Also, my coworker pointed out that $16.5million is $45,000 a day.

That said, I'm sure it's not their only income. So never mind.

I'm going to give my two cents about the salary cap, just because... well, just because. Although I think $500,000 sounds like ridiculous, fantastic, unimaginable money, I also think the executives and their families live lifestyles based on an expectation of much more. Although that's no argument for keeping the salaries indefinitely, I worry about the unintended consequences (mainly on the families) of cutting them suddenly. It's not just the people who are making the money (and who maybe made the mistakes) who will be affected, is what I'm saying. I think a cut from several million to $500,000 isn't just going to be taking the coke-and-hookers money off the top.

Eh, I'm guessing the thousands of lower level people who got (and will be) summarily laid off had lifestyles they'd prefer not to lose as well. Also, if you've been making the kind of money where a cut to 500k is an outrage and you don't have enough together to weather the storm, well? My tiny violin is in the shop.

When the economy recovers, I'm buying this tea infuser.

I've been meaning to ask for a *long* time--what's a jeep beat?

There's a nurse wiggling a needle in my foot. That's try #3.

OMG, xkcd explains "bases" (as in, "I got to second base with her"): Base System

Eh, I'm guessing the thousands of lower level people who got (and will be) summarily laid off had lifestyles they'd prefer not to lose as well

I never claimed that people with reductions in enormous salaries deserved more sympathy than anybody else. In fact, my very point is not the person who makes the money, but those who depend on them and had nothing to do with the malfeasance. Not to mention the charities that depend on donations from the ultra-rich for their very existence.

Anyway, I'm not claiming "oh those poor, poor rich people." I'm thinking about the people they support, the people they employ, the effect on the industries that rely on them. A raise very rarely trickles down, but I think a pay cut always does.

I'm not in any way disagreeing with the cap, either. I'm just not filled with the schadenfreude.

When the economy recovers, I'm buying this tea infuser.

That is so awesome.

I'm thinking about the people they support, the people they employ, the effect on the industries that rely on them.

While not a Corporate Fat Cat, I have decided it's my duty as a still-employed person to do all the normal things like buy clothes and get my nails done and occasional massages and stuff like that -- I still have the income I had last year, and am not likely to lose my job (knock wood), so why start hoarding away my money at the expense of the service workers?

I'm going to take that logic one step further and say that it is my patriotic duty as an American to replace my cheap piece-of-shit Cablevision DVR with a Series 3 Tivo.