Reuters) - Caterpillar Inc has decided to close its Electro-Motive locomotive plant in London, Ontario, and lay off at least 450 workers following several months of unsuccessful contract negotiations with the Canadian Auto Workers union.
Dear Reuters,
Caterpillar "has decided"? I think not. Caterpillar knew when they bought Electro-Motive they would shut it down.
"Several months of unsuccessful contract negotiations"? Telling your employees they can work for half of what they earned last year is "negotiating"?
Why not tell it like it is? The world's biggest manufacturer of heavy equipment, coming off the most lucrative year in its history, can be even more lucrative going forward by shifting work to lower paying jurisdictions.
That's perfectly legal.
And perfectly shameful.
Friday, February 3, 2012
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Facebook: here today, gone tomorrow
Ya, I have to admit I envy Mark Zuckerberg.
From Harvard wanker to CEO of one of the most valuable corporations on the planet in under ten years?
Darn right I envy Mark Zuckerberg.
He has tasted success beyond my wildest dreams. Beyond his too, I'm sure.
And sooner or later he's gonna taste the downside of success.
It's called failure.
Facebook is an aberration. During the last high-tech bubble there were on-line pet stores valued in the billions of dollars. How does an on-line meeting place have a brighter future than an on-line pet shop?
Well, it does and it doesn't.
It does because for the time being people still use Facebook.
It doesn't because people will switch to the next new thing as quick as they went to Facebook.
Then Facebook will be just another on-line pet shop.
Go short, my friends.
From Harvard wanker to CEO of one of the most valuable corporations on the planet in under ten years?
Darn right I envy Mark Zuckerberg.
He has tasted success beyond my wildest dreams. Beyond his too, I'm sure.
And sooner or later he's gonna taste the downside of success.
It's called failure.
Facebook is an aberration. During the last high-tech bubble there were on-line pet stores valued in the billions of dollars. How does an on-line meeting place have a brighter future than an on-line pet shop?
Well, it does and it doesn't.
It does because for the time being people still use Facebook.
It doesn't because people will switch to the next new thing as quick as they went to Facebook.
Then Facebook will be just another on-line pet shop.
Go short, my friends.
Egypt football riots prove democracy off and running in Egypt
I know it's a scary headline; 75 dead in football riot.
But hold the phone.
It's actually a sign. A sign that Egypt has joined the big time, if not of football, at least of democracy.
Google "biggest football riots of all time" and you'll soon find out what I'm talking about here.
Football riots are a symbol of democracy. You simply don't have a long history of football riots in non-democratic states. That Arab Spring has not been for nought!
They're having riots!
And a riot that results in 75 dead just proves that Egypt is not only democratic; she is in the upper echelon of democratic nations!
But hold the phone.
It's actually a sign. A sign that Egypt has joined the big time, if not of football, at least of democracy.
Google "biggest football riots of all time" and you'll soon find out what I'm talking about here.
Football riots are a symbol of democracy. You simply don't have a long history of football riots in non-democratic states. That Arab Spring has not been for nought!
They're having riots!
And a riot that results in 75 dead just proves that Egypt is not only democratic; she is in the upper echelon of democratic nations!
Sheldon and Mitt both pissed at affrontery of Trump's Romney endorsement
The percentage of voters who give a shit about what Donald Trump thinks about anything has got to be microscopically small.
That's why I can't imagine that the Romney campaign was filled with joy on finding they had the blessing of the Donald.
We got Trump on board? Oh great.
As for Sheldon, who knows what he's thinking? Keeps the cards real close to the vest, Sheldon does.
By now, if he's been keeping up with this blog, Sheldon knows that the money he put on the Newtster is money gone.
Hey, Sheldon, cheer up, politics is a gamble!
That's why I can't imagine that the Romney campaign was filled with joy on finding they had the blessing of the Donald.
We got Trump on board? Oh great.
As for Sheldon, who knows what he's thinking? Keeps the cards real close to the vest, Sheldon does.
By now, if he's been keeping up with this blog, Sheldon knows that the money he put on the Newtster is money gone.
Hey, Sheldon, cheer up, politics is a gamble!
Trump preserves small shred of credibility by endorsing Mitt instead of Newt
Dammit!
I had the most caustic blog posts of all time ready to go on the assumption that Trump was about to endorse Gingrich.
Dammit!
But I guess if you had hair like that you'd know which way the wind was blowing too. And the wind ain't blowing in the direction of the sails on the Newtser's campaign.
Sorry Sheldon, your ten million plus is down the drain.
I had the most caustic blog posts of all time ready to go on the assumption that Trump was about to endorse Gingrich.
Dammit!
But I guess if you had hair like that you'd know which way the wind was blowing too. And the wind ain't blowing in the direction of the sails on the Newtser's campaign.
Sorry Sheldon, your ten million plus is down the drain.
Time for Iran attack is now!
This years Herzliya Conference was more than anything an opportunity to bash Iran
All the top guns from the IDF/Likud nexus tried to outdo one another with scary stories about the Iranian threat.
On Tuesday President Shimon Peres used his time at the microphone to remind the world that “evil and nuclear weapons must never be allowed to come together.”
On Wednesday IDF Chief Benny Gantz claimed that the Iran
Not to be outdone, Military Intelligence Chief Aviv Kochavi followed up with the claim that at any given moment more than 200,000 missiles are pointed at Israel
Kochavi went on to state that Iran
And today, Deputy PM Moshe Yaalon revealed that Iran was developing missiles that could hit the continental USA Haifa and Tel Aviv that are vulnerable to the Persian peril, it’s Washington and Los Angeles and Houston Chicago and New Orleans
So the message is clear; if we don’t attack Iran
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Libya rebels still fighting months after Gadaffi gone
Who are they fighting? Why, they're fighting one another of course.
Citizens ran for cover today as two rebel factions hammered each other in Tripoli's main business district. And in Tripoli the gangs don't do drive-bys the way they do here, with one of the brothers poking a 9mm out the back window of a Honda Civic. In Tripoli you do the slow cruise in a Toyota pickup with a double-barrelled 50 cal machine gun welded to the deck.
And who is stopping them? Why, nobody of course!
So, was our Libyan intervention a failure?
Not at all. Our Libyan adventure has been a most gratifying success!
Who in the corridors of power in the West seriously gives the slightest shit if Libyans have "democracy" or not?
NOBODY!
In fact, we all know that democracy isn't a tool we want to leave lying around unattended in any of those Arab states. Look what those damn Gaza people did when they had a chance to vote... the writing was all over the wall we built them, and still the idiots VOTED FOR THE WRONG GUYS!!!
Lesson learned. An Arab with democracy is going to be more dangerous than an Italian with a hard-on.
More dangerous even than an Irishman with a jug of whiskey.
So lets call it what it is. NATO's Libya campaign was a great success, not in spite of the post-revolutionary chaos, but because of it! It's what we were after all along.
Those dumbshits will be fighting each other for the next hundred years. As long as the oil is secure that's just fine with us. The next best thing to a stable and predictable dictatorship in one of those oil states is a state of anarchy with stable and predictable oil exports.
Mission accomplished!
Citizens ran for cover today as two rebel factions hammered each other in Tripoli's main business district. And in Tripoli the gangs don't do drive-bys the way they do here, with one of the brothers poking a 9mm out the back window of a Honda Civic. In Tripoli you do the slow cruise in a Toyota pickup with a double-barrelled 50 cal machine gun welded to the deck.
And who is stopping them? Why, nobody of course!
So, was our Libyan intervention a failure?
Not at all. Our Libyan adventure has been a most gratifying success!
Who in the corridors of power in the West seriously gives the slightest shit if Libyans have "democracy" or not?
NOBODY!
In fact, we all know that democracy isn't a tool we want to leave lying around unattended in any of those Arab states. Look what those damn Gaza people did when they had a chance to vote... the writing was all over the wall we built them, and still the idiots VOTED FOR THE WRONG GUYS!!!
Lesson learned. An Arab with democracy is going to be more dangerous than an Italian with a hard-on.
More dangerous even than an Irishman with a jug of whiskey.
So lets call it what it is. NATO's Libya campaign was a great success, not in spite of the post-revolutionary chaos, but because of it! It's what we were after all along.
Those dumbshits will be fighting each other for the next hundred years. As long as the oil is secure that's just fine with us. The next best thing to a stable and predictable dictatorship in one of those oil states is a state of anarchy with stable and predictable oil exports.
Mission accomplished!
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