Obama accepts invitations to visit China, Russia

LONDON (AP) - President Barack Obama has accepted an invitation to visit China later this year. The White House said Wednesday that Obama has accepted an invitation from President Hu Jintao. Obama and Hu met in London ahead of the G-20 economic summit.

The White House also announced that Obama was accepting an invitation to visit Moscow this summer.

The White House says Obama and Hu agreed to “intensify coordination and cooperation on global economic and financial issues.” As economic leaders, the United States and China say they want to work together to address the economic crisis.

The two countries also agreed to form a U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue. The White House says Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner would represent the United States during those talks.

SOURCE:
Obama accepts invitations to visit China, Russia

My friends, I fear that soon we are going to have no choice, we are fast approaching the put up or shut up stage of this battle. Our leaders hope that we will forget the courage of our forefathers, and sadly, many have.

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” ~Thomas Jefferson~

AP study finds $1.6B went to bailed-out bank execs

Banks that are getting taxpayer bailouts awarded their top executives nearly $1.6 billion in salaries, bonuses, and other benefits last year, an Associated Press analysis reveals.

The rewards came even at banks where poor results last year foretold the economic crisis that sent them to Washington for a government rescue. Some trimmed their executive compensation due to lagging bank performance, but still forked over multimillion-dollar executive pay packages.

Benefits included cash bonuses, stock options, personal use of company jets and chauffeurs, home security, country club memberships and professional money management, the AP review of federal securities documents found.

The total amount given to nearly 600 executives would cover bailout costs for many of the 116 banks that have so far accepted tax dollars to boost their bottom lines.

Full Story Here:
AP study finds $1.6B went to bailed-out bank execs

This is the type of thing that MUST be stopped if this nation is ever to recover. I am not at all against a person being paid bonuses, even very large bonuses, but those bonuses must be earned. Earned by giving a stellar performance and by motivating those under your supervision to give an equally stellar performance.

If your business is failing, if it’s not performing at a profitable level, if it’s not making money for it’s owners and/or stock holders, WHY in the hell should anyone connected to the management OF that business get anything other than a motivational kick in the ass?

Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services committee and a long-standing critic of executive largesse, said the bonuses tallied by the AP review amount to a bribe “to get them to do the jobs for which they are well paid in the first place.

As an example of how bad I feel this type of thing is, and how far out of control the finance people of this nation are, I agree with Rep. Frank 100%. I will take this one step further than Rep. Frank did however. We should not only stop paying huge bonuses for non-performance, executive salaries need to be cut drastically for non-performance as well.

Nothing motivates more than money for a business executive. Take it away from him and see just how fast he/she gets back down to SERIOUS, well managed and profitable business.

I have long believed that the power of the dollar is mighty, and it can, or the LACK OF can, motivate the masses to produce more efficiently. Penalize the executives, put them in the *poor house* and lets see if business in this nation doesn’t do a swift 180° turnaround!