Capitalism's Enemies Within

Wall Street's pay practices perversely encourage extreme risk-taking that can destabilize the economy.

clipped from www.washingtonpost.com Amid the mayhem on world financial markets, it is becoming clear that capitalism's most dangerous enemies are capitalists. No one can have watched the "subprime mortgage" debacle without noticing the absurd contrast between the magnitude of the failure and the lavish rewards heaped on those who presided over it. At Merrill Lynch and Citigroup, large losses on subprime securities cost chief executives their jobs -- and they left with multimillion-dollar pay packages. Stanley O'Neal, the ex-head of Merrill, received an estimated $161 million.

Gruden and Allen Get Extension, Stroud and Dumpig hang self

TAMPA, Fla. -- Buccaneers head coach Jon Gruden was rewarded Tuesday
for Tampa Bay's worst-to-first turnaround in the NFC South with a
three-year contract extension that runs through the 2011 season.

Al Messerschmidt / Getty Images

Bruce Allen was named the third general manager in Buccaneers history prior to the 2004 season.

Gruden,
who had one year left on a contract that was extended after the
Buccaneers won the Super Bowl five seasons ago, earned about $4.3
million in 2007.

General manager Bruce Allen also was given a three-year extension, keeping him under contract for another four seasons.

Gruden
and Allen were attending Senior Bowl workouts in Mobile, Ala., and
unavailable for comment. Financial terms were not announced

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KIffin Signs , Stroud to Hang self

It is was it is. Stroud is a lame hack.

clipped from bucstats.com Monte Agrees In Principle, Stroud To Hang Self In Shower January 18, 2008 Earlier today, I read Rick Stroud's story about Kiffin getting offered less than he was currently making. It's believed the Bucs have offered Kiffin less than what he made last season, leaving the two sides considerably apart. I had half an entry written about how "it's believed" means Stroud had absolutely no sources and was just pulling this out of his gargantuan asshole, but I abandoned it because it started to sound like I was piling on when I really didn't know what Kiffin was offered myself. The Tribune touched on it, but their version of it has far fewer instances of the words "fuckface" and "hack-tacular". I'm not sure which is more satisfying, Kiffin being retained or Stroud being publicly proven wrong again. Isn't it about time to stick him on the monster truck rally or championship bingo beats?

GRUDEN=BAD, DUNGY=GOOD...per the Times

...according to Rick 'He hates me" Stroud. How does this guy keep his job?

clipped from www.bucnews.com Of course, all this is leading up to a ridiculous anti-Gruden article from Rick Stroud. Stroud must have been sitting at his desk and racking his brain [sic] for an angle where he could criticize Jon Gruden despite a 9-7 record and a trip to the playoffs with an overflowing injured reserve list. Some media folk (Howie Long comes to mind immediately, as does the Times's own Gary Shelton) have even called this Gruden's finest year of coaching in his career. Then, Art Valero went to the Rams and took the opportunity to get some stuff off his chest.

McKay....A Paper Tiger

New England Spygate DT Vince Wilfolk gets off Easy with Fine

EyE gouging incident yields Wilfolk only a fine, indicating the NFL's favored position towards the Patriots. Look for the Cheatriots to win the Super Bowl with help from the referees if necessary.

clipped from www.profootballtalk.com WILFORK GOT OFF WAY TOO EASY We're amazed -- amazed -- that Pats defensive tackle Vince Wilfork was fined only $15,000 for treating Giants running back Brandon Jacobs like he'd just said "nyuk, nyuk, nyuk." Wilfork jammed his stubby finger into Jacobs' eye! Sure, Jacobs wasn't hurt.  But the act was still heinous.  If the officials had seen it, he surely would have been ejected.  So why wasn't he suspended? And given that it was Wilfork's third fine of the year for on-field misbehavior, we think that he at least should have been fined far more than $15,000. Finally, a reader has made a great suggestion.  Why not base these fines on a percentage of the player's annual salary?  As it now stands, these penalties affect players of different income levels differently.  The goal, however, should be to create a deterrent effect that is consistent.  The best way to do that is to take away a specific portion of the player's pay.