megan, some of the outcry is because companies that received bailout funds shifted the bonus payout to December.

Sail, if you unsubscribe to the service, do you lose the stuff you've found and added? I'm really just interested in tracking the last three or four generations.

I don't think I mind others being able to see my tree--I think a lot of geneology is gleaning information from other people who have records, if you don't want to do the hard core public records searches. Besides, my family is so large and widespread that there are probably members out there who have the information I need.

I couldn't/can't afford Ancestry.com. I put my file up on Rootsweb.com, and then when Ancestry took them over Rootweb stayed free, but the files there became searchable within Ancestry.

From sarameg's polar bear root canal link:

Anoki's fangs are anchored deep in the bone. They're perhaps 5 inches long from root to tip, and they curve.

Whoa. And the video is amazing. So unreal to see the size of this bear with people all up in her paws and face. Crazy huge animals.

I hope Colbert has the video.

I know that top executives get a lot of their income from sources other than their salaries, so being capped at $500K shouldn't put them out on the street.

If I were an executive and I did make the majority of my money from sources other than salary, why would I stay at a company with hundreds of thousands of employees, offices around the world, multiple divisions, a high degree of public scrutiny, no credit line, government ownership that is highly likely to fail anyway, permanently tarnishing my resume for what is a relative pittance? I wouldn't. I wouldn't need that kind of hassle.

Maybe there are enough executives out there for whom that kind of money is enough for all the bailed out companies to get competent management. But maybe not. Permanently capping salaries does create a set of incentives that are a bit hard to predict, just like it does in any industry. But I would point out that high compensation, especially for leadership at companies in trouble, does have actual justification, and as it stands there's little reason to work for these institutions right now.

Sail, if you unsubscribe to the service, do you lose the stuff you've found and added?

The record of the document stays attached to the genealogy, but you can't actually view the record anymore. So, I know I have various census, birth, death records attached to any individual, but I can no longer look inside the actual record. If I resubscribe, I'd get the access back. They do have a 14 day free trial, if you can get everything you need in that amount of time you're golden.

Yeah, in general I'm not comfortable with the concept of government set limits on compensation, but it's clear that it's been a necessary part of the bailout package. Which is part of why I don't love doing the bailout, because I don't want to run these companies. I have my own business to run without having to keep on eye on where my money's going.

Still, I think a lot of these limitations are largely symbolic, and there's a lot of inefficiencies and core corruption issues that need to be addressed within corporations far beyond jets and executive compensation.

Just caught up... harking back to the suicide soda conversation. When I was growing up in Chicago's western suburbs we called it "garbage can pop". A "black suicide" was taking just a little off the top of every bottle in your dad's liquor cabinet so he wouldn't notice any was missing. I'm pretty sure I never heard anyone call a soda mix "suicide" until I moved to California.

also... My brother says "Easy Peasey Japanesey". Maybe I should tell him to stop.

of the people I know in banking, all receive their bonuses in February/March, based on the previous year. So, while I think most executive pay is outrageous, it's not really fair to say that the bonuses they received in 2008 were based on substandard performance.

So bonuses received in 2008 were based on 2007?

I have a very hard time believing that the economy's current shambles came about only from banking/financial/investment activity that occurred from January 1, 2008, and forward. It takes longer than 13 months to fuck over the economy this badly, and I'm fairly certain that economists have pointed to its origins being earlier than January 1, 2008; in fact, earlier than 2007.

So I, personally, think that bonuses received in 2008 -- even if based on 2007 performance -- were probably not all based on super-duper stellar rock star performance. Unless "laying the groundwork to fuck over the economy" = rock star performance. If that's the case, then they sure earned every penny of their bonuses.