I Have The Will Power of a Banking Executive.

I failed again. I had pizza.

I went home and did not eat anything. Strong.
Took an apple with me back to work to curb possible future urges. Strong and Smart.
Got to the office and saw my co-worker Tim noshing on two slices. Uh-Oh.
Went to the office fridge and saw two left over pizzas from our director's "Thank You" for coming into work on Monday (blizzard day). More Uh-Oh.
And then.....I ate them. Dumb and Stupid.

Actually, I just saw something on the internet perhaps even more dumb and stupid than that.
Here, check this out..

Watch more Pogo Stick On The Treadmill videos on AOL Video

This dude should have measured the height that the treadwas at from the floor, against what he is able to jump. Clearly, he didn't even come close to jumping that high. Clearly, he did it for laughs (I hope!)

And speaking of laughs...It seems that every morning when my alarm clock wakes me up to the sounds of newsradio, that within 5 minutes of my stirring to, there is some kind of story of yet another group of executives, at a bank, investment firm or insurance company, accused of rolling in the dough during adverse times. Based on what I heard this time, I figured to go and check it out and found that at Merril Lynch the top four bonus recipients received a combined $121 million; The next four bonus recipients received a combined $62 million; The next six bonus recipients received a combined $66 million... Overall, the top 149 bonus recipients received a combined $858 million; 696 individuals received bonuses of $1 million or more.

A million dollars bonus? How much money does a person in the financial industry has to make for a job poorly done? Thanks to people of rank in the high ranking banking/lending/investment institutions, people like me are lucky to even have jobs anymore. They make millions even now in the wake of having sent this country to the toilet, while people like us are grateful for losing 2 weeks pay through furlough, ESSOP pullouts, vacation liquidiation, and whole other assorted things...just to be able to keep their workers working. I think they should force every BANKER EXECUTIVE to wear a sign around the neck in big bold color telling the world they are an executive. They are a shameful bunch for what they do, in light of what is going on in the world.

And yet, when my body is in a depressed state, I still gorge on pizza. Perhaps my willpower to do good is just as weak as that of a banker executive. Blech.

Well, enough pontificating (at least for now). Back to running. I'm hitting the treadmill tonight and am concentrating on doing at least 6 miles. And no, I will not be bringing my pogo stick with me..... ;-)

**THIS JUST IN**

I want to go on record to say that I don't believe that ALL people who work for banks and investment institutions are to be held in contempt of greed and inhumane indifference to the millions that they have affected...No...Just the executives.
And it isn't just me either that feels this way. In just 5 seconds I found this website that talks about JP Morgan Chase for instance. They claim that they are slashing bonuses for execs by 30% to 50%. I still have major problems with this. For one, I bet they are basing this on the devaluation of their stock which may very well be 30% to 50% alone. But more importantly, even their OWN non-executive employees are complaining about them.

Here is the website:
http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/jpmorgan-chase-bonuses-to-be-cut-30-to.html

However to save the trouble here is the original article, followed by someone who actually works there (in IT, like me) and what they had to say....

Friday, October 17, 2008
JPMorgan Chase bonuses to be cut 30% to 50%
Chris in Paris · 10/17/2008 10:35:00 PM ET · Link
14 Comments · reddit · FARK · Digg It! · Stumble It! · facebook

Oh boo hoo. Wall Street went crazy and paid bonus money based on pie-in-the-sky dreams for years and everything was just fine. Taxpayers around the world are now funding the mistakes of casino bankers by way of higher taxes or fewer services and yet they are still getting bonuses that are quite healthy compared to even the income of most regular people. Nice work, when you can get it.
In a sign of what is expected to be a dismal year for Wall Street bonuses, CNBC has learned this year's bonuses at JPMorgan Chase will be down 30 percent to 50 percent. The news was relayed to the managing directors of the firm's investment bank in a call to review the company's third quarter earnings.

The news is hardly surprising. Investment banking activity has dried up this year. According to Thomson Reuters, through October 10th, mergers and acquisition activity was down 29 pecent from the same time last year, IPOs were down 24 percent, and debt underwriting was down 27 percent. Add to that the S&P 500 is down 35.5 percent year to date and it doesn't bode well for Wall Street's bonus pool.

The co-heads of the JPMorgan's investment bank Steve Black and Bill Winters relayed the news to senior management after thanking them for the hard work they have done in the past year.

And the response...

JayFlavius 4 months ago 1 point

I'm sorry, but you guys are missing something. I work there in the IT department for one of the many divisions of the bank. We have had one of the most demanding years that we've had in a decade or more, and that was before the crisis struck. Since the crisis we've been pulling even longer hours, and we've been working very hard to keep up with the demands of the business. And we don't get paid by the hour. If I did, I would make 50% more than what I do now. And we're getting screwed by this as well. We're also being cut by this bonus reduction.

If only the exec who has screwed us got their bonus cut, then I would have no problem. However, this cut is across the board, and it kills us little guys as well. We didn't make this mess, and they're having us work extra hard to fix it, and we're not going to get rewarded for it.

Perhaps the best of the endless articles about the corruption in the banking industry however is this one that was very eloquently and intelligently written by the Market Oracle, a well-read and highly respected online business journal in the UK. The article talks about how JP Morgan Chase nearly singlehandedly is reponsible for the destruction of the U.S. Financial System.

Here is the article for those of you interested in a change of pace from running for a while...

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article6826.html