How the swamp develops - A short story
Why the Trump administration expects freebies for themselves but warns their staff about travel expenses.
A personal story when I was a senior researcher for a well-known global medical equipment company.
I was asked by the Turkish government [Ahmet Necdet Sezer was President] to give a series of lectures across the country's hospitals to discuss our technologies. The three-week trip cost our company zero $. They treated me very well and supplied a taxi to drive me everywhere, internal flights being poor. Turkish driving has to be seen to be believed. I had a great time and because I wanted a Kelim carpet but had no time to go to the markets they arranged for a few sellers to show me their wares in the hotel [State-owned and amazing]. They also insisted [I was more than willing] to see some of their world heritage sites. I was alone on the trip, no family, friends, retinue etc, as I would expect when I agreed to their request, a strictly business class trip.
However our European CEO decided this was a good time for him to preen, a new hospital was opening, somewhere deep in the country [Izmir if I remember correctly] and several important government officials would be there. Fair enough I thought, good for business. It was the manner of his arrival that was hilarious.
Now the Turkish government said great and organized his trip as well.
Firstly, He cancelled the flight from a double first class ticket on Turkish Airlines to the corporate jet. Essentially to bring more than just his lover [his wife later took him to the cleaners[yay]] and a few friends [for the sailing].
Upon arrival in Istambul, just for a couple of days to recover from the ordeal of the onerous flight. He first refused the luxurious central hotel offered and changed it to a world-renowned palace hotel on the Bospherous. The mind boggles as to the cost of that one.
The day of my lecture a chauffeur-driven limousine arrived at his new hotel, he then redirected it to the airport where his PA had provided a private helicopter for his comfort.
His time being ever so pressing plus or minus a few days.
He arrived at 'my' lecture late [of course] stayed all of twenty minutes whilst I described our companies research program then left when the boring technical stuff started.
Apparently thereafter he and his friends had a lovely few days sailing, as he told me later since the lecture was on a Thursday so what's a luxury long weekend between friends, eh? The company jet was on standby at the airport and could wait for his nibs.
Even his PA physically blanched at the cost of the trip, what else to expect from a man that didn't believe you could have a decent meal in Paris for less than €350 a head excluding extras [in 2006]. He never dined alone.
Might you think he was fired? Hahahahaha. His salary increased and his bonuses and stock options were more than doubled. The company's European earnings and profitability were down that year, a funny old world? Me? It was 'arranged' that I left the following year [at least I got enough out of 'them' to start my own busines] due to restructuring and cost cutting etc.
The Trump administration reminds me of him more than you can even imagine, born with a golden spoon firmly wedged up his ass.
[Of course, I had to sign a non-disclosure agreement].
Comments
A culture of one-upmanship.
I've seen it, too, and frequently, in certain circles I've been on the periphery to observe.
One isn't really successful unless others see you as successful (so they think), and that only comes if you are doing more (and conspicuously more expensive) things than the others who would be assessing your success. Those others would only want to do business with the successful, so you are able to justify the expense on corporate accounts that get written off, anyway. Most of this is hogwash, an argument foisted upon everyone by those who just want to wallow in luxury, but when enough people accept that argument (because they want to wallow in luxury, too) it becomes the culture, and this is the culture of big business. The same big business that now insists its bought-and-paid-for (with campaign donations instead of luxury hotels and helicopters and sailing) lackeys in DC, whom they've brought into this same culture, should bless with lower corporate taxes. How else to pay for all those sailing vacations?
Thing is. . . . One isn't really successful unless others see you as successful (so they think), . . . because what these people are doing has no other measure of success. There is no betterment beyond the personal gain. It's the "success" of a scam artist. Of a parasite. Where is the "success" in selling more gaskets or pills? What kind of person with any moral compass actually regards that as an accomplishment? When your only measure is money, and the luxury it permits you to wallow in, I suppose there's some success in getting that. But it certainly is no measure of betterment beyond the personal fellating. Society is seldom better off, and it's usually worse off, for your "success."
Lewis Black gets it includes the ballwasher
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ij5OnYOmkcM]
Perfect.
And I'm glad to know others perceive this, that it's not just some whiny thing in me, but. . . .
What if . . . what if this culture of conspicuous consumption has a biological cause? After all, how many species on the planet do this kind of shit?
What if these bastards are trying to one-up each other for the simple reason that they aren't physically able to lick their own balls? Over a lifetime that could cause quite a lot of envy to build up, and that needs to find an outlet somewhere.
Are we demonizing people for a disability they had no say in having? Are we that cruel, that heartless, that bereft of compassion?
Oh wait, not everyone is like this. Just these bastards and those they hornswoggle into embracing their selfish culture. Better to behead them, then.
Crows
or some of them anyway. That's the only species I can think of. But they're not in our league of course.
http://northernstar.info/opinion/columnists/the-similarities-between-cro...
"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott
@Steven D
The (long-standing) term used in speaking of 'a murder of crows' sounds to me like propaganda to try to make humans look better.
I've never heard of them dropping atomic bombs on anyone, just a little incidental poop now and then, something that seems unavoidable, under the circumstances. Whereas some people not only deliberately poop all over others seen as vulnerable, but fire off missiles at, and send out killer drones to, other people's countries out of greed or for 'political points'.
Crows are ecologically sustainable, humans are not: crows are better survivors. Vote for a crow next time!
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
A crow, a goat, a reptile...
any of these would likely do less harm than the current crop of corrupt politicians. They're nicer too.
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
@dervish
OK, so how about a strategic vote next time, for either a crow, a goat, or our resident Gator?
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
several years ago thom hartmann reported on a study
that indicated that squirrels, i think, exhibit some sort of keeping-up-with-the-joneses behavior with respect to nest size ... i've just failed to google anything up about it though ...
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
LOL, it would not surprise me
because studies have shown that chipmunks who are close relatives of squirrels will raid the food chambers of each others' burrows.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
I saw this comment over at NC
"The best way to rob a country is to run it"
Bankers have been doing this for years if not centuries,
i.e. Lord Blankfeins quote of "I'm doing gods work" and
Jamie Dimon getting a huge raise after his "London Whale"
lost $6bil of
his companyshareholders money.and then there is the clinton foundation with wjc getting
paid for speeches by
companyshareholder moneywhile she set the table for deal after deal in the foundation.
trump is most likely on speed dial w/wjc asking for directions
on the most best fantastic greatest way to enrich the family
coffers.
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
I think you;re describing Obama
Trump already knows how to steal and get away with it.
"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott
trump is scum, so is O
that they can be compared
tells the whole story.
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
Brecht and Weill's Threepenny Opera
Polly Meachum tells the other thiefs, if you want to rob people, don't rob the bank. Let's buy the bank!
"Bi-polar? I'm Bi-winning!!!" -- Charlie Sheen
Give a man a gun
and he will rob a bank. Give a man a bank and he will rob the world.
I'm great at multi-tasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at the same time.
@Socialprogressive
You've just won today's internetz! Depressing as the truth is...
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
I Used to Be a Bellman/Valet at a Choice Hotels. I Was at the
Mariott Quorum in Dallas and I worked graveyard. I had to deliver papers and checkout slips as part of my job every morning. This was in the late 90s.
We had 2 guys that stayed with us teh whole time I worked there. I parked their cars 2x per day (graveyard), at $20 a pop, saving them 60ft of walking.
Their checkout slips were for $3500-$4000 per week -- for the year that I worked there.
It was offensive, and a big part of my anti-corporate bent.
“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu
$3500 to $4000 a week not per night? Cheapskates
Room Rate Was Probably $100/night. nt
“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu
Can you like introduce me to this dude?
I'd love to be on his party list.
"Bi-polar? I'm Bi-winning!!!" -- Charlie Sheen
Old wandering hands, I'll ask his ex.
I saw it among realtors
in a coastal community during the real estate boom of the mid 2000's. Prices were suddenly skyrocketing and those of us who knew the area well for years were shocked by it. But one incident really stuck out to me. A really nice wealthy couple, self made, had one of the nicest houses in the community. The wife had health problems so they decided to sell their home and move back to the large city they came from. They knew what they wanted out of the house and thought it to be a fair price, which most of us familiar with the area also thought. But not a single realtor would touch it at that price. Why? The realtors had been pushing prices up and all of them felt the house waas way undervalued (meaning their commissions would be less) and they would not have bragging rights of selling the most expensive house in the area. It was pure greed on their part. Of course like elsewhere, the bottom dropped out of the market shortly thereafter.
Now I am seeing a similar phenomenon in the town where I spend a lot of my time. This time it involves any reasonably priced home. They are being scooped up before being publicly advertised for sale and are being converted to AirB&B or Vacation Rentals by Owner (VRBO). The local paper ran a series a couple of months back saying that there was a severe lack of work force housing available due to these conversions because owners can make more money in one week as a vacation rental than they can in one month with a long term lease. There was a move to regulate these types of rentals, but local government caved to the property owners. Greed wins once again.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
In Bretagne houses have increased but nothing
like Paris. Our smallholding has one of the best sea views around and after 7 years work it's how we want it, we get around 2 visits a month from 'developers' wanting to buy it for conversion into holiday homes for Parisians, they are politely offered a coffee then shown the door.
.
That is the case here in my residential neighborhood in SF. These are mostly small (900-1100 sq ft) homes on 25' wide lots thrown up quickly after WW2. If you walk down the street you'll see a number of houses with key-lock boxes on the front gates so the AirBnB customers can let themselves in.
If we wanted to live next to a hotel (we've got an AirBnB next door) we would have bought a house next to one.
The local politicians have instituted a few half-hearted measures to control things but it seems pretty obvious that it is mostly kabuki, and as soon as they get any pressure they cave and back track. Of course, it doesn't matter how many rules there are if there isn't anyone on staff to enforce them.
It is not uncommon for one of the small houses to sell and then spend the next 6-18 months as a construction zone while it is gutted and expanded (as long as they leave one or two of the original exterior walls in place it is only a remodel). That's a $1M 1100 sq foot house that is 60-70 years old on a 25' wide lot that then has another $250-500K put into it. Who can afford to do that if they aren't going to be maximizing rental income from it?
I don't know how any of the restaurants can stay open because I can't see any way their minimum wage (or less) staff can afford to stay within commuting distance while having enough money left over to live on.
Even in this small town
finding waitstaff for the local restaurants is problematic too due to the lack of affordable housing other than rent subsidy apartments. There is very little affordable rental housing and practically no affordable housing to buy unless it is an absolute dump because all the good stock is being converted to vacation rental properties. The article in the local paper stated that the last (non-rent subsidy) apartment complex built here was constructed in the 1980's.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
What too many people have done to old Victoria era
Houses should be a crime. I've seen some that have been stripped of everything from that era and now they are so sterile looking.
And they paint over the beautiful woodwork. I have no idea why anyone would think that this look is better than the original.
The SF gate shows houses for sale a few times a week and I love to see the ones that have been beautifully restored.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt
@snoopydawg
Corporate ideology. Buy it, strip it and whitewash freely to make extra profit...
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
for most of american history, most municipal government
has been of, by and for real estate developers.
the reason is simple enough: at the municipal level, real estate developers outweigh every other financial interest in terms of how much they can gain if they can control local government. thus, while most citizens find participation in municipal government to be tedious, and often a desperate holding action against predatory interests, real estate people (i.e., predatory interests) find participation in municipal government to be a deeply profitable natural extension of their daily bread-getting.
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
Was there in local government
I worked in local government for over 31 years full time and part time for several years after retiring. I was a planner in land use planning and saw the influence that the real estate and development community had upon the elected officials and sometimes the staff. Developers and realtors were by far the largest campaign contributors in local elections. Planning did receive pressure but where the real corruption can occur is in the permitting and enforcement agencies, particularly building inspection.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy
Little swamps create the big swap
Working in trenches of high tech, I have not seen this big swamp shit up close. However I have seen the little swamps that create the big swamps. I have seen up front the abuse of "directors" who gone onto the big swamp. Two come to mind. I director of marketing was constantly every month traveling to Stockholm for the reason to work with a small, I mean 10 person company, the corporation had acquired. Engineering and support groups constantly asked him to bring up various issues. Absolutely nothing--plus it should have been engineer going there. We speculated he had made a "friend" there for his constant unwarranted visits--not even sure he visited the company. I think upper management realized the abuse of travel budgets and started a policy to have all travel like over 10 miles approved by them.
Another was an engineering director constantly on the road to places that had absolutely no customers or even close to customers. He essentially was using the company to pay for his tourism. He once went to Poland and where there was absolutely no customers there or even a hint of a market. And the asshole was known for denying travel requests even to customer sites.
Shit, another director of engineer went to places on travel agency brochures. A buddy he fell out with said basically he went to various cities to get mistresses. And he was a handsome guy. One story is that his babe in Boston wanted a serious relationship and he replied 'why? I am already married."
But mostly I have been lucky. A director I had scheduled an off-site in San Francisco on the wharf for his group. The lowest to the highest went. Great team building and treated nicely having a catered dinner etc. Found out later he was hit for having lower grade employees go the off site. He had a travel budget and unlike other directors but used it on his group.
It is these mf'ers who build the swamp.
Great story.
Great story.
I'll add one little experience - I once heard of a 'secret policy' by United Airlines as a courtesy to select CEO's, that if they were running late, flights would be held for them.
I assume the passengers were told it was mechanical difficulty.
This was 20+ years ago when private jets seem less common.
C'mon you guys...everyone knows the private sector is far
more efficient than the government.
I work for a transnational. We just laid off a large number of professionals (engineers, marketing and administration) because we are having trouble competing. Now most of the employees left "Do more with less".
So given this situation, what does our management do ? They hire a celebrity DJ and rent a swank club to the tune of $500K to entertain and be seen. The ROI of this nonsense was $0.
It never ceases to amaze me how these people with bloated egos about their work performance continue to show themselves as frauds. Not only does our society not hold them to account, they are applauded as people to emulate.