Mammon category archive
A Bridge Too Favre 0
The Los Angeles Times’s LZ Granderson, who has ties to Mississippi, digs into Brett Farve’s role in–er–misappropriating public funds intended to help the less-well-off to serve his own private ends. A snippet:
Once is a mistake.*
He came back for seconds.
______________________
*Yeah. Right.
The Crypto Con Artists 0
Beware of the shills. For example (much more at the link):
(snip(
“The federal securities laws are clear that any celebrity or other individual who promotes a crypto asset security must disclose the nature, source, and amount of compensation they received in exchange for the promotion,” Gurbir Grewal, director of the SEC’s division of enforcement, said in a prepared statement.
The Privatization Scam 0
The Arizona Republic’s E. J. Montini says that you can vouch for it–school vouchers a bait-and-switch.
Illegal Procedure 0
At AL.com, Roy S. Johnson takes takes a long look at Brett Farve’s role in misappropriating public funds intended to help the needy. Johnson points out that
Follow the link for the play-by-play.
The Wage Enslavers, Reprise 0
I am reminded of something I once heard a high-ranking union official say. It was many years ago and, unfortunately, I can’t remember the exact circumstances, but I think he was quite correct:
Unions are the creation of management.
The Wage Enslavers 2
Sam and the crew talk with an ex-Starbucks employee* about Starbucks’s union-busting tactics.
Aside:
When I worked for the railroad, I worked in a union shop and, for the first few years, in a union job. I know from personal experience that when employers and unions work together in good faith, it benefits everyone.
I can attest that nobody disliked bad employees more than their union reps. Even though the reps might be obligated to defend them in disciplinary hearings under the terms of union membership, the reps do not want the extra headaches that bad employees give them. (I could go on, but I doubt that my two or three regular readers would be interested in the arcane intricacies of railroad disciplinary procedures; I will just mention that one of the classes I taught as a trainer schooled supervisors in how to do discipline correctly.)
Even when I was no longer in a union job, I proudly paid my union dues until I left the railroad.
___________________
*He’s an ex-employee because he got fed up with the union-busting and quit, which may well be what Starbucks would like to see happen more often.
The New Gilded Age 0
Methinks the editorial board of the Las Vegas Sun is onto something.
Misdirection Play, CRT Dept. 0
At Crooks and Liars, Newshound Ellen follows the money.
How Far Will Wells-Fargo? 0
Afterthought:
They gobbled up the bank that gobbled up the bank that I was using a couple of decades ago. Moving bank accounts is a hassle, but I am so glad I no longer bank with them and haven’t for years.
A Class Act 0
The Portland Press-Herald’s Victoria Hugo-Vidal thinks that the sentiment agains President Biden’s student loan forgiveness is rooted in concepts of social class, that those who are being helped are somehow the “undeserving poor.”
Methinks she is on to something. Follow the link for her reasoning.
Merchants of Death 0
At the Roanoke Times, Virginia Tech professor George McDowell tells the tale of “Big Pharma’s” equally toxic cousin, “Big Arma.”
House of Wax 0
Above the Law’s Joe Patrice has–er–questions about the purported charity status of Professor Amy Wax’s new legal defense fund.
It’s All about the Benjamins 0
When I went to college, my parents were able to pay my tuition and I left college debt-free. In contrast, it was only a few years ago that I finished paying off the “parent loans” that I incurred to educate my own kids.
The cost of “higher education” and the student loan industry is a scam and a con designed to extract money from what should be a public good. But, natch, we live in a society that no longer believes in the public good. It believes only in extracting as much money as possible in as many ways as possible from as many people as possible.
Thank the Chicago School.