Many CEO's are closer to stealing money from companies rather than being paid to do a job. The problem of CEO's looting corporate coffers for their pay has been an increasing problem over the last few decades. Those that try and equate what is going on today with "pay" I find ludicrous. They are looting from the shareholders and others with a few cronies that go along so they can get a share of the loot. Good CEO's are worth a great deal of pay. But even the good ones are not worth anything close to what American CEOs have been taking from corporate treasuries. I have some posts on the topic: Tilting at Ludicrous CEO Pay, Overpaid CEO's.
I do like VHS for stuff from the library. So often the DVDs we get from the library are so scratched we can't even use them! We rarely had a problem with the VHS tapes.
Hmmm...that is a tempting price! How "basic" are the rooms? Anyone have some experience to share? We usually use hotels as kid-free getaways(I just posted about that on my blog this week, actually!), and I'd hate to arrange the childcare and go to the effort to leave and end up with a dumpy room.
THe commercial moonsand is one of the worst things invented...give me playdough! Moonsand gets into everything and if you follow the directions, is actually a danger to children. I learned to make a modeling mixture of baking soda, cornstarch and water and it is great stuff.
...it works miracles on things that have been accidentally marked with Sharpie--white boards, plastic tables, photocopier glass, etc. Just rub with regular toothpaste (not the fancy stuff) and a paper towel, and the marker will come right off.
To "LOVE" money...is to put it first and foremost...top of the list in priority...to forsake all to acquire it, and keep it, the optimal goal of possessing it. To "Love" money is to never reach a limit of 'having enough' (more is better)....sharing it's wealth would be like sharing a lover.
Money is a tool in our society of survival. Some are fortunate to have plenty, more than enough. Most will never have enough.
"Wealth" shouldn't be measured in terms of money alone.... ...."Life" in itself can be lived well with very little money.....and it is true that some very rich humans remain so very poor in "Life"....and many money "poor" individuals...are so full and rich in "Life".
Having 'enough' money...is a blessing...that can offer different degree's in comfort, freedom's, opportunities. It's what we work and strive for. Some being more fortunate than others...can have more of these...some having less. Being financially rich in money, is NOT in itself...wrong by any means, it too is a 'blessing'....it is in the manner in which it is achieved and the manner in which it is maintained.... manner by which one "Lives"....As so goes for the less 'fortunate' in obtaining and maintaining "Money".
At the end of the "day"...the last "day"....the Journey is what you will look back on, measure your "life's" worth by....not the accumulations in money and 'things' you've managed to acquire, ....once reaching your final "destination". How is your very existence 'measured in value' by others?.....Will it be your "worth" to them in terms of money when you die?....will you mean more to them dead or alive? How will their loss be measured in losing you? Measured by the amount of money you left or the value realized, deeply felt and remembered.... of the good you possessed and shared... your loving, generous caring ways, your personal character. The remembrance of the YOU and the value of YOU, greatly missed now, by the very absence of YOU in their lives.
The LOVE/LUST for money...blinds us all to the true value of ourselves and the true value of others.
I don't bother writing anything down. I use the good old envelope system. On payday I withdraw my "allowance" for 2 weeks. The rest of my pay stays in the bank to cover rent, car insurance and phone/internet bills.
Envelope 1 = disposable income (DI) week # 1 (I get paid every 2 weeks) Envelope 2 = week #2 DI. Envelope 3 = groceries. The rule for DI, is anything I want. I buy my gas for the 2 weeks on payday as the bank machine is at the gas station.
Also another way to keep the DI in check, don't bring money to work. I never feel guilty about purchases with my DI because that's what it's there for - purchases. Of course I seldom waste my precious DI on restaurant dinners, booze in bars or general crap. I like the visual side of the envelopes because I can see the pile of $20 bills decreasing as I spend. For me this is a better way to curb spending than writing down stuff.
I love my VHS movies. Most are unreplaceable and not offered on DVD. With VHS I can tape my favorite shows/movies with ease. And the cost to purchase one is inexpensive compared to buying a new DVD movie or show. Why is that? Those DVD discs could not possibly cost more to manufacture than a VHS tape. So not only am I being forced to buy DVD's (if I want to purchase new programs or movies), I am also getting hit a double whammy in the pocketbook. I had to buy a new unit to play them on too!
Whoa... Why is it that anything that could even be construed as sharing or limiting wealth is met with this kind of knee-jerk "we don't want to be like the evil communists" reaction? The Patriot Act and other limits on your personal freedom don't bother you so long as the government doesn't interfere with your ability to make lots of money?
I do agree that allowing the government to limit salaries in private enterprises is a bad idea. But as for the proverbial slippery slope, you're already on it.
I have to admit, I love money. I work in finance and got into finance because of my love for money. I don't think that it's greedy to love money, but the main purpose of working is to earn money, so why not make as much of it as possible?
Loving money enables you to learn and better understand your finances. It helps you to accumulate wealth at a faster clip than others. It makes you aware of financail dangers (like the interest free loans). And ultimately, I'm sure that my love for money will enable me to retire sooner and weathlier than people who hate money.
To me there is no comparision as to which is better.
Hi again Phil. Great article. The first thing that popped in my head after reading it was how thankful I am that I have finally found a not-so-dysfunctional work place. Having worked at Motorola with you for a few years I know exactly the kind of frustration you're talking about. Although I have to admit, believe it or not, that Motorola was actually the 2nd most functional place I've worked out of 4 of the last 5 jobs.
I don't know if you're aware but since leaving Motorola I've been bouncing around quite a bit here on the east coast. I've worked for Siemens, Quest Diagnostics, United Health Group, and now Accenture. You haven't seen dysfunctional until you've taken the typical waterfall software development model that you and I were subjected to with fairly poor project management and add three levels of government auditing that these various health industry companies have to deal with.
Accenture on the other hand has been a breath of fresh air for me. It's a huge consulting firm, but I've found a small shop that has recently been acquired by them (reminding me quite a bit of when I joined Motorola) that has been doing Agile software development with Scrum for the past 3-4 years and fairly successfully.
If you or any of your readers haven't had the opportunity to work in a shop that uses Scrum for project management, software industry or not, I highly recommend it. I think of it as GTD for teams. Every day I stand up in a 15 meeting talk about what I got done the day before and what I'm going to do that day. And amazingly enough it's usually actually what I get to work on. Every month we talk about what we accomplished the month before and then what we're going to do for the next month. And the picture is usually pretty close.
All teams of this success of course depends on the quality of the people and their dedication to the process we're using, but I got to tell you, I'm happier in this job than I've ever been.
We have had only one income for 19 years and are raising three kids. Everything we own is paid in full including our house now valued at 450,000. We take vacations every year and every two years we fly to Florida to Disney World. My husband has a blue collar job. I dont think its a status symbol to live on one income. I think it's just the best for our family.
I still have my favorite Disney classic VHS movies-- I'm glad I'm not the only one who still has VHS tapes lying around.
But you know what's even more fun? If you're willing to get a Netflix account and free DVD ripping software, you can copy all of your DVD's on to your computer. It's an all-access pass to your movies with just a few clicks and some patience (with all of the waiting for the movie to arrive and dvd ripping buisness). I have a portable hard drive to store all of these movies, which is great!
Would a 'light' olive oil work as a substitute in the crust, or would butter be a better alternative?
No, any kind of oil (anthing that is liquid at room temp) will not work. You need a fat that is solid at room temp.
YOu need saturated fat (stays solid at room temperature) in making a crust, because it keeps the flour from sticking to itself, then melts when cooking, thus creating the "flaky" layers that are appealing about crusts.
Which is why all the recipes require CHILLED water--the chilled water keeps the fat from melting so their can be "layers of dough and fat. When the crust is baked, that turns it into layers of flakiness if you prepare the crust correctly.
Thus, margarine, shortening, butter, lard, or suet. (in approximately reverse historical order) I'm guessing coconut oil would work too, particularly if you chilled it first and used ice water for the crust.
Ff you want to avoid artificial trans fats, you can use butter. It's a classic ingredient for sweet pastry crusts, but you can use it for savory crusts as well. You might want to Google some recipes to get the technique right. Mark Bittman (NY Times) had a fun article comparing a bunch of different pie crust recipes in early 2008 I think--something about "the search for the ultimate crust". It would be worth reading. Other sources of fats are leaf lard (fat from around the internal organs of the pig) and I think there are some others, too.
I'd be inclined to go with butter.
There are also some shortenings that are made without artificial trans fats now--i'm not sure how they pull that off.
We also have a 3-month emergency fund that we are adding to, and are also shopping around for a good Money Market account with a decent interest rate to keep it growing. We will also maintain a good life insurance policy in case something were to happen to my husband - enough to give me time to gather my skills together and provide for our kids.
The crockpot is a nice technique, and I've used it, but if you really want to save energy try using your pressure cooker to cook the roast.. You will get similar results as with the crockpot but with probably half the energy used. And you will be able to brown the outside of the roast first in the pressure cooker itself, if you're into that kind of thing. And the roast will be ready in 45 minutes, not 6 hours.
Check the cooking times in your pressure cooker manual. I'm writing this by memory!
It cooks at 240 degrees or so and at a higher rate of heat transfer due to the vapor pressure, that's why it cooks so fast.
"In general there seems to be two situations where the wife stays home. Either they have considerable income and the wife staying home is a status symbol or they are religious conservatives that forbid their wives from working."
I am a SAHM, yet I fall into neither of these categories. My husband is a Staff Sergeant in the Air Force - not exactly a "considerable" income. We are also Christians, but the Bible never condemns or forbids women who work. In fact, Proverbs 31 talks about a woman who brings an income into her home by investing in real estate on her own! (Among other things.)
My husband and I have chosen that I will stay home because we believe it is the best choice for us and our kids - we have four under the age of 5. My husband's attitude is that he wants to always make enough money that I never HAVE to work, but is completely open if I WANT to work.
So, I do my part and manage our budget as frugally as possible. We live simply, and are content with what we have, and our only debt is a mortgage & a car payment.
I know what you mean about being looked down on at times though. Many, MANY people in my extended family clicked their tongues at me for not finishing college before I married.
However, I have no regrets. I know who I am, what I want, and I am fully confident in the decisions we have made as a married couple. I am grateful that I am outside of the only two examples you are unfortunate enough to have seen.
No time for me or my family. Job 1 Family 2nd, don't think so, but age working against me 53. Job requires traveling doing hydraulic service work. Feel trapped, electrician by trade, but no one paying for it anymore. Being skilled doesn't mean as much as it used to.
If you created a high income tax bracket, say above $500,000, and taxed that at 85%, then some CEOs would pay much higher taxes, and opt to get compensated in other ways. They would have to be compensated with perks, like access to vacation homes, lots of free gifts, etc. The thing is, it's not really easy to give someone a $9 mil vacation home, and a lifetime supply of caviar. There's only so many hours in a day.
@compounding - you are too generous. How about two weeks notice and a cardboard box for their personal belongings? This is what many underperforming employees get as their "good bye".
Many CEO's are closer to stealing money from companies rather than being paid to do a job. The problem of CEO's looting corporate coffers for their pay has been an increasing problem over the last few decades. Those that try and equate what is going on today with "pay" I find ludicrous. They are looting from the shareholders and others with a few cronies that go along so they can get a share of the loot. Good CEO's are worth a great deal of pay. But even the good ones are not worth anything close to what American CEOs have been taking from corporate treasuries. I have some posts on the topic: Tilting at Ludicrous CEO Pay, Overpaid CEO's.
I do like VHS for stuff from the library. So often the DVDs we get from the library are so scratched we can't even use them! We rarely had a problem with the VHS tapes.
Hmmm...that is a tempting price! How "basic" are the rooms? Anyone have some experience to share? We usually use hotels as kid-free getaways(I just posted about that on my blog this week, actually!), and I'd hate to arrange the childcare and go to the effort to leave and end up with a dumpy room.
THe commercial moonsand is one of the worst things invented...give me playdough! Moonsand gets into everything and if you follow the directions, is actually a danger to children. I learned to make a modeling mixture of baking soda, cornstarch and water and it is great stuff.
...it works miracles on things that have been accidentally marked with Sharpie--white boards, plastic tables, photocopier glass, etc. Just rub with regular toothpaste (not the fancy stuff) and a paper towel, and the marker will come right off.
To "LOVE" money...is to put it first and foremost...top of the list in priority...to forsake all to acquire it, and keep it, the optimal goal of possessing it. To "Love" money is to never reach a limit of 'having enough' (more is better)....sharing it's wealth would be like sharing a lover.
Money is a tool in our society of survival. Some are fortunate to have plenty, more than enough. Most will never have enough.
"Wealth" shouldn't be measured in terms of money alone.... ...."Life" in itself can be lived well with very little money.....and it is true that some very rich humans remain so very poor in "Life"....and many money "poor" individuals...are so full and rich in "Life".
Having 'enough' money...is a blessing...that can offer different degree's in comfort, freedom's, opportunities. It's what we work and strive for. Some being more fortunate than others...can have more of these...some having less. Being financially rich in money, is NOT in itself...wrong by any means, it too is a 'blessing'....it is in the manner in which it is achieved and the manner in which it is maintained.... manner by which one "Lives"....As so goes for the less 'fortunate' in obtaining and maintaining "Money".
At the end of the "day"...the last "day"....the Journey is what you will look back on, measure your "life's" worth by....not the accumulations in money and 'things' you've managed to acquire, ....once reaching your final "destination". How is your very existence 'measured in value' by others?.....Will it be your "worth" to them in terms of money when you die?....will you mean more to them dead or alive? How will their loss be measured in losing you? Measured by the amount of money you left or the value realized, deeply felt and remembered.... of the good you possessed and shared... your loving, generous caring ways, your personal character. The remembrance of the YOU and the value of YOU, greatly missed now, by the very absence of YOU in their lives.
The LOVE/LUST for money...blinds us all to the true value of ourselves and the true value of others.
I don't bother writing anything down. I use the good old envelope system. On payday I withdraw my "allowance" for 2 weeks. The rest of my pay stays in the bank to cover rent, car insurance and phone/internet bills.
Envelope 1 = disposable income (DI) week # 1 (I get paid every 2 weeks) Envelope 2 = week #2 DI. Envelope 3 = groceries. The rule for DI, is anything I want. I buy my gas for the 2 weeks on payday as the bank machine is at the gas station.
Also another way to keep the DI in check, don't bring money to work. I never feel guilty about purchases with my DI because that's what it's there for - purchases. Of course I seldom waste my precious DI on restaurant dinners, booze in bars or general crap. I like the visual side of the envelopes because I can see the pile of $20 bills decreasing as I spend. For me this is a better way to curb spending than writing down stuff.
I love my VHS movies. Most are unreplaceable and not offered on DVD. With VHS I can tape my favorite shows/movies with ease. And the cost to purchase one is inexpensive compared to buying a new DVD movie or show. Why is that? Those DVD discs could not possibly cost more to manufacture than a VHS tape. So not only am I being forced to buy DVD's (if I want to purchase new programs or movies), I am also getting hit a double whammy in the pocketbook. I had to buy a new unit to play them on too!
Whoa... Why is it that anything that could even be construed as sharing or limiting wealth is met with this kind of knee-jerk "we don't want to be like the evil communists" reaction? The Patriot Act and other limits on your personal freedom don't bother you so long as the government doesn't interfere with your ability to make lots of money?
I do agree that allowing the government to limit salaries in private enterprises is a bad idea. But as for the proverbial slippery slope, you're already on it.
I have to admit, I love money. I work in finance and got into finance because of my love for money. I don't think that it's greedy to love money, but the main purpose of working is to earn money, so why not make as much of it as possible?
Loving money enables you to learn and better understand your finances. It helps you to accumulate wealth at a faster clip than others. It makes you aware of financail dangers (like the interest free loans). And ultimately, I'm sure that my love for money will enable me to retire sooner and weathlier than people who hate money.
To me there is no comparision as to which is better.
This is a great post. Some of the links are broken, but if you follow a working one to YouTube, you can find all kinds of drink hustling videos.
Hi again Phil. Great article. The first thing that popped in my head after reading it was how thankful I am that I have finally found a not-so-dysfunctional work place. Having worked at Motorola with you for a few years I know exactly the kind of frustration you're talking about. Although I have to admit, believe it or not, that Motorola was actually the 2nd most functional place I've worked out of 4 of the last 5 jobs.
I don't know if you're aware but since leaving Motorola I've been bouncing around quite a bit here on the east coast. I've worked for Siemens, Quest Diagnostics, United Health Group, and now Accenture. You haven't seen dysfunctional until you've taken the typical waterfall software development model that you and I were subjected to with fairly poor project management and add three levels of government auditing that these various health industry companies have to deal with.
Accenture on the other hand has been a breath of fresh air for me. It's a huge consulting firm, but I've found a small shop that has recently been acquired by them (reminding me quite a bit of when I joined Motorola) that has been doing Agile software development with Scrum for the past 3-4 years and fairly successfully.
If you or any of your readers haven't had the opportunity to work in a shop that uses Scrum for project management, software industry or not, I highly recommend it. I think of it as GTD for teams. Every day I stand up in a 15 meeting talk about what I got done the day before and what I'm going to do that day. And amazingly enough it's usually actually what I get to work on. Every month we talk about what we accomplished the month before and then what we're going to do for the next month. And the picture is usually pretty close.
All teams of this success of course depends on the quality of the people and their dedication to the process we're using, but I got to tell you, I'm happier in this job than I've ever been.
We have had only one income for 19 years and are raising three kids. Everything we own is paid in full including our house now valued at 450,000. We take vacations every year and every two years we fly to Florida to Disney World. My husband has a blue collar job. I dont think its a status symbol to live on one income. I think it's just the best for our family.
I still have my favorite Disney classic VHS movies-- I'm glad I'm not the only one who still has VHS tapes lying around.
But you know what's even more fun? If you're willing to get a Netflix account and free DVD ripping software, you can copy all of your DVD's on to your computer. It's an all-access pass to your movies with just a few clicks and some patience (with all of the waiting for the movie to arrive and dvd ripping buisness). I have a portable hard drive to store all of these movies, which is great!
I just reread this:
Would a 'light' olive oil work as a substitute in the crust, or would butter be a better alternative?
No, any kind of oil (anthing that is liquid at room temp) will not work. You need a fat that is solid at room temp.
YOu need saturated fat (stays solid at room temperature) in making a crust, because it keeps the flour from sticking to itself, then melts when cooking, thus creating the "flaky" layers that are appealing about crusts.
Which is why all the recipes require CHILLED water--the chilled water keeps the fat from melting so their can be "layers of dough and fat. When the crust is baked, that turns it into layers of flakiness if you prepare the crust correctly.
Thus, margarine, shortening, butter, lard, or suet. (in approximately reverse historical order) I'm guessing coconut oil would work too, particularly if you chilled it first and used ice water for the crust.
Thanks for the tip! I shop using iGive.com and Blockbuster's one of the stores that participates.
You can use this link to register to help the nonprofit I volunteer with, the Passsionist Volunteers, if you like.
They use the $$$ towards their home-repair program in West Virginia and an inner-city camp they run in Brooklyn each summer.
http://www.igive.com/welcome/warmwelcome.cfm?c=40389
Thanks!
Coconut oil pie crust sounds yummy!
Ff you want to avoid artificial trans fats, you can use butter. It's a classic ingredient for sweet pastry crusts, but you can use it for savory crusts as well. You might want to Google some recipes to get the technique right. Mark Bittman (NY Times) had a fun article comparing a bunch of different pie crust recipes in early 2008 I think--something about "the search for the ultimate crust". It would be worth reading. Other sources of fats are leaf lard (fat from around the internal organs of the pig) and I think there are some others, too.
I'd be inclined to go with butter.
There are also some shortenings that are made without artificial trans fats now--i'm not sure how they pull that off.
No worries about "expiration". You can probably eat dried potatoes for a couple of years past their expiration, if not more.
We also have a 3-month emergency fund that we are adding to, and are also shopping around for a good Money Market account with a decent interest rate to keep it growing. We will also maintain a good life insurance policy in case something were to happen to my husband - enough to give me time to gather my skills together and provide for our kids.
And I do have skills - though not a degree.
The crockpot is a nice technique, and I've used it, but if you really want to save energy try using your pressure cooker to cook the roast.. You will get similar results as with the crockpot but with probably half the energy used. And you will be able to brown the outside of the roast first in the pressure cooker itself, if you're into that kind of thing. And the roast will be ready in 45 minutes, not 6 hours.
Check the cooking times in your pressure cooker manual. I'm writing this by memory!
It cooks at 240 degrees or so and at a higher rate of heat transfer due to the vapor pressure, that's why it cooks so fast.
"In general there seems to be two situations where the wife stays home. Either they have considerable income and the wife staying home is a status symbol or they are religious conservatives that forbid their wives from working."
I am a SAHM, yet I fall into neither of these categories. My husband is a Staff Sergeant in the Air Force - not exactly a "considerable" income. We are also Christians, but the Bible never condemns or forbids women who work. In fact, Proverbs 31 talks about a woman who brings an income into her home by investing in real estate on her own! (Among other things.)
My husband and I have chosen that I will stay home because we believe it is the best choice for us and our kids - we have four under the age of 5. My husband's attitude is that he wants to always make enough money that I never HAVE to work, but is completely open if I WANT to work.
So, I do my part and manage our budget as frugally as possible. We live simply, and are content with what we have, and our only debt is a mortgage & a car payment.
I know what you mean about being looked down on at times though. Many, MANY people in my extended family clicked their tongues at me for not finishing college before I married.
However, I have no regrets. I know who I am, what I want, and I am fully confident in the decisions we have made as a married couple. I am grateful that I am outside of the only two examples you are unfortunate enough to have seen.
:-)
No time for me or my family. Job 1 Family 2nd, don't think so, but age working against me 53. Job requires traveling doing hydraulic service work. Feel trapped, electrician by trade, but no one paying for it anymore. Being skilled doesn't mean as much as it used to.
If you created a high income tax bracket, say above $500,000, and taxed that at 85%, then some CEOs would pay much higher taxes, and opt to get compensated in other ways. They would have to be compensated with perks, like access to vacation homes, lots of free gifts, etc. The thing is, it's not really easy to give someone a $9 mil vacation home, and a lifetime supply of caviar. There's only so many hours in a day.
@compounding - you are too generous. How about two weeks notice and a cardboard box for their personal belongings? This is what many underperforming employees get as their "good bye".