Tag: Too Big To Fail

Tales of a Recession

Two men were caught on surveillance camera for stealing $2000 worth of Victoria Secret panties.

http://www.wpbf.com/news/22568081/detail.html

73-year-old Tampa man was arrested last week for robbing a bank to pay his mortgage.

In California, a unionized plumber got laid off, now sleeps in his truck.

When the city of Tustin laid off people, an employee, a Vietnamese man, jumped from the municipal building to his death.

Meanwhile, Congress is doing business as usual (filibustering), among other things, a compromised job bill.

As of this edit, it is shut down (first in 17 years).

A bunch of people are selling their memoirs (“On the Brink”, “Too Big To Fail“, “the Quants“) for fear that a recovery will mean a faded public memory of the fiasco.

At least, there has been a face and a name that went down in history with this uncertain time: Madoff.

Every civilization manages to “crucify” someone for the collective sin we all committed.

With that behind us (Ash Wed is coming up, so it’s fitting to contemplate this morbid human tendency to scapegoat), we can go on pretending life is beautiful.

I could not let news like “students in Central Vietnam got scarred when long-buried bomb exploded” slip by without reflecting on what has been done to that country.

In “Good Morning Vietnam“, we were shown a lush-green rice field shot from a moving helicopter, and the voice track was “It’s a wonderful world” just to underline it with a sense of irony.

I guess during this Recession, a lot of us (1 million Telecom veterans) will never find a job in our field (which no longer exists in the traditional sense- unless we acted young and zany, with a frequent commute between “campuses” by bike like googlers”), job bill or not.

Maybe we should start thinking out-of-the-box. Some men in Florida did. The older one got caught. The other two got away. I bet their adrenaline level was pumping high when finally safe inside their get-away vehicle. Try to recover those V-Secrets loot as “untainted” evidence of a crime.

 

The New Low

Canadian University system has just introduced a new low grade (lower than F) for Academic Dishonesty (plagiarism or online essay service etc…).

At least, the University is catching on with high-tech trickery, and how these portable devices and outsourcing services can aid cheaters. TA’s will have to play cops, always vigilant and alert.

I suggest they install hidden cameras, thus fighting fire with fire, gadget with gadget.

And while at it, install some extra metal detectors in school. One cannot learn if one doesn’t feel safe.

(As of this edit, there was another school shooting whose perpetrator had been disciplined by school librarian).

Once the kids are going this route (short cut), they are slated to be future “madoffs”.

I sent a friend a link about “naughty in school, trouble in life” a social study in Britain.

And it is documented that people with penchant to get in trouble exhibit these traits very early in life.

That’s why we got transcript and track record. We got talent scouts but also talent screening (like Hollywood agents).

Natural selection.

Year ago, when they selected astronauts to walk on the surface of the moon, the committee worked through a pool of thousands.You got to have “the Right Stuff”.

Now , you have institutions that are “too big to fail”, and students who negotiated to have an “F” instead of “FD”.

Lesser of the two evils. Win-win negotiation.

When I graduated from HS with a Magnum Cum Laud, I remember coming home to my father who for the first time gave me some money to buy beers to treat my friends.Rite of passage.

I had my first “legalized” beer at the age of 18. Honestly.

It just the way it was back then: you pulled many all-nighters, then you were rewarded with beers and party in the comfort of  home.

“You touch drug, I will kill you.” Reward and punishment system was very clear back then.

Now, it’s “you touch that key pad, I will give you an FD”. The future is here. And some kids can’t wait to get caught.

That way, they feel at least some adults care enough to give them an “FD”. Go find some construction jobs. If they are hiring. This is a white-collar world, boy. We don’t get drafted, get our hands dirty or get caught, because we belong in Palm Beach Club. BTW, the Fool’s Gold plot was conceived in Boca Raton, not too far down the I-95. CDO’s and all.

Watch out for the “D” in any acronym least of which in a Canadian University transcript.