Posted in Politics | Tagged |