Financial fuckery thread

[LMNO]

Wasn't there a story recently about a guy who wrote a book about a murder, it made NY Times list, got the attention of someone who familiar with a cold case that resembled it and it turns out the guy was the murderer and the book explained it all?

Can't for the life of me remember who the guy was.

[Triple Zero]

Yeah.  Unfair broad brush.

A healthy questioning of executive authority is actually great and necessary.  

Oh okay good. Maybe, you know, *think* before you post next time.

[Dysfunctional Cunt]

I think there are probably about half as many honest, want to help people, want to make the world a safer better place cops as there are those who either joined for the power trip, have since joining gone on a power trip or just wanted an excuse to be an asshole and a badge to hide behind.

In any event, they are people and like any other monkey out there they can be anything on the line between awesome to asshole and everything in between.

I have friends who are police and there are also some officers out there I wouldn't piss on if they were on fire.  

[Triple Zero]

I also think your ratio of "half" depends heavily on police training and police and society culture.

[Dysfunctional Cunt]

I also think your ratio of "half" depends heavily on police training and police and society culture.

Or possibly personal experience? 

[Triple Zero]

Oh of course, that too!

[Dysfunctional Cunt]

Oh of course, that too!

Unfortunately, thru no fault of my own other than really bad judgment in who I marry, my police experience is rather extensive. 

[Triple Zero]

a friend of mine got "rescued" by the police from a small gang of fuckheads, got a knife cut in his arm, next time he was held up by the police for not having a light on his bicycle, he was all about how great work they do and he wanted to tip her :-P :-P

(my friend's a bit crazy sometimes)

[Dysfunctional Cunt]

 

Can you imagine tipping a cop after they write you a ticket?

[Triple Zero]

(my friend's a bit crazy sometimes)

but, yeah


I think it was an awesome move, though.

[Eater of Clowns]

Especially when they beat your ass down for attempting to bribe them.

FUCK THA POLICE, VIVA DISCORDIA

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

don't get me wrong, I hear what you're saying LMNO and agree that it's likely the case. But I can't figure out how I'd distinguish between unobjectional SOP and the cops trying to discourage people from expressing populist rage towards banks.

If Chase Bank were painting a picture of me on fire, I'd hope some plainclothes detectives followed up on it.  

They painted a picture of you homeless and standing in a soup line. No one investigated.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

There was a guy who wrote a book about school shootings a couple of years ago who said everybody has it all wrong with all this zero tolerance for shit like black clothing and metal music and empty threats. He said these kids are always raised in very conservative families and when the illusion of the Reagan Christ Way starts to wear thin and their whole reality is threatened and they see that they have no future, they flip. I can't remember the guy's name, dammit, maybe somebody here knows? It might have even been Cain who posted about it originally.

Artists who paint burning banks don't have Reagan bubbles to burst, I would think.

[Placid Dingo]

There was a guy who wrote a book about school shootings a couple of years ago who said everybody has it all wrong with all this zero tolerance for shit like black clothing and metal music and empty threats. He said these kids are always raised in very conservative families and when the illusion of the Reagan Christ Way starts to wear thin and their whole reality is threatened and they see that they have no future, they flip. I can't remember the guy's name, dammit, maybe somebody here knows? It might have even been Cain who posted about it originally.

Artists who paint burning banks don't have Reagan bubbles to burst, I would think.

Although you'd then have cause to wonder why children of hippies don't have the same bubble pop explosion of rage and despair.

[Cain]

Concerning the first ammendment, it is actually legal to advocate the violent overthrow of the American government, as established in case law (and to the contrary of the likes of Obama and Holder, who considers it treason).  Therefore, even if the painter was advocating people to burn down the Chase bank, he was well within his rights.

However, this is a financial fuckery thread, not a constitutional fuckery thread, so on with the economic news!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14839649

The carmaker Saab's application for protection from its creditors to help it avoid being pushed into bankruptcy has been rejected by a Swedish court.

In response, Swedish trade unions said they could demand that Saab be declared bankrupt within days.

Saab had applied for protection while trying to secure additional funding.

Saab had to suspend production in April when its suppliers stopped deliveries after not being paid. Its workers have also had their pay delayed.

Vanersborg district court rejected Saab's application because it did not believe it would work.

Blue-collar union IF Metall's leader, Stefan Lofven, said: "We will now thoroughly analyse the new situation. If the company doesn't find another solution or file a bankruptcy request themselves, we may be forced to do that in the next few days."

White-collar union Unionen's chief lawyer, Martin Wastfelt, said it might make a similar decision imminently.

"It's all about minimising the risks to secure our members' money," he said.

On Wednesday, Victor Muller, chief executive of Saab's owner, Swedish Automobile, said Saab's suppliers were owed some 150m euros ($210m; £131m).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14835950

Major economies are likely to slow by the end of the year, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has warned.

The OECD expects 0.3% growth in the UK in the last three months of the year, but said the economy could contract by as much as 1% amid high uncertainty over its projections.

It predicts the Group of Seven largest economies will grow by just 0.2%.

The OECD said Germany could be most affected by a downturn in global trade.

It estimated the German economy would contract by 1.4% in the last quarter of 2011.

The OECD's GDP figures are both seasonally adjusted and account for inflation.

They also have a wide margin of error - for example, it said its German estimate may be out by up to 2.1 percentage points either way.

It said: "Consumer and business confidence fell in major OECD economies on the back of weak incoming data, gridlock over fiscal policy in the US, the euro area sovereign debt crisis and growing concern that there is less policy ammunition to offset further weaknesses."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-14823042

Nearly a quarter of UK engineering graduates are working in non-graduate jobs or unskilled work such as waiting and shop work, a report suggests.

The study says it is "not easy or automatic" for qualified engineers to find related employment in the UK.

Employers and industry leaders have repeatedly raised concerns about a lack of good quality science and engineering graduates.

But research from Birmingham University research challenges this viewpoint.

The report - entitled Is there a shortage of scientists? - is being presented to the British Educational Research Association (Bera) annual conference in London on Thursday.

It analysed figures from 1986 to 2009 from the Higher Education Statistical Agency on the proportions of engineering students entering related jobs, other professions or work that did not require a degree in 2009.

The findings suggest that less than half (about 46%) of 2009 engineering graduates were in jobs directly related to their degree subject six months after leaving university.

About one in five (20%) were employed in roles that were not directly related to their degree and about one in four (24%) were in "non-graduate" employment, for example working as waiters or in shops.

The report says: "Perhaps, because of recent initiatives, there seem to be too many people studying science for the labour market to cope with, or perhaps graduates are no longer of sufficient quality.

"It is more likely, however, that all of these scientists are without relevant employment every year because the shortage thesis is wrong and there are no jobs waiting for all of them or because they are 'dropping out' having learnt that they do not enjoy their subject areas."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14827742

Italy and Spain have passed new austerity measures as they battle to control their debts.

Italy's upper house of parliament approved an austerity package which should cut its deficit by some 54bn euros ($70bn, £44bn) over three years.

Spain's Senate gave final approval to a "golden rule" in its constitution to keep future budget deficits to a strict limit.

On Wednesday, Greece also stepped up its austerity plans.

The Italian Senate voted 165-141 with three abstentions to approve the package, which was put to a confidence vote to make sure Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's allies united behind the government after weeks of argument.

The package now goes to the lower Chamber of Deputies, where Mr Berlusconi also has a majority.

Tens of thousands of Italians took to the streets on Wednesday for a day-long strike against the measures, which include a rise in sales taxes and a revised wealth tax.

Meanwhile, Spain's vote for a "golden rule" makes it the only country apart from Germany to have such a limit.

Under the change, Spain must stick to a long-term deficit cap except in times of natural disaster, recession, or extraordinary emergencies.

The moves come amid a mood of increasing urgency within the eurozone to act to solve the debt crisis.

Also on Wednesday, Greece stepped up its deficit reduction plans in the face of accusations it was stalling and France approved a 12bn euro package of budget savings, largely by clamping down on tax breaks.

And in another sign of movement, Germany's highest court ruled that aid for Greece and other rescue packages is legal.