KILL KILL KILL

[Simon of the Playa]

these bastards.....

Four of the biggest U.S. investment banks — Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Bear Stearns Cos. — will pay out about $49.6 billion in compensation this year. Of that, bonuses are traditionally estimated to represent 60 percent, or almost $30 billion.

But that might not sit well with investors who held on to investment bank stocks this year — and watched them plunge by up to 45 percent. Investment houses have been slammed by the credit crisis, and top executives this past week said they've yet to see a bottom.

Further, some of those executives have even agreed to forgo their bonuses this year to reflect the poor performance. Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack and Bear Stearns CEO Jimmy Cayne won't be collecting their payouts.

Mack received no cash bonus a year ago but received stock and options worth an estimated $40.2 million, well above his $800,000 base pay. Cayne received a bonus of $33.6 million in 2006 and base pay of $250,000.

Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein reportedly is in line for a bonus of up to $70 million this year, as the nation's largest investment bank has largely navigated past any mortgage-related losses. Lehman Brothers' CEO Richard Fuld was granted a $35 million stock bonus for 2007, up 4 percent from last year.

There had been some predictions the increase in bonuses would have been significantly higher. However, layoffs and top managers giving up their bonuses have curtailed that.

For the army of bankers and traders on Wall Street, it remains to be seen what their bonus checks will offer when they're handed out over the next several weeks. Top performers will still see some significant compensation as an incentive to not defect, while underperformers will suffer, executives at the banks said.

"If you were to normalize our business ... you would see we had a record year across the whole enterprise," said Morgan Stanley Chief Financial Officer Colm Kelleher.

Morgan Stanley, the second-largest U.S. investment bank, reported compensation rose 18 percent to $16.6 billion from $14 billion a year earlier. This comes after the investment bank reported Wednesday the first quarterly loss in its history amid a $9.4 billion writedown due to the credit crisis.

Bear Stearns, the fifth-biggest securities firm, posted the first loss in its 84-year history on Thursday after a $1.9 billion writedown. It reduced compensation this year by 21 percent to $3.4 billion from $4.3 billion in 2006 — and members of its executive management committee, like Cayne, won't be collecting year-end bonuses.

"Compensation levels need to be maintained to reflect market levels," said Chief Financial officer Sam Molinaro.

At Lehman, compensation rose 9.5 percent to $9.5 billion, with bonuses accounting for an estimated $5.7 billion. The firm booked losses last week but managed to offset most of its mortgage writedowns and beat Wall Street expectations. Head count at the investment bank rose by 10 percent this year.

The bankers in the best position this year are at Goldman Sachs.

The nation's largest investment bank said Tuesday it was able to chalk up another record-breaking year with higher investment banking fees and smart bets on mortgage-backed bonds. It beat fourth-quarter projections.

In response, compensation at Goldman rose 20 percent to $20.1 billion. That means roughly $12 billion has been set aside for bonuses.

Still nervously waiting to find out about bonuses are the employees of Merrill Lynch & Co. The nation's largest brokerage won't report fourth-quarter results until January, and there has been some speculation newly appointed CEO John Thain might shake up the bonus structure.

Thain won't get a year-end bonus since he took the job on Dec. 1 after Merrill Lynch ousted Stanley O'Neal because of significant subprime losses. But he did take home a $15 million cash bonus just for taking the job.

[the fire elf]

according to this thought, you're not even a capatalist unless you play at that level:

The capitalists gather their wealth by exploiting employees. An employee is not paid according to the true worth of his labor but according to what the employer is willing to pay him. The employer pays him less than what his labor is worth so that the employer can make a profit when he sells the produce. In this way, the employee's labor is being exploited.

but if you're bitchin about the size of the carrot on the end of the stick, well...

what about taking a step back and taking in the bigger picture

[the fire elf]

what about taking... and taking

yar

[pinemom]

You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant
You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant
Walk right in it's around the back
Just a half a mile from the railroad track
You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant

Now it all started two Thanksgivings ago, was on - two years ago on
Thanksgiving, when my friend and I went up to visit Alice at the
restaurant, but Alice doesn't live in the restaurant, she lives in the
church nearby the restaurant, in the bell-tower, with her husband Ray and
Fasha the dog. And livin' in the bell tower like that, they got a lot of
room downstairs where the pews used to be in. Havin' all that room,
seein' as how they took out all the pews, they decided that they didn't
have to take out their garbage for a long time.

We got up there, we found all the garbage in there, and we decided it'd be
a friendly gesture for us to take the garbage down to the city dump. So
we took the half a ton of garbage, put it in the back of a red VW
microbus, took shovels and rakes and implements of destruction and headed
on toward the city dump.

Well we got there and there was a big sign and a chain across across the
dump saying, "Closed on Thanksgiving." And we had never heard of a dump
closed on Thanksgiving before, and with tears in our eyes we drove off
into the sunset looking for another place to put the garbage.

We didn't find one. Until we came to a side road, and off the side of the
side road there was another fifteen foot cliff and at the bottom of the
cliff there was another pile of garbage. And we decided that one big pile
is better than two little piles, and rather than bring that one up we
decided to throw our's down.

That's what we did, and drove back to the church, had a thanksgiving
dinner that couldn't be beat, went to sleep and didn't get up until the
next morning, when we got a phone call from officer Obie. He said, "Kid,
we found your name on an envelope at the bottom of a half a ton of
garbage, and just wanted to know if you had any information about it." And
I said, "Yes, sir, Officer Obie, I cannot tell a lie, I put that envelope
under that garbage."

After speaking to Obie for about fourty-five minutes on the telephone we
finally arrived at the truth of the matter and said that we had to go down
and pick up the garbage, and also had to go down and speak to him at the
police officer's station. So we got in the red VW microbus with the
shovels and rakes and implements of destruction and headed on toward the
police officer's station.

Now friends, there was only one or two things that Obie coulda done at
the police station, and the first was he could have given us a medal for
being so brave and honest on the telephone, which wasn't very likely, and
we didn't expect it, and the other thing was he could have bawled us out
and told us never to be see driving garbage around the vicinity again,
which is what we expected, but when we got to the police officer's station
there was a third possibility that we hadn't even counted upon, and we was
both immediately arrested. Handcuffed. And I said "Obie, I don't think I
can pick up the garbage with these handcuffs on." He said, "Shut up, kid.
Get in the back of the patrol car."

And that's what we did, sat in the back of the patrol car and drove to the
quote Scene of the Crime unquote. I want tell you about the town of
Stockbridge, Massachusets, where this happened here, they got three stop
signs, two police officers, and one police car, but when we got to the
Scene of the Crime there was five police officers and three police cars,
being the biggest crime of the last fifty years, and everybody wanted to
get in the newspaper story about it. And they was using up all kinds of
cop equipment that they had hanging around the police officer's station.
They was taking plaster tire tracks, foot prints, dog smelling prints, and
they took twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy photographs with circles
and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each
one was to be used as evidence against us. Took pictures of the approach,
the getaway, the northwest corner the southwest corner and that's not to
mention the aerial photography.

After the ordeal, we went back to the jail. Obie said he was going to put
us in the cell. Said, "Kid, I'm going to put you in the cell, I want your
wallet and your belt." And I said, "Obie, I can understand you wanting my
wallet so I don't have any money to spend in the cell, but what do you
want my belt for?" And he said, "Kid, we don't want any hangings." I
said, "Obie, did you think I was going to hang myself for littering?"
Obie said he was making sure, and friends Obie was, cause he took out the
toilet seat so I couldn't hit myself over the head and drown, and he took
out the toilet paper so I couldn't bend the bars roll out the - roll the
toilet paper out the window, slide down the roll and have an escape. Obie
was making sure, and it was about four or five hours later that Alice
(remember Alice? It's a song about Alice), Alice came by and with a few
nasty words to Obie on the side, bailed us out of jail, and we went back
to the church, had a another thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat,
and didn't get up until the next morning, when we all had to go to court.

We walked in, sat down, Obie came in with the twenty seven eight-by-ten
colour glossy pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back
of each one, sat down. Man came in said, "All rise." We all stood up,
and Obie stood up with the twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy
pictures, and the judge walked in sat down with a seeing eye dog, and he
sat down, we sat down. Obie looked at the seeing eye dog, and then at the
twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy pictures with circles and arrows
and a paragraph on the back of each one, and looked at the seeing eye dog.
And then at twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy pictures with circles
and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one and began to cry,
'cause Obie came to the realization that it was a typical case of American
blind justice, and there wasn't nothing he could do about it, and the
judge wasn't going to look at the twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy
pictures with the circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each
one explaining what each one was to be used as evidence against us. And
we was fined $50 and had to pick up the garbage in the snow, but thats not
what I came to tell you about.

Came to talk about the draft.

They got a building down New York City, it's called Whitehall Street,
where you walk in, you get injected, inspected, detected, infected,
neglected and selected. I went down to get my physical examination one
day, and I walked in, I sat down, got good and drunk the night before, so
I looked and felt my best when I went in that morning. `Cause I wanted to
look like the all-American kid from New York City, man I wanted, I wanted
to feel like the all-, I wanted to be the all American kid from New York,
and I walked in, sat down, I was hung down, brung down, hung up, and all
kinds o' mean nasty ugly things. And I waked in and sat down and they gave
me a piece of paper, said, "Kid, see the phsychiatrist, room 604."

And I went up there, I said, "Shrink, I want to kill. I mean, I wanna, I
wanna kill. Kill. I wanna, I wanna see, I wanna see blood and gore and
guts and veins in my teeth. Eat dead burnt bodies. I mean kill, Kill,
KILL, KILL." And I started jumpin up and down yelling, "KILL, KILL," and
he started jumpin up and down with me and we was both jumping up and down
yelling, "KILL, KILL." And the sargent came over, pinned a medal on me,
sent me down the hall, said, "You're our boy."

Didn't feel too good about it.

Proceeded on down the hall gettin more injections, inspections,
detections, neglections and all kinds of stuff that they was doin' to me
at the thing there, and I was there for two hours, three hours, four
hours, I was there for a long time going through all kinds of mean nasty
ugly things and I was just having a tough time there, and they was
inspecting, injecting every single part of me, and they was leaving no
part untouched. Proceeded through, and when I finally came to the see the
last man, I walked in, walked in sat down after a whole big thing there,
and I walked up and said, "What do you want?" He said, "Kid, we only got
one question. Have you ever been arrested?"

And I proceeded to tell him the story of the Alice's Restaurant Massacre,
with full orchestration and five part harmony and stuff like that and all
the phenome... - and he stopped me right there and said, "Kid, did you ever
go to court?"

And I proceeded to tell him the story of the twenty seven eight-by-ten
colour glossy pictures with the circles and arrows and the paragraph on
the back of each one, and he stopped me right there and said, "Kid, I want
you to go and sit down on that bench that says Group W .... NOW kid!!"

And I, I walked over to the, to the bench there, and there is, Group W's
where they put you if you may not be moral enough to join the army after
committing your special crime, and there was all kinds of mean nasty ugly
looking people on the bench there. Mother rapers. Father stabbers. Father
rapers! Father rapers sitting right there on the bench next to me! And
they was mean and nasty and ugly and horrible crime-type guys sitting on the
bench next to me. And the meanest, ugliest, nastiest one, the meanest
father raper of them all, was coming over to me and he was mean 'n' ugly
'n' nasty 'n' horrible and all kind of things and he sat down next to me
and said, "Kid, whad'ya get?" I said, "I didn't get nothing, I had to pay
$50 and pick up the garbage." He said, "What were you arrested for, kid?"
And I said, "Littering." And they all moved away from me on the bench
there, and the hairy eyeball and all kinds of mean nasty things, till I
said, "And creating a nuisance." And they all came back, shook my hand,
and we had a great time on the bench, talkin about crime, mother stabbing,
father raping, all kinds of groovy things that we was talking about on the
bench. And everything was fine, we was smoking cigarettes and all kinds of
things, until the Sargeant came over, had some paper in his hand, held it
up and said.

"Kids, this-piece-of-paper's-got-47-words-37-sentences-58-words-we-wanna-
know-details-of-the-crime-time-of-the-crime-and-any-other-kind-of-thing-
you-gotta-say-pertaining-to-and-about-the-crime-I-want-to-know-arresting-
officer's-name-and-any-other-kind-of-thing-you-gotta-say", and talked for
forty-five minutes and nobody understood a word that he said, but we had
fun filling out the forms and playing with the pencils on the bench there,
and I filled out the massacre with the four part harmony, and wrote it
down there, just like it was, and everything was fine and I put down the
pencil, and I turned over the piece of paper, and there, there on the
other side, in the middle of the other side, away from everything else on
the other side, in parentheses, capital letters, quotated, read the
following words:

("KID, HAVE YOU REHABILITATED YOURSELF?")

I went over to the sargent, said, "Sargeant, you got a lot a damn gall to
ask me if I've rehabilitated myself, I mean, I mean, I mean that just, I'm
sittin' here on the bench, I mean I'm sittin here on the Group W bench
'cause you want to know if I'm moral enough join the army, burn women,
kids, houses and villages after bein' a litterbug." He looked at me and
said, "Kid, we don't like your kind, and we're gonna send you fingerprints
off to Washington."

And friends, somewhere in Washington enshrined in some little folder, is a
study in black and white of my fingerprints. And the only reason I'm
singing you this song now is cause you may know somebody in a similar
situation, or you may be in a similar situation, and if your in a
situation like that there's only one thing you can do and that's walk into
the shrink wherever you are ,just walk in say "Shrink, You can get
anything you want, at Alice's restaurant.". And walk out. You know, if
one person, just one person does it they may think he's really sick and
they won't take him. And if two people, two people do it, in harmony,
they may think they're both faggots and they won't take either of them.
And three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people walking in
singin a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. They may think it's an
organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day,I said
fifty people a day walking in singin a bar of Alice's Restaurant and
walking out. And friends they may thinks it's a movement.

And that's what it is , the Alice's Restaurant Anti-Massacre Movement, and
all you got to do to join is sing it the next time it come's around on the
guitar.

With feeling. So we'll wait for it to come around on the guitar, here and
sing it when it does. Here it comes.

You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
Walk right in it's around the back
Just a half a mile from the railroad track
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant

That was horrible. If you want to end war and stuff you got to sing loud.
I've been singing this song now for twenty five minutes. I could sing it
for another twenty five minutes. I'm not proud... or tired.

So we'll wait till it comes around again, and this time with four part
harmony and feeling.

We're just waitin' for it to come around is what we're doing.

All right now.

You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
Excepting Alice
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant
Walk right in it's around the back
Just a half a mile from the railroad track
You can get anything you want, at Alice's Restaurant

Da da da da da da da dum
At Alice's Restaurant

[oneeyeddick]

I think I'm gonna take a bong hit, wait a half hour or so, and then read that again.

[theCryptofishist]

Fuck Goldman Sachs! I want my name back!

[Toolmaker]

I stopped paying credit cards this month. I tried to get some room to breath but after telling them about my disability situation they raised the interest. Looks like a chapter 7 is in my future. Fuck the greedy bastards.. I hope their system collapses completely and we are all forced to live honestly.

[Ugly Dougly]

I think I'm gonna take a bong hit, wait a half hour or so, and then read that again.

You don't know that one by heart do you, young-un?

[youtube][/youtube]

[skygod]

scammers!
Mortgage brokers lending money to people they know can't afford it, greasing the palms from the appraisers all the way down.
Meanwhile Mr. Edwards puts 16 million into a Hedge Fund that makes their money foreclosing on Katrina victims, and kicks off his campaign in New Orleans!
I need to think about something else I'm getting too angry.

[the fire elf]

if it's the 'default world' in term we most agree with,
to this are we born, arraigned, and pass our time


is likely they are similarly entrenched

that they do not hold your mores should be merit to you, though perhaps not monetarily

that they might never been here at all, and they function on air and make waste, make specimens of them if you will


but angry bleating, no matter how eloquently phrased, would cause them what? chagrin?
merely till they were payed off, surely, and them and you and i a zoo; with lion hats and zebra pasties

[Simon of the Playa]

i have been to alice's rest. a few times....it's on skyline drive, half way up the mountain to la honda....i lived there briefly, it's one of the most beautiful places on earth....

i feel better now just thinking about it and the hairpin turns...

i was absolutely livid when i read that....

i work an assload....for myself....no insurance etc, and it's hand to mouth when i'm lucky. I dont have any xmas bonus, i dont even have any money, AGAIN, this year because the general contractor on the job i am working on got fired for embezzling etc etc and nobody gets shit till the first of thge year for labor already done...

i have four kids......they'll understand, i know this, but it doesnt help the awful choking feeling in my throat and gut as i try to salvage my holiday

and then i read this crap, and i begin to wonder why i fucking bother..

why dont i just go out and steal it, like they do..

why dont i go out and kill or spill blood for it, like they do...

why dont i just go along to get along and suckle at the tit of the institutions who will gladly have me...


and then i think.....

fuck em....fuck them and their money....if you die a rich bastard and no one comes to your funeral, did you ever really exist? If no one remembers or cares or shares stories about you, were you ever really there...

i know a lot of rich fucks who are miserable and alot of "poor" people who are inches from god.


it just really frustrates me to the point of tears sometimes, and at this particular juncture, it's was blind fury...

i am lucky though, i may not have shoes, but there are others with no feet.

metaphorically speaking......i do have shoes, i hate bare feet as some of you know.


my wish for this christmas, is a return to the progressive tax system...

thats it....no two front teeth, no bb gun, just fairness, thats all i want santa, just fairness.

[mayavin]

fine tune the system till your portion seems more fair?

that presumes there's a map to the land of fairness, and current standings might make the way there, given a little redirection

i question this... whether this lands at all in the same plane of what would truly be fair, not merely to yourself or i, but sevenfold generations presupposed

[Simon of the Playa]

it is not my portion i am concerned with....

it is the top 5%...they need to wise the fuck up...


we have the ability to eliminate poverty in all of it's forms, throughout the globe.

we also have the ability to destroy our species....

it's a paraphrase from JFK, but it still holds true...


when will we as a species realize that the inequalities can and should be addressed to allow all to survive and thrive.


when will those who have more than they could ever possibly use or spend share with others less fortunate.....Free gifting on a global scale.

it's not communism....it's humanism.


it's just stuff....it's only stuff....

we need to feed people, give them proper health care, proper shelter, and protection from harm...

we, and i say this as a species, have the resources, and the ability to do it, for the benefit of all....in game theory this would be a win-win..


the problem is, and i suppose it shall always be this way, is that humans are subject to human nature...

how sad and strangely beautiful.

[oneeyeddick]

I think I'm gonna take a bong hit, wait a half hour or so, and then read that again.

You don't know that one by heart do you, young-un?

Ahh, it's a song, that explains it .

Hmmm... the chorus seems familiar, I am almost 40ish , never actually
enjoyed most hippy music, but I've always enjoyed making fun of hippys.
God... that's a long , long, song. *Zzzzzzzzzzz*

[mayavin]

when will we as a species realize that the inequalities can and should be addressed to allow all to survive and thrive.

what i hear there is a motion for further normalization, a direct contrast to the ecosystem diversification impetus that aided in forming various forms

i see fiscal as a normalizing force, and the stark lack of fiscal abreacting in the desert is fundamental to the experience (i opine)

even the ice and coffee could be seen as unessential to desert survival tactics, and a partial/collective gift of luxury/goodwill tarrif, though i don't breach the subject to go into depth into it but introduce concepts of luxury



for some, it is a luxury to eat any time they care to put food to their mouth and chew

for others, it is a slow death

and it is the extent of luxury that is in question, what the reality of luxury in practice is, and the extent to which it causes collective detriment



though we've read the back of the ticket, and no one said it didn't apply, even now

[thisisthatwhichis]

Yes, you said it poignantly, Simon, and all others..........


Jus remember, all those $$$$$$$$ are not what counts to the soul and fulfillment of yours and those around you......

And by the way...... Happy Holidays, and I love you..........(((HUGS))))....

[Simon of the Playa]

[the fire elf]

boxknife +flight manual

[skygod]

but angry bleating, no matter how eloquently phrased, would cause them what? chagrin?

You're right. Someday I can say they would bother me if I ever thought about them, that would be true success.
Lately, I'm driven to live as ethically as I can yet, yet also as if everything around me is a dream.

[Cabana Springs]

the best way to beat them is to join them - why don't you just get a fucking education and work your asses off and then you can give all your money away and we will all be equal.

Or you could just Sit Around and cry about how unfair life is.

The cream always rises to the top!!!!!!!!!!

[the fire elf]

if you overlook the money transactions and what not, the people who go and make burningman are deciding to do that with whatever money came from wherever

if you got your education and your ass worked directly before going, you've decided to share your pay in however equal fashion you burn through

cross-culturally orchestrated transubstantiated paychecks transported to the desert, with a theme: "live the dream"

[Apollonaris Zeus]

so may I ask, what does this thread have to do with Experiences at Burningman?

AIIZ

[ALICEtheGOON]

so may I ask, what does this thread have to do with Experiences at Burningman?

AIIZ

Well...Simon is a man .

We are getting burned by banks....

and thats a bad experience.

[the fire elf]

the participants make burningman, and in a controled experiment kinda way, burningmanners(sp?) made this

Simon offered up his rendition of how bastards spend their time

and without straining the context too much, there were some holes poked through the internet to let some art shine through

[Ugly Dougly]

so may I ask, what does this thread have to do with Experiences at Burningman?

AIIZ

Welcome to the Far Side of the Moon. Burningman is long, long ago and far far away. Surely you've noticed that our conversations have become more and more generic. Happy Solstice.

[wedeliver]

I also, like pinemom thought of Arlo, his friend Alice and his day at the induction center (kill, kill, kill). I also wondered why Simon posted his rant here in Experiences. How did Arlo write the motorcycle song while going 150 miles an hour sideways and 500 feet down? Wouldn't the wind make the paper flap. some people are more sensitive then others. some are sensitive to enviromental things, some are more sensitive to other people, some people are more sensitive to their perception of themselves. The feeling of not being where you should be, tired and worn out, lacking the energy to continue the fight. But we have the power to have it our way, take the apple, reach up and grab it. Reasons and excuses are like assholes. They stink. If the outcome was not to our liking it is our fault. Because the final "outcome" is up to us and he who laughs last laughs best. And it is all about timing, being in the right place at the right time, fuck up either one and it's shit'sville till the fat lady sings. She is singing, just turn up the radio..louder....happy hanukkah, merry marry christmas, falice navidad..

[Simon of the Playa]

actually, i made a mistake, this was supposed to go in "politics"...

my bad.


Merry Merry Xmas to all, even the bankers who will burn in hell with the insurance salesman and (sorry ted) the lawyers....

and used car salesman, and debt collectors, and irs agents...

[the fire elf]

you name roles of capitulation, but can you not see these are vast in difference from the people?


one the product of cognition

one producing cognition


and its the degree to which they capitulate you would condemn them for?
you fucking wear shoes... did you invent shoes, insist shoes, require shoes?!

[Simon of the Playa]

add fire elves to that list.

[the fire elf]

realize desires beyond cognition.