Negative Feedback For A Sob Story - Ain't It A Bitch?

Looks like the subjects of that CNN Money article aren't getting much sympathy in the wake of the subprime fallout. Instead of people feeling sorry for them, they seem to have garnered more than their fair share of criticism. Let's take a look, shall we?

First, we have Stu's Rusty Bucket, who has done a nice job of inserting his/her comments into the story, such as:

• Awesome! Keeping the dream alive, a mansion on the coast…
• This is the “we have no plan going forward” routine, also known as “we are waiting for something magical to happen and money to fall into our laps!!”
• Awesome, they switched from a gas guzzling corvette to a.. gas guzzling huge ass SUV!
• know!! Lets get a job selling houses.. that don’t sell in a market that is thrashing around and wallowing in its death throes! Awesome decision there Kent...just think how many sea shell necklaces and self designed bikini’s you need to sell to make that 10k minimum a month.

Ah, Stu - you are too good with words!

Here are some nuggets from 3D Commune:

• Notice they cashed in HER 401k? He is going to skip off to Mexico with his secretary and intact 401k
• A suburban - now THERE is an economy vehicle
• THE INDUSTRY TARNISHED ITSELF, and you were part of it, I guess its time to get out the silver polish baby!
• Yeah, let the government pay you to do nothing, its the American way

Free Republic has great comments as well. A sampling:

• Sorry, they made a heck of a lot of money, and don’t have anything saved? Stupid is as stupid does.
• So, he gave birth to the monster that ate him.He and his ilk built the castle of sand and now bitch that it's crumbling?
• (They) need to sell the Beemer, down-size the house, take the first job they can get and begin working their way up again. And quit whining.
• (She's) been without work since May of 2007???!!! Nobody wants her resume because it’s got subprime on it? Nobody? Not Target or the Food Lion? Gimme a break. The woman could be bringing in something and still run her jewelry and beachwear business.
• But surely you don’t expect them to take responsibility for their own actions??

And, my personal favorite:

(Executives) in the Sub Prime and other banking fields by extension, really have no marketable skills and are grossly overpaid.

Finally, let's not forget Frugal Jim, who questions whether they should even be allowed to collect unemployment:

• So you and I are paying unemployment for these people? We’re actually subsidizing the start up of two businesses? I always though unemployment was supposed to be for people who were actively seeking a job, but were unable to do so.

News Flash: Florida Is Not California

For many years, First NLC has cut corners by allocating California resources to Florida cost centers. Several employees who work and pay taxes in California are considered Florida workers. This benefits First NLC because Florida has much cheaper and management-friendly labor laws.

I've overheard conversations and phone calls detailing how west coast employees were confused about certain corporate policies that conflicted with their state's labor laws. Things like not being able to roll over unused vacation time into the next calendar year are totally illegal in California, but they are par for the course in Deerfield. It wasn't until January that First NLC finally issued a California-specific policies document, but I've been told it doesn't address any labor issues that would be in the employee's favor.

Why am I telling all of you this? I just found out that some employees who were let go a few weeks ago are unable to collect unemployment benefits in California because, according to their state's records, they were employees of Florida. Imagine getting laid off and not even being eligible for unemployment just because some bean-counting weasels wanted to save a few bucks by classifying you as a worker in another state! Legal? Methinks not, but legalities don't seem to stop our organization.

Let this be a warning to all of you who are still employed out there on the west coast: find out what cost center your wages are being reported from. At First NLC, "doing what is required" means screwing over everybody who stands in the way of making the execs' bank accounts grow.