Where do we go from here?

Maggie chided me the other day that I hadn't been writing on my blog. Totally true. Then, I found a couple posts that I'd prepped in February that I'd never put up, so I posted them (see two preceding posts). But even those are news-related. Yeah, there's a little of me and my opinion, but nothing about my life in Tokyo in my commentary.

The problem is that Barack Obama took over my life a year ago and, now that I've been posting pretty consistently on issues related to him for a year, I don't know how to get back to posting about me and life in T-town. (I just made that term up; I've never heard anyone use it... probably for a very good reason: it sounds incredibly lame.)

Oh, Barack, where do we go from here? I think that it's time we each went our separate ways. You have a lot of things to deal with, what with your new job and dog and everything, and, well, I need to learn how to be independent again, to make it on my own, without relying on you for all my conversation topics and feel-good talk (by the way, I'm so proud of you for being so generous with the Tamiflu). Know that I will, of course, continue to support you and don't think that I won't be following you on Facebook and in the news... But, I think we both know that this is for the best. It's not you--you're great, you're change, you're hope, you're progress, you're smart... it's me. Try not to let this hamper your work. It will be difficult for me, too, in the beginning, but we both just need to try our hardest to move on. Don't think of this as a break-up--it's not--it's just... it's just the next chapter in our journey together toward a brighter day.

Flix my net = Tax me, please

Editor's note: Yeah, um, same problem with this post as with the last. Sorry, I think my brain took an unauthorized leave of absence from February 'til now.

I so agree with the ideas expressed in this Op-Ed in the New York Times that I'm going to just reproduce the piece in it's entirety here. And add this: Ditto.

Please Raise My Taxes

By REED HASTINGS

Published: February 5, 2009

Los Gatos, Calif.

I’M the chief executive of a publicly traded company and, like my peers, I’m very highly paid. The difference between salaries like mine and those of average Americans creates a lot of tension, and I’d like to offer a suggestion. President Obama should celebrate our success, rather than trying to shame us or cap our pay. But he should also take half of our huge earnings in taxes, instead of the current one-third.

Then, the next time a chief executive earns an eye-popping amount of money, we can cheer that half of it is going to pay for our soldiers, schools and security. Higher taxes on huge pay days can finance opportunity for the next generation of Americans.

Clearly, the efforts over the past few decades to control executive compensation haven’t accomplished much. Improved public disclosure was supposed to shame companies into lowering salaries, and it obviously hasn’t worked. In 1993, President Bill Clinton changed the tax law to effectively cap executives’ salaries at $1 million a year, but that simply drove corporate boards to offer larger bonuses and stock options to attract and keep talent. More recently, “say on pay” proposals would have shareholders opine on their boards’ compensation decisions, but “say and pay” won’t change the fact that luring a top executive away from another company is never easy or cheap.

The reality is that the boards of public companies hate overpaying for anything, including executives. But picking the wrong chief executive is an enormous disaster, so boards are willing to pay an arm and a leg for already proven talent. Putting limits on the salaries at public companies, or trying to shame them into coming down, won’t stop this costly competition for talent.

Of course, it’s galling when a chief executive fails and is still handsomely rewarded. But with the concept of “tax, not shame,” a shocking $20 million severance package would generate $10 million for the government. That’s a far better solution than what we have today, not least because it works with the market rather than against it.

Another advantage is that it would also cover the sometimes huge earnings of hedge fund managers, star athletes, stunning movie stars, venture capitalists and the chief executives of private companies. Surely there is no reason to focus only on executives at publicly traded companies.

This week, President Obama proposed imposing a $500,000 compensation cap on companies seeking a bailout. It’s a terrible idea. We all want the taxpayers’ money returned, and capping compensation at bailout recipients will just make it that much harder for those boards to hire and hold on to the executives who can lead their companies to compete and thrive.

Perhaps a starting place for “tax, not shame” would be creating a top federal marginal tax rate of 50 percent on all income above $1 million per year. Some will tell you that would reduce the incentive to earn but I don’t see that as likely. Besides, half of a giant compensation package is still pretty huge, and most of our motivation is the sheer challenge of the job anyway.

Instead of trying to shame companies and executives, the president should take advantage of our success by using our outsized earnings to pay for the needs of our nation.

Reed Hastings is the chief executive of Netflix.

Meanwhile, in Zimbabwe...

Editor's note: I don't know what the hell happened in my brain in February--I totally had this post and another ready to go and then never posted them. Doh! So, yeah, um, here we go... two months late. Hee hee heee... (awkward trailing off laughter).

The new "Unity" farce, er, I mean, government in Zimbabwe will begin with Morgan Tsvangirai's inauguration as Prime Minister on Wednesday. Mugabe will stay on as President. In Tsvangirai's speech, he plans to call for greater Western support in light of this great step in the Zimbabwean political situation. Currently, most Zimbabweans live a life of bare subsistence and depend heavily on foreign aid for good and medicine (in addition to the food shortage and civil strife that has plagued the country in recent history, last year, a cholera epidemic erupted).

So, while on Wednesday, Tsvangirai will ask for this: "Morgan Tsvangirai will use his inauguration as Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister this week to appeal to the West to fund the rebuilding of his shattered country..."

Coincidentally, Mugabe's 85th birthday is coming up right on the heels of Tsvangirai's inauguation--February 21st, to be exact. And, well, hey, a party is a party, right? No need to let famine and disease spoil your fun! Mugabe's supporters began last week to "solicit" (force with threat of violence) "donations" for his big birthday bash. Just in case you have a couple hundred kilos of caviar laying around, I thought you might like to know where you can send it for a good cause. Here's what's on the birthday party food wish list:

2,000 bottles of champagne — Moët & Chandon and ’61 Bollinger
500 bottles of whisky — Johnny Walker Blue Label, 22-year-old Chivas
8,000 lobsters
100kg king prawns
3,000 ducks
4,000 portions of caviar
8,000 boxes of Ferrero Rocher
16,000 eggs
3,000 cakes — chocolate and vanilla
4,000 packs of pork sausages
500kg cheese
4,000 packets of crackers

This is seriously sick. And I mean that in all senses of the word.

Robin Sparkles for Canadian PM... I'm reconnecting with my love for "How I Met Your Mother"... Update: Canadian Love Manifesto

I love the show "How I Met Your Mother" for many reasons (mainly associated with Barney Stinson), but one stands out: Because making fun of Canada is fun... even for Canadians (because they are cool and know how to make fun of themselves... a quality Americans generally lack when faced with international mocking pressure).

Full disclosure: I'm American, but officially take the stance that Canada totally has it more figured out than America does (universal healthcare; Canadians are biologically engineered to be laid-back and have good comedic timing). However, I also officially take the stance that America has way better TV (exhibits A through C: Degrassi High, Sophie, and Little Mosque on the Prairie... all cool Canadian concepts with cheesy execution [though they do earn back some points because of the Anne of Green Gables miniseries]; exhibits D through F: How I Met Your Mother, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, and 30 Rock... all cool American concepts with awesome execution and Exhibit D makes fun of Canadians while still giving a Canadian character a shot to be on American TV--ever noticed how there are no Canadian characters on US TV? As if the 51st state doesn't exist?) and, because we sent a bunch of missionaries to steal Hawaii, better travel options.

So, a shout out, to the inspiration for many jokes on "How I Met..."--a bridge, really, helping the people of the "two" countries to bond and understand one another despite our many differences:



Further proof of Canada's biologically engineered laid-backness is that they have not declared war on America despite the following things (plus, let's be honest, it's a logical sense of self-preservation because they know that America has a lot more bombs and guns and serial killers--read: anger management issues--and that we're trigger happy and not responsible artillery-owners):

1. The South Park movie is basically open-season on all things Canadian, including the Academy Award-nominated song "Blame Canada."
   
2. Americans making fun of their accents all the time, eh.
3. Things like this post.
4. TV shows like "How I Met Your Mother."
5. Americans making fun of their cheaper currency ("It's like everything's on sale!").
6. TV shows like "The Daily Show."

I love it when smart people are in charge of America

Obama is off to a GREAT start. The latest juicy bit of awesome to come out of the Oval Office (isn't it good when that means something that we don't need to be embarrassed of!) is the White House DIRECTLY calling out the greedy Wall Street a**holes who gave themselves a pat on the back (I'm sure it was one of the football, ass pats) and nice fat bonus checks this past December. Oh, what's that? The economy's tanking? Not if you're a fat cat jerk who spent over $30,000 on a new private bathroom while your company is imploding! I mean, don't these companies have marketing departments? Did they fire them to pay for the potty remodel? Does it really take a genius image consultant to tell you not to do something dumb (with a B) to do that?

Here's a highlight from the post (entitled "Shameful," nice!) on the White House blog (yes, there's a White House blog... how cool is that?!):

One point I want to make is that all of us are going to have responsibilities to get this economy moving again. And when I saw an article today indicating that Wall Street bankers had given themselves $20 billion worth of bonuses -- the same amount of bonuses as they gave themselves in 2004 -- at a time when most of these institutions were teetering on collapse and they are asking for taxpayers to help sustain them, and when taxpayers find themselves in the difficult position that if they don't provide help that the entire system could come down on top of our heads -- that is the height of irresponsibility. It is shameful.

Read the rest of the post here.

Found art... and then I ate it

I bought this last Thursday at Make My Cake bakery in Harlem. Yes, I did... eat this yummy cupcake. I gotta say though, red velvet tastes better than hope. ;)