Mr. President, Is My Job Worth Saving?
by Jeffrey JenaJust in case you’ve never read my bio, I am a stand-up comedian and have been slinging jokes for over thirty years. I have had my ups and downs, worked the road for years, gigged in dumps and Vegas palaces, done TV and had a few shots at the big time. I have hurt my career by my personal behavior and I blame no one but myself for that.
I reinvented myself as a performer almost as many time as Dylan and I’m still standing. To quote my good friend, radio host Marc Germain, “I’m better than most and not as good as some.”
During the last ten years, I have moved from the club market into mostly corporate events. I have to work the phone and the e-mail list every day. My business life is like a shark: I have to keep moving all the time and I am always looking for my next meal. I get no sick days and no paid vacations. I have to provide for my own retirement. I pay for my own healthcare and 15.4% of everything I make goes to Social Security and Medicare. I spend about 160 days a year in a strange bed, alone, and another forty or fifty driving to one-nighters within four or five hours of my home. I spend countless hours in airports. Ahhh, the glamor of show business!
Don’t get me wrong; I’m not complaining. This is the life I have chosen and long after anyone with any sense would have given up, I am still plugging away. Sometimes, right before I go on, I stop and think of the line from the movie “Patton,” “God help me. I love it so.” All I ask is that I be allowed to pursue my dream with a minimum of interference.
Recently, my job has come under attack by some high ranking Democrats. While bragging about how many jobs he was going to create and save, about how many shovels he was going to get turning, Mr. Obama has sent my industry into a tail spin. He has taken several broad swipes at corporate entertainment in the past few weeks. Because they also hate corporate fat cats, Senator John Kerry and Representative Barney Frank joined in and started slamming my little corner of show business as well. I’m sure President Obama and his droogies were just trying to embarrass these fat cats but that isn’t how it worked out.
He did the same thing with the corporate jet industry a few weeks earlier starting with the CEO’s of the auto industry.
He accomplished his mission. He embarrassed business leaders and they have been cutting back on entertaining. Unfortunately, due to the law of unintended consequences, it wasn’t the corporate fat cats that got hurt. They have mothballed their corporate jets and are suffering by flying first class to their vacation homes in the Bahamas, poor guys!
Who the president hurt were thousands of waiters, caterers, bartenders, stage hands, sound technicians, floor sweepers, decorators, jet pilots, mechanics, parts suppliers, hotel workers and even a few stand up comics who depend on those fat cats for their livelihoods.
Not all fat cats come under this Democrat microscope. This week in Miami, at the Fontainebleau Hotel, a fairly swanky joint, the AFL-CIO is hosting a little shindig. Not only are they not under fire for reckless spending while their union members are losing their jobs left and right, but a couple of high ranking Democrats including the Joe Biden will be down there cheering them on. I am guessing more than a few of them flew down to Miami on private aircraft. I wonder if they need a comic?
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103 Comments
God love ya, Jeffrey, for sticking with it. Hope you can hold on; I think the next revolution is coming in 2010.
Isn't it amazing how every lib can't see what the unintended consequence will be when they do something, yet they charge straight on, head up and locked.
Or, maybe its because what they want to happen is exactly what is happening now. Yeah, I said it. Its got to be said. And I'll say it again: The libs WANT THIS! And as an aside; I don't care WHY they want this. All I am focused on is stopping it, reversing the slide, and insuring it never occurs again.
Do you even know jokes for liberals? They are about the most humorless humans out there. Well, maybe except for the Taliban.
Jeffrey: You are an amazing talent, and I am thrilled that I caught your act on the Royal Caribbean Cruise ship "Sovereign of the Seas" last September.
Now I will give you a call about the TV show and film that I am shooting in Detroit. We will make an amazing pitcher of lemonade out of the lemons being thrown at our feet by Frank and Kerry and the rest of the fools on the hill.
The companies you're talking about have taken billions of dollars from the government, and then turned around and spent millions entertaining their employees. And the government has shamed them into stopping that, which has hurt your business. Your solution, apparently, is that these companies should keep spending my tax money on their corporate vacations so that a tiny fraction of the amount they spend will go to you.
Isn't this the least effective form of welfare ever conceived? If you think the government should be paying you, it would be far more efficient simply for them to cut you a check. You'd make money and we'd all save a fortune on overhead.
But of course, if the government gives you money, that's welfare and it's bad. If the government shovels money at corporations and, after they hand out multi-million dollar bonuses to their executives, then take a tiny fraction of that money and hire you, that's free enterprise, that's the market in action, and that's good.
Hmm. I wonder why the vast majority of Americans don't trust Republicans with the economy anymore?
Just one slight problem with your argument – "Not all fat cats come under this Democrat microscope. This week in Miami, at the Fontainebleau Hotel, a fairly swanky joint, the AFL-CIO is hosting a little shindig. Not only are they not under fire for reckless spending while their union members are losing their jobs left and right, but a couple of high ranking Democrats including the Joe Biden will be down there cheering them on. I am guessing more than a few of them flew down to Miami on private aircraft. I wonder if they need a comic?"
So I guess that it is okay for the unions to do it but not big business seeing as how there was no statement was made against the union, just the corporate world. Also Jeffrey was also pointing out that it wasn't just him being hurt, but others who are at risk of losing their jobs (unless they happen to be working at a hotel that is hosting a union event). If you are going to pick on one side be equal and pick on the other side when they are just as guilty.
WR1:
Seems like you are assuming that the companies that Mr. Jenna worked for are taking bail-out money.
I don't see how you have jumped to that conclusion based on Jeffrey's column.
What am I missing?
Sorry, but the AFL-CIO hasn't taken billions in taxpayer money to save them from boneheaded gambles made by unscrupulous executives. They're spending their own money. Now you may complain it was unjustly seized from their members, but that's between them. It's not my money.
This WR1 is obviously a government worker, not only does he have no idea how to thank a customer, train a new employee or boost morale, but thinks he knows what effective welfare is. It may have taken years for the Americans not to trust the Republicans ( that and an ocean of ink from the MSM), but it only took the Democrats five weeks !
WR1, no one wants you as a customer, employee, and we can see the joy you could spread as a morale booster.
It's a competitive world out there, and struggling businesses have to schmooze more than the winners. You don't understand. Who competes with the government ?
Because the corporations that were guilted into cancelling their events were the ones like AIG that had taken huge amounts of bail-out money. It was in all the papers.
Hey our own President is having weekly cocktail parties for his friends and employees. A bit hypocritical in our present economic situation. But then, I guess that should be expected since he has no problem spending our money other ways.
So: "Who the president hurt were thousands of waiters, caterers, bartenders, stage hands, sound technicians, floor sweepers, decorators, jet pilots, mechanics, parts suppliers, hotel workers and even a few stand up comics who depend on those fat cats for their livelihoods."
Yeah, but according to Tigerhawk, those waiters, caterers, bartenders, etc. etc. don't work as hard as the so-called "rich." So screw 'em, right?
You conservatives are confusing.
It does not matter anymore whether they take the money or not. Obama called out one company for spending 1.2 million for renovations and they had not even taken TARP money. Obama has made it dangerous for anyone but his favorites ( Unions) from spending on client acquisition, or showing appreciation to your best customers. Thats what these parties are all about. It is not just about splurging on employees, this is all about growing and maintaining your business. This is what happens when people completely ignorant about how to grow a business start to take over. Obama never ran a candy store.
When "card check" becomes the rule, it WILL be your money when the union organizes in your workplace and bankrupts your company…and I will laugh at you and your "will work for food" sign…
Actually, unlike most of the people who post on this site, I work in the entertainment industry — I've been a TV writer and showrunner for more than two decades. Yup, one of the eeevil Hollywood liberals.
I AM in a union. I spent a big chunk of last year on strike — and if I hadn't, pay and working conditions for everyone else in my business would have been degraded substantially, probably forever. I've been a proud member of the Writers Guild for more than twenty years now, and because of that I've got great health care and my employers pay me on time. And when card check passes, maybe my fellow writers who work in sweatshop conditions on reality shows will be able to join our union, and the multi-national corporations who employ them will begin to treat them fairly.
They may well have benefited — after all, saving thousands of jobs was one of the primary reasons for the bailout. To that extent, I benefited, too, because there are fewer unemployed people around. But the unions, like me, did not take any government money.
Jeffery, the parasitic left will never comprehend hard work. They rise at noon each day and can only ask, what’s in it for me? Be certain these blithering minions hate your example of slogging through, stay-toed-ness, your passion if you will, your willingness to travel where the job is. They would like you to just give up and join worthless class. If the Magic “O” keep spinning his voodoo we’ll all be there soon. One good thing with your work ethic in our brave new world, you’ll beat the dregs up and first in line at the new government health departments. God bless America!
Sweatshop conditions on reality shows!!!! Are you kidding? You're kidding right. Or are you so self important as a Hollywood writer to think that two grand a week is sweatshop conditions.
And BTW, when card check passes all there will be left are reality shows because the networks will feel they have to save money some way, and that will be by cutting out actors and writing.
They forced GM and Chrysler to beg for money because they would not make any concessions. Now they are going to have to when the Big 3 file Chapter 11 in the next few months. If they had agreed to concessions in the first place, we wouldn't have had to spend billions of dollars on the bailout. So yes they took money indirectly from a bailout!
WR1:
But again, I don't see in anything that Mr. Jena wrote that would lead you to assume these same companies were hiring Jeffrey to entertain.
What he is talking about his an atmosphere of fear being foisted upon even companies who are profitable, solvent and don't have their hands out for government greenback.
Your snarky comment aside, I do read the papers much like everybody here.
Most of us are currently or have worked in the industry. You just don't think that there are people like us ecause we like to work and earn money and pay our taxes. Hence the reason for Big Hollywood…
Most of us are currently or have worked in the industry. You just don't think that there are people like us because we like to work and earn money and pay our taxes so we tend to keep our mouths shut. Hence the reason for Big Hollywood…
You may be right about nothing left but reality shows, but that's got everything to do with the changing nature of television and absolutely nothing to do with card check. After all, network TV is almost entirely unionized already. Aside from writers on reality shows — which would make comedies and dramas slightly more competetive, not less — who isn't in a union?
And, yes, sweatshop is a bit of hyperbole. But reality writers are treated terribly and given barely a taste of the huge amounts of money their work generates.
If GM and Chrysler hadn't been mismanaged for years, they wouldn't have been trying to welsh out on paying deferred compensation they had promised. Those pensions aren't a gift to the workers — the companies decided it would be better for them to pay less up front and some at retirement rather than pay a higher wage at the time of service. Now, after years of looting the pension plans, they don't want to pay at all. And the unions are the bad guys for trying to protect their retirees.
Appreciate your response, and I apologize for the attribution of your livelihood. I think the propaganda here is to paint business with a broad brush, having been there for my career life, these conventions are all about relationship building, which is essential to business. People don't have to buy something from private industry, anymore than buy a script from you. You have put on smaller conventions all your career ,I bet. A luncheon, a drink, maybe a trip together. Everybody needs to get out, right ? I think the business people were idiots to take money when they couldn't get a loan because their business stunk. Parasitic doom, the government should never be giving out money to business, not their job.
So, we get the populist targets: private industry is the evil being. If you were the government and smart, wouldn;t you have atached some strings to the money ? Do you give money to your kids and tell them to spend it on anything they want ?
Didn't mean to imply anything about the commenters, about whom I know nothing. But I've read the bios of the actual contributers here, and most of them are hoping to maybe sell a script some day. Or have no connection to the biz at all.
And not all companies have taken public money. My husband's company is doing fine, even expanding in these difficult times. They send him regularly on business trips and to conferences that use facilities similar to these, but I suppose you're against even that?
Not all the companies that have been guilted out of things have taken public funds, and at least one was force to take public money because the government didn't want the public to know who was in trouble and who wasn't. That bank, Northern Trust Corporation, was shamed out of hosting a golfing tournament even though it's not in any trouble.
And regular companies who have no stake in public funds are wary of planning anything for fear of drawing Congressional ire.
WR!
Let me see if I understand your position, Once someone has taken government money, in many cases like that of Northern Trust and Wells Fargo, money they did not request or want but were forced to take, then they must have all of their spending monitored and approved by Uncle Sugar? Do I have that right?
Is that true for anyone who takes money from the government?
How about women on WIC? Can they never take a vacation as long as they are on welfare?
How about all those shovel turners Barack keeps talking about. Are they getting some sort of welfae from me and you? Shouldn't we restrict what those workers do because they are on the dole? ( continued)
I am against all welfare, period! All bailout, full stop. no exceptions . I want the government to stop meddling in things they don't understand. My point, and maybe it was to subtle for you to grasp, was that the unions also get millions from Uncle Handout and yet nary a chirp form the leftists. About their jets and parties.
Secondly , when you try to control one citizens behavior with the cuddgle of the Federal Goverment there is often a lot of unintended damage. Finally Money from the government wirthout work is welfare, money for work, like oh I don't know turning a shovel or telling a joke is wages. Got It?
Northern Trust had also booked this event well in advance of the financial mess last year.
BTW, I would think that proper liberals like Crow would've turned down that money from Northern Trust to entertain at the event. Seems when cash is on the line, liberal 'values' disappear.
If GM and Chrysler didn't have to get union approval for retooling, it might have been able to keep up!
When I worked as a worker bee in the corporate structure, I appreciated these kind of events big time.
Bought a lot of worker good will.
Kind of made going back to making honey on Monday rather, well, sweet.
As if Hollywood doesn’t receive tax subsides. AIG’s main business was mortgage insurance, and with 2.5Trillion in bad paper from loans starting with Jimmy Carter and the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 and Fannie & Freddie, I’m afraid we’re not through dumping money down that rat hole.
Of course it did. I doubt anyone is suggesting that these events are valueless. But in a time when salaries are being slashed, health care cut, workers fired, production slowed, and every element of businesses being scrutinized for cutbacks, it seems odd that these should be untouchable. Yes, in good times, they're terrific. When money is so tight companies are begging for government bailouts, the "good wil" events may not be the wisest use of resources. Besides, right now, I think that just having a job makes for good will…
======maybe my fellow writers who work in sweatshop conditions on reality shows====
Sweat shops? Typical delusional liberal fool; someone get the nano-violin for this sniveling clown. It's no surprise though considering you miscreants were squealing like swine about Bush's "fascist America"/police state. How many drugs did you do in your lifetime to liquefy your temporal lobe?
Then why is Obama partying it up every week? He should be the first one to cut back on the employee perks like weekly cocktail parties. He keeps forgetting, just like most liberals I know, that he must lead by example and not fiddle while Rome burns…
Then why isn't Obama following suit and downsizing his party schedule? He needs to lead by example, not fiddle while Rome burns.
My small company employ’s a dozen people. We work with the largest corporations on the planet, and one of those corporations just canceled their corporate convention of which we help produce. The producer we work with said it is due to budget constraints. They took no bailout money, no TARP, in fact they had one of their best years in 08. I’ve been in business for almost 30yrs., and this is chilling. Government right or left will not fix this, but will exacerbate the situation. If we kill the golden goose (Corporate America) we’ll all suffer union, non-union alike.
Are all union member replies to this or any questioned coached? Each time the questions are asked, the result comes back the same way.
Obviously you did not read the papers when the coverage explained what exactly AIG was doing in their 'corporate greed vacations at taxpayers expense'…they were sponsoring sales meetings so their independent insurance agents from across the country could continue to write new business and keep the insurance giant in business. Did you know that AIG is in the insurance business, WR1?? Did you know AIG probably has at least a piece of your Writer's Guild negotiated life and health policies? Did you realize that AIG going under would mean that nearly every single property and casualty policy, including your renter' s and automobile contracts, would be partially unfunded and claims would go unpaid.
Of course not, it is just corporate greed hiding behind those three little letters. Keep getting your news from the MSM and not putting any thought into your opinions. The Peoples Republic of the US will thrive on subjects like you.
Somehow it is against your percieved ethics for the CEO's and Owners (Stock Holders) to try and grow the business. Have you ever worked in Sales? I know from the outside it looks like a lot of waste, and many of these events are just Ego Trips, but the point of the column was that when they spend the money someone is being paid. It does not go down the well never to be seen again. This is what happens when money is spent in the private sector, there is a multiplying effect. The same thing cannot be said of the multiplying effect of Government spending. Sure there is some multiplyer but they are not spending thier money, they are spending yours and mine. What one hand gives, the other takes away. For the economically challenged this is why Conservatives (Not necessarily Republicans) are against massive Government Spending. Lecture Over, be sure to dump your trash in the trash can on the way out.
Just to be clear WR! I have lost several jobs from companies that were not receeivng bailout money but did not want any bad press.
FYI I belong to three show business unions which have never lifted a finger to help me. while they spend my dues promoting various ethnic and sexual diversity groups to producers.
You may also want to look up the meaning of sweatshop, I don't think 2 g's a week and all the coffee and donuts you can eat qualifies. Did someone stick a gun to your comrads heads and march them into the writers room? Pass card check and all the realitiy show will do is go off shore and then your sweatshop friends can come down to the WGA hall and whine
I'm with yoiu Richard. I see the logic of your argument. The double standrard as applied on this thread is to punish the fat cats and take their money and distribute it to the masses,and we'll have shangra la. Nonsense. See Fidel. There will be no work. IMO, The blame goes to everybody. To management – yeah after someone walks away with 150 million dollar parachute, while he trashed the company – thats criminal excess. To Unions – just take and take and make no concessions, and make sure Bob wioth the broom gets 60K a year and 8 weeks vacation, They're both bloated and archaic. Small business tries to do the right thing, pay taxes and hopefully have enough to take a little something at the end of the day. . But it's not the reason for Government. Give us the freedom to manuever without strangling the marketplace, try and keep a level playing field. Let competition and innovation get us out of this mess. To me, thats the only way.
WR!
My real name and bio are up and I have been making a living writing and doing stand up for 30 years, so you weren't talking about me then were you? So put your real name up here and show us who you are and lets us marvel at all of your body of work.
If you are are showrunner you get a producer credit which also makes you management. So which side of the SAG strike are you on, oh friend of the union man?
Maybe that's because it's the truth.
No, Jeff, not referring to you, but to the various contributors whose sole showbiz experience was in the Berkeley Young Republicans or hoping to convince Judd Apatow to buy a script from them — but who know exactly how everyone in the business thinks and feels about everything. I realize Klavan's an actual working pro — I liked his book The Animal Hour a lot, a few years back — and there are a couple of others. But an awful lot of Big Hollywood is pretty small time.
Not that I'm Steven Spielberg, but I have been working for a long time. My name is William Rabkin. You can look me up on IMDB, if you care to. Or on Amazon.
As for the SAG negotiations — no strike yet — it's a terrible situation all around. SAG is an unwieldy union to say the least, probably more dysfunctional than the DGA. I think that most of their goals are reasonable — we've seen the multinationals that own the studios squeezing more money from the people who actually do the work for a long time. They corporations would love to do away with residuals forever, and if they can prevent creative people from collecting on work for (or screened on) the internet, that's a whole lot of steps down that road. But the studios at this point have proven they're willing to blow up the entire industry rather than make a decent deal — look what's happened to the networks since the WGA strike. And they're certainly better capitalized than the actors. They also outplayed SAG by persuading AFTRA to sell out their membership for a chance to play with the big boys. So I can't see any kind of happy ending to this one…
I spend about 160 days a year in a strange bed, alone, and another forty or fifty driving to one-nighters within four or five hours of my home.
I'm pretty sure Obama expects you to give up all that "unnecessary" travel to "Save Teh Planet."
Well, thanks for admitting that. But look, I'm actually not against unions, I marched on the picket lines at NBC. I was wearing "The Underling" t-shirt (okay I'm kidding – but I was on the lines). But how is a card check fair, that's like saying that everyone should be unionized by card check peer pressure is like saying that we don't have the right to avoid unionizing. It make sense some places and not others. Writers like us would find a way to make money without a union. As with most liberal constructs, though, the problem would be so-called inequity, the industry would probably thrive even greater, we'd make more money but some writers would be worse off than now. And the liberal mind set will always make those 80 percent who prosper live like the 20 percent who don't in the name of equity. With one strong union it actually gives producers more power over us since it's an overriding lever of power they can deal with. But without unions those whose work was sought after would find a way to band together and profit. With new media we should be starting a studio not forcing people who didn't want to unionize to unionize.
To WR! and all on this thread
We have to give total props to WR1 for giving his name and showing that is he who he claims to be. It is easy to snipe and claim stuff from the shadows but his achievements are to be respected. So is his willingness to back up his claims. Full marks to WR1 on those counts.
His political views are still wrong but I have a new respect for him. He has also stood and answered our smack and what fun would this be if there were no one from the other side to debate with?
Thanks for reading and I hope to see you disagreeing with me here again.
BTW Unions get tons of dough from the government, direclty and indirectly,sorry I had to get in one more shot, that's just my nature
New post from me on Monday, Thanks to all my readers and commenters.
I concur with your assessment of WR1 and for giving us his name.
I look forward to your next post and your welcome!
Trish Proulx
Canadian Fan
Hear Hear!
Haven't the Obama's turned the White House into a sort of Animal House on Wednesday nights? Maybe you could score a gig there. Just wear a toga. You should fit right in.
http://the100mostannoyingthings.blogspot.com/
That would require some understanding of business and general survival. This is something that Obama has no empathy for what so ever. His whole life experience is government, and he’s at the pinnacle of governmental career, “so party on.” As far as he’s concerned small business and other entrepreneurs can go pound sand.
Thank you for pointing that out. That has been getting under my skin as much as our drunken sailor spending program, from Congress. I'm waiting to hear "let them eat cake" out of the oval office.
I'm not in the industry as some of you are. However, I am one of those evil soldiers (retired) that fought and bled in your name. The damage that I am watching this president do to private individuals and industry is breathtaking. Some of the absolutely mindblowing lies on this thread is that unions don't get government money. The porkulus is nothing but payback to the unions (who do you think build highways and schools). And for the writer, I would say to you that card check FORCES one to join a union if they wish to work. I didn't bleed for that.
This reminds me of a few years back when they imposed a luxury taxes on high end toys for the rich. What happened, the middle class lost there jobs. The rich kept there money and did not buy high end toys.
Great plan Mister President.
Jeffrey your right on target on this piece.
I wonder how long it will be before our great President wipes out the entire middle class, that is his plan is it not?
The only way these "fat cats" stay in business is to keep their customers. Their big customers can go elsewhere if they are not treated the way they think they should be. So when they take them to Vegas or sponsor a golf tourney, they are taking their high flying customers, and wining and dining them in a style they are accustomed, to thank them for past business, and to ask them for future business. It is obvious you have never owned a company, it is always done this way, it just depends on how much you make, as to the scale of the "thank you." Companies also take key employees who have made them lots of cash in the past to treat them, so that they will have incentive to continue to work this hard and to not defect from the company.
Uhh, you don't think they benefited from the huge bailout that GM and Chrysler took? These were the same fellows that stated from the get go that they weren't going to make any concessions! Apparently they didn't make an cancellations either.
The companies can't be expected to pay back any money they did receive if they haven't got big spender clients that pay them. It was the same as Obama and congress once again fomenting CLASS ENVY to the American people. Not only do the companies benefit from the getaways, the service industry, the people making the jets, servicing them, the hotels, it is a win-win for everyone. I just saw a poll number that said that 19% of the people surveyed thought if you made $75,000 a yr., you were rich. It's ridiculous the way the American people are being taught to hate people who have more than them, and who they see as needing to be punished.
Maybe not evil, but definately ignorant to the way the business world works. I do this type of stuff as a business owner every week, nearly. If I want to stay in business, that is. I also have to take clients wherever they want to go. Want to know how much fun it is to take a group of Mexican men with iffy English to upscale strip clubs is? Not very. Also, I have to be prepared for whatever they ask, and I do know where certain "ladies" are located in my city. UGH. This is the price of owning your own companies.
Yes and common sense would also tell you that not all corporations have taken government money and with the way the economy is and there is a risk of union jobs being lost to the economy, why risk the strike fund and snub their noses at the union members by spending so much money for their convention, they could have found a much cheaper place to do it at. There are also unscrupulous union executives.
NO, NO, NO! They are needed MORE now! You still don't get it! It is not a treat for you, it is for your customers and sometimes your employees. It is part of your operating budget every year. If you can't keep your customers in this kind of economy, you're dead. They will go elsewhere, if someone offers them a more attractive package of goodies, or kisses their a$$ better. Employees are so depressed from everything else going on, they may not be doing as much as they could. Or some are really stressed from hustling so much in a bad economy. You use it to your advantage with both.
Jeffrey,
Sorry for posting so much on your thread, but as a business owner, this particularly galls me. I cannot stand this stupid Wealth Envy, and massive hatred for producers this country has become so complacent in accepting as a premise. Good luck to ya, and if I hear of anyone who dares to hire any talent soon, I will give them the link to you here at BH.
The other thing that seems to escape Obama is that these functions and outings are not planned in a few days. It takes months of advanced preparation for reservations, deposits and other expenditures. By cancelling them, hundreds of thousands of dollars are lost anyway.
Umm, if a passthru to Jeffrey is taking government money, then why isn't a passthru to a line worker taking government money. Are you suggesting that GM didn't pay their employees with the bailout money? If they didn't use it to pay their employees, then how did the employees get paid?
I would be one of them who has no connection to the Biz. This is the first site I have felt comfortable being able to post my opinion/comment without being ridiculed and feel safe in posting. Also I enjoy being able to read from the conservative side of Hollywood and not just the left side. This site has been a long time coming and way overdue, thanks Andrew!
I'm not in the 'industry' per se but we do a lot of work for it. (We even got a credit in the recent Oscars!) We also do a lot of event work in resorts like those in Las Vegas. This absurd demonization of the people who create paying work for me is just another bit of misdirection from their own very ugly behavior and intents. More of the people who voted for this bunch need to realize who actually puts money in their pocket for an honest day's work and who takes it away to provide stuff to entirely other people who are a bit unclear on the honest day's work concept.
If Mr. Rabkin ever gets tired of playing troll on conservative sights, he might want to pay attention to the ever increasing abuses by union along with their increasing irrelevancy to making things work. They served a purpose once but by their nature are subject to corruption. I've long felt that no union should exist for more than three years before it is dissolved and things start from scratch when enough employees feel they have genuine reason. Otherwise it is just a invitation to parasites and mobsters.
I'm with you Jeffrey. I see the logic of your argument. The double standard as applied on this thread is to punish the fat cats and take their money and distribute it to the masses,and we'll have shangra la. Nonsense. See Fidel. There will be no work. IMO, The blame goes to everybody. To management – yeah after someone walks away with 150 million dollar parachute, while he trashed the company – thats criminal excess. To Unions – just take and take and make no concessions, and make sure Bob with the broom gets 60K a year and 8 weeks vacation, They're both bloated and archaic. Small business tries to do the right thing, pay taxes and hopefully have enough to take a little something at the end of the day. . But it's not the reason for Government. Give us the freedom to manuever without strangling the marketplace, try and keep a level playing field. Let competition and innovation get us out of this mess. To me, thats the only way.
Oh com'n liberal jokes are easy. Even an amateur like me can do it.
I hate Bushies! Rush Limbaugh sucks. Neocons are really war mongerers aren't they. Mark Levin is loudmouth.
Well I guess you have to be aliberal to get the humor.
You know these liberals keep saying Obama is going to be FDR. I disagree. Given the atrocious effect he has had on the economy with his doubling of the national debt in four months, attacking of the business community in a down cycle and threat to raise taxes and expand the government by taking over whole industries in a fascist "third way" style, it is probably going to be three years before we stabalize let alone get better.
Nope Obama is going to be the DNC's own version of Herbert Hoover. It's already starting. When you have the leader of the tourist commission calling you out because you are hurting their business because of what you say. Not your policies just the negative commens that come out of your mouth.
You know these liberals keep saying Obama is going to be FDR. I disagree. Given the atrocious effect he has had on the economy with his doubling of the national debt in four months, attacking of the business community in a down cycle and threat to raise taxes and expand the government by taking over whole industries in a fascist "third way" style, it is probably going to be three years before we stabalize let alone get better.
Nope Obama is going to be the DNC's own version of Herbert Hoover. It's already starting. When you have the leader of the tourist commission calling you out because you are hurting their industry because of what you say. Not your policies just the negative commens that come out of your mouth.
This was the guy who thought it prudent to bankrupt the coal industry after all. I guess bankrupting the auto makers and banks is just warm up for the main event.
Indeed thank you for your service to our country. I feel as though we do not hear enough from those men and women who have fought bravely for the very rights this countries politicians love to tarnish. I appreciate your courage, your service and your fortitude. God bless you sir.
Before I decided to seriously devote my time to writing, (thanks honey, for your blessing), I drove a truck, one of those fuel wasting, loud, slow things a lot of people used to salute with their middle finger. And I used to move displays on occasion from Las Vegas out onto relay where they found their way across the US.
PBHO is destroying that industry. No product to move, no driver, no display, no convention, no creative talent, no fuel, etc. Law of unintended consequences.
Bill, you can't fall for the trap that the rich are the problem. The problem is one of freedom. I read your bio. You worked on stuff I saw, even liked (SeaQuest, Sliders, Hunter, Spencer for Hire), which in and of itself is rare. Don't you want to make what you feel is what you're worth? Why do you have to be limited to WGA union contract, because if the money knows where the line is, do you really think they're going to cross over it willingly? And if that works for you, why should you want any other writer limited to that if they can do better? If a conservative Hollywood (!) could write you a better deal on an individual basis because the trash isn't being made, freeing up cash, wouldn't you want to go for some of that? Why are all those productions moving out to places like NM, if it isn't because of the costs associated with making it. (And you know why, because you've worked that side of the camera.)
You know who Ring Lardner Jr. was, you KNOW what McCarthyism was. Why then are you supporting deals on the polar left that are just as bad as the Un-American committee? (Also a government out of control then, if I remember). You're cutting your own throat, man. You don't want to short cash flow, you want to increase it, right? You work the parties and the pitch with everyone else, so you can make something right and true to the material. Don't fall for the idea that AIG isn't doing the same thing you are with their money, their customers.
No, you are one of the stupid hyperbole wielding liberals who doesn't understand how a free market economy works. Controlled markets have failed whenever and whomso ever tries them.
Let's review FDR and the New Deal, LBJ and the Great Society, Carter and the CRA Act and someone who really did have the Worst economy in the last 50 years, Clinton and the Glass Steagall revision all of these were government programs and all failed miserably and expensively. Now we have the grandaddy of them all Obama and his magic hat. Isn't the definition of insanity doing the same things over and over and expecting a different result. A;ll the aforementioned programs were supposed to make life "fair" for everyone.
What's strange about all of this is we are seeing stimulus in it's true sense being smashed. People work at these places not just comedians a whole network of money earners. It's getting money back into the economy faster than the supposed stimulus package is.
Personally I'm not a big fan of unions. They seem on the surface like a necessary opponent to employers but they take on an indulgent life of their own. They create a whole new level of employee government. Safeway's Union drivers went on strike to implement a new pay structure. They won their strike and received their request. They went on strike again because they felt the new pay structure was unfair. They were unhappy with the pay structure they had come up.
Somehow in the South they can make vehicles in a non unionized environment and still be a viable business. This may sound cold hearted but let the automakers of the north go out of business. The unions have achieved so much for their workers that they have taken themselves out of the competitive market.
WR1 – First of all, it is not YOUR tax money being spent by these companies. It is money that comes from the net margins of corporations that are funded by shareholders – like me. I entertain the employees of my company and to do so we support legions of people who's work depends upon us spending that money. So shut your piehole you ignorant twat and go back to your hole.
Hey,dufus,do u wonder why the vast majority of wall st. investors didnt trust the Dems with the economy from the day Obama was elected? Try the rest of America in about 6 mos.
Oldsoldier: US Army, 77-83. You guys were my trainers. Thanks, and take the point, you earned it.
Jeffrey Jana: Dawneyr has a great idea! Howsabout a virtual online "club" for guys like you and Steven Crowder, etc.? Ten, fifteen, maybe twenty a month from everyone, one show a week for you and the others. It ruins it for the in-betweens who do the hotel, dinner, and drinks, and the union bites it without minions to do the stuff that isn't needed anymore, but hey, they can always yell at their shop foreman for screwing them out of a livelihood because the union didn't adapt and promote the business they live off of.
"America Must Pull out of NAFTA and WTO to SURVIVE"
I worked as an Industrial Engineer for 30 years for Rockwell International.
That is exactly what I did my whole life. I worked for 30 years evaluates labor cost for Rockwell International.
So trust me, I know when someone is getting screwed when it comes to labor cost.
This has been coming on since the very minute America joined NAFTA and the WTO. America has been losing money and jobs to the whole world. Every year and it has grown to a humongous amount in the last few years.
I have always said, things will just keep getting worse then at some point America will go into a total Collapse.
If you think you have money or a good job and will not be affected. I have news for you. Everyone will feel much pain before this is completely over.
Just imagine the Federal Government not having enough money to pay the Social security pensioners or their Medical Benefits or anything else. This is exactly where America is heading, so bucket your seat belt because we are in for a very, very bumpy ride.
My older bother who serviced in the Army in Europe during World War II, He said in Germany the money was so worthless that they had to take a wheel barrel full of money to the store to purchase a loaf of bread.
America is in a cross roads either we Pull Out of NAFTA and the WTO and solve our jobs problem or America will just keep going down, down till America goes into a total collapse.
What the President and Congress are doing is total insanity. This will be the third or forth bailout by congress and he promises us there will be more bailouts to follow.
What you are seeing right now is the planned destruction of America by President Obama and all his elite globalist cabinet members in order to usher in the “ONE WORLD ORDER”. Then we can kiss all of our freedoms good-bye.
Please tell me. Is there no end in sight?
America doesn’t need another bailout. America needs all those jobs that the Politicians have been sending off shore to Mexico, India and China for the last 15 years.
Then the American workers can pay their house payments and feed their family and things will start to improve over night.
This is a NO BRAINIER.
Pull out of NAFTA and the WTO. The International Trade Balances for year 2006.
YOU FIGURE IT OUT: The Hell with borrowing Trillions of Dollars from China.
If America just stopped EXPORTING anything in 2006 we would have lost $1,440 Billion Dollars in Jobs.
If America just stopped IMPORTING anything in 2006 we would have gained $2,200 Billion Dollars in Jobs.
That would be a Net Total Increase of $ 760 Billion Dollars of new Jobs created every year in America.
That would be a net decease in the National Debt every year.
But, all these Politicians are all Globalist and will not give up until America is totally destroyed. This is very, very sad because all is needed is USA PULL out of NAFTA and the WTO and watch the jobs increase. In facts this will create more jobs in America than we can fill.
They would rather Spent Billions of Dollars on trying to under write their Globalist Policies and keep borrowing money from China.
You want creating NEW JOBS in AMERICA?
“STOP Obama and his Globalist buddies from SENDING AMERICAN JOBS Off Shore TO CHINA”.
The American Politicians just don’t get it yet, but the next election we’ll get them.
They can print and throw all the money at this problem they want. Things will get a little better for a while and then we will slide back again into a recess or maybe a depression. Then we will need another bailout.
WR1: William, PLEASE listen. First, I ask that you ignore some of the vitriol; folks here are scared and angry about what's happening, and since you're industry, that puts the target on your back. They can't punch Sean Penn in the face for being an intestinal worm, and its having to go somewhere; not necessarily fair its you, but it is what it is. Second, everyone in seminars talk about win-win, symbiosis, all kinds of dreck. It very simple and easy to boil down: If you work with the groups, see them positively, help promote them, they prosper, and so do you. Its easier to make more relevant, thoughtful things that you find important if you make the river wide and deep enough for everyone. But Jeffrey Jana is ahead of you in something; if you condemn the very people that finance your work by coming to the shows, movies, and productions, that pay for you to do them, you've become a parasite. You will suffer, and your work will die. The people won't know what you did, because it won't be there.
Industry will brand it sellout. It is. You sell ideas. You fill a need, a desire people have for various intangibles. People pay to have that need met. By extension, businesses pay people to meet needs of the people they associate and work with. That is market. People go to market to have need met, not to be proselytized or berated. Businesses form to meet need, not abuse or ignore people. At both ends, those that ignore the people seeking needs lose. They go out of business. Enron or "Delgo", its the same thing.
And what painfully ignorant people like WR don't understand is that when a business spends $1 million on schmoozing clients to earn $10 million in business, that's called an investment (that's not including the companies that were only doing the retreats as bonuses to management). Without it, these companies won't turn a profit, and will eventually go under, even with the government's money. Also, many of these corporations booked the events months or even years in advance. That's resorts, catering companies, sound & light techs, entertainers, bartenders, etc… who've been paid based on money the resort expected to receive. Without that business, those people could also lose their jobs (although I'm sure someone like WR couldn't care less, considering their job loss will help punish the evil corporations).
Thanks Jeffrey. I'll try to pop by and disagree again!
Well, I will give you credit for having the guts to use your real name, however I still noticed that you didn't answer a single one of the legitimate explanations of why businesses have to invest, or they die. You came in, dropped the "evil corporations" line, then went off on tangents that didn't address the replies.
BTW, I'm in Chicago, so have nothing to do with Hollywood, but I'm in the sound and lighting business, so see the damage being done to that sector of the economy first hand. It's funny that Liberals defend the billions in wasteful pork spending (money earmarked for special favors for certain Congressmen) while seeming to not care at all about those of us who hustle for a living at the fringes of the entertainment business. I'm doing more of that now because my regular job as a computer repair tech died due to the recession affecting advertising revenue. I guess I'll just get by on less of the entertainment business as well.
I think Jeffrey's column is dead-on. We see the government swoop in and arbitrarily pick winners and losers based on their ignorant (and sometimes corrupt) reasoning. Those of us who don't get a job out of it are screwed, and those who already have a job have to pay for it with the massive tax increases that are coming (if you believe that you won't see higher taxes to pay for the trillions in new spending, you are living in that "Reality" TV show you write for).
The WGA doesn't set maximum rates of pay — it sets minimums. Trust me, when you're hot, they throw money at you. The Guild protects those of us who are not currently superstars. Without that contract, it's a race to the bottom. For some reason, everyone here has decided that non-unionized reality writers make $2000 per week. If that were true, few would be complaining. I've had plenty of reality writers in my classes who get paid about as much as the secretaries, and work much longer hours.
And they also make sure we're treated well. I've written for Hollywood, and I've written books. And one difference (aside from the pay scales…) is that when I turn in a script, I get paid within a week. Because if I don't, the union gets involved. In publishing it routinely takes two months just to get a check cut. And this isn't some small press we're talking about — every book writer I know (which does not include superstars like John Grisham) published by every company has the same story. They take their sweet time to pay, because they can. No one's evil here; it's just that the company has the opportunity to maximize its profits and it takes it. It's all about power. With a union, that power is somewhat equalized. Without it, the power stays completely on one side.
It is not indirect. The union is behind it. The union members are greedy, plain and simple. They will not compromise at all. If the company can no longer afford to pay their $60 an hour salary, then so be it. Management will just have to go to Uncle Sam and force taxpayers to foot that bill.
Since Obama is all about deciding what a "fair" salary is now how about this. If you are an auto worker with nothing more than a GED working at a job that requires no thought process to perform then your salary for a 40 hour work week should never be more that $75 grand.
being a 'good liberal' i would bet you do not actually pay any taxes, so to use the words 'my taxes' might be funnier than mr. jena's show!
The vast majority of Wall Street investors? Are they the same ones who invented these ludicrously complicated investment schemes and poured billions of dollars into them despite the fact that no one understood them — and drove the entire world into bankruptcy?
Between them and Obama, I know who I trust.
First of all, it's the height of arrogance to assume that anyone who disagrees with you is a troll.
Now, on to your real point. What "increasing abuses" by unions? You mean the SEIU's successful drive to win decent wages and living conditions for hotel workers? You say there's corruption in unions, therefore they should be eliminated. This has been a standard right-wing argument for years. Odd, though — there are plenty of corporations that are corrupt in part or whole. No one ever says "no corporation should exist for more than three years."
It isn't an assumption, it is my assessment after reading several of your comments around this site. You may fell sincere in your statements but the effect has been little different from deliberate trollery. Why else would you spend you time writing stuff you know isn't going to be well regarded and presenting arguments that you must know are not going to convince anyone inclined to read this site.
What unions aren't wildly corrupt? I've never encountered one. Every time I have to deal with unions it feels like I've stepped into the Sopranos universe. The SEIU is wildly corrupt and ineffective. Take a look at the supermarket strike a few years ago. They instructed their members to reject the first offer without reading it and eventually agreed to a deal that gave the worker less than the supermarkets had originally offered. And if the business killing laws on the hospitality industry in Santa Monica are any indication of their work, to hell with them.
Corruption is a problem everywhere but unions have little reason to exist beyond the period suggested except to serve as a host body for parasites and criminals. It's like keeping the family dog's corpse rotting in the living room long after it has died. No matter how rewarding ti was to have the dog in life, keeping it around afterward is not doing you any benefit and likely causing you harm.
Why would I spend my time here? Maybe it's because I'm a wacky liberal who grew up in Berkeley, but it's long been my experience that many people enjoyed an exchange of different ideas instead of simply hearing their own thoughts parrotted back to them. That's why I go on left and right wing blogs. Are you so insecure in your beliefs that any disagreement must be a result of trolling?
As for the supermarket strike, I think that was the last gasp of serious attempts at union busting in this country. The supermarkets colluded illegally to fight the unions, and ended up paying big fines for their crimes. They also lost lots of market share, some of which they never got back. (Hmm, just like the TV networks.) And in the next negotiation, the markets folded and gave back a lot of what they'd taken away in the previous strike.
In that case, maybe someone should unionize Democratic Party supporters. I was talking to a friend last week and there are companies here on the verge of going out of business because they got screwed by Obama and Clinton not paying their bills. Of course I'm sure the companies going bankrupt is the least they can do to show their support for "the party that cares."
Parroting the latest DNC talking points is hardly contributing to the conversation. It strikes me as odd that commenters under different names at other sites have written remarkably similar entries. Almost as if they were quoting from the same source or something. After seeing the same blather regurgitated on multiple sites it is just trolling, regardless of whether it is multiple people working off the same source or one guy under multiple names.
The collusion claims against the supermarkets were idiotic and the laws involved need to be repealed. It is ridiculous that the workforces of different companies can act together collusively under the union's aegis but the affected companies cannot act in the same fashion. And you neglected to mention the numerous scandals involving misuse of funds and other antics from SEIU bosses. But hey, supermarket checkers, those six-figure salary guys are looking out for you. Really.
As for market share, please. Have you done much grocery shopping in California? Ralphs and Safeway/Vons are still the major powers, followed by Albertsons, with no other players worth mentioning in the non-membership sector. Wal-mart Supercenters, which include full grocery sections, don't have enough presence in this state as yet to matter that much.
What the markets gave back is what they'd offered in the first place before the strike. The union could have gotten it without any strike but arbitrarily refused it and ended up signing a less lucrative deal for the workers. Ultimately, the workers were put through a lot of pain and suffering at the union's behest for absolutely no good reason. I've seen it happen before to both of my parents and numerous others. I determined a long time ago that I didn't want to go into any line of work that required union membership as I prefer to run my own life and make my own agreements with employers. This in turn has made me very resentful of laws engineered by unions to make it difficult to operate outside of them, as if I were a child dependent on their guidance and protection.
I've provided my name already, Mr. epobirs. And I don't post under anyone else's. If you've read people who agree with me, maybe that because, well, there are a lot of people who agree with me.
Interesting that the "collusion claims" were ridiculous. So ridiculous that a judge punished the companies. See, what you call "ridiculous," the rest of the world calls "breaking the law." You don't like the law? Get it changed. But your people don't get to ignore them just because they've got a lot of money.
As for market share, yes, I do just about all my grocery shopping in Southern California — and Ralph's, Vons, etc lost lots of customers to Trader Joe's, Gelson's, and Whole Foods. Not all of them came back. You might not find these stores "worth mentioning," but a lot of other people do.
Gelsons has been in decline for most of my life and was never a big player. Trader Joes is a niche market specialist. Whole Foods has grown but mostly by acquisition. (They did recently open a new store near my Pasadena job.) The grocery market became a bit more diverse but mainly just in the denser areas. For huge swaths of the state, if you don't want to shop at Ralphs or Safeway out of solidarity with SEIU workers, you'd better like driving a long ways.
Or there are a lot of people reading off the same sheet rather than generating any real thought of their own. When the same sentences appear over and over, it get s a bit suspicious. You personally may not be sockpuppeting or feel your parroting but the net result is the same. It is one thing to see the same ideas invoked repeatedly and another to see whole paragraphs reproduced.
The judge made a decision based on the law he was required to interpret. It is a rare case in which the judge can rule against the law itself instead of working from it. And where did those laws come from? How did they get there? Somebody suggested them and put up the cash to lobby for their enactment. Who do you suppose would have done that? Gosh, you don't suppose it might have been unions with their fat coffers to control politicians who are entirely their puppets? The unions have lots of money and frequently are found to break the law, too. The difference is that the companies produce stuff and add to the economy while the unions are only parasites upon the economy.
Are there really that many people talking about the SoCal grocery strike? I've managed to miss them all… Anyway, our entire civilization is based on the notion that we live by the rule of law. What you seem to advocate here is nothing less than anarchy — if you don't like a law, then it was clearly passed by crooks, and it doesn't count.
On a positive note, amusing to discover we both live in Pasadena. Go figure…
To Harry,
Just make sure you have your resource supply steady…pull out of NAFTA and there goes all the gas, oil, etc. the US gets from Canada. The US is not totally innocent in its dealings with Canada and Mexico. Politicians need to learn to get some balls and ensure that they playing fair by not hurting one industry in supporting another one. Isolation is not the answer and can hurt the economy far more.
It doesn't matter who else is talking about the grocery, although it was a prime subject on the dominant drive-time show in the region for a good while and gets followups when SEIU does something interesting. It was difficult for LA County residents not to have some opinion on the subject, except maybe some people I know who probably haven't set foot in a grocery store in decades and depend entirely on their spouses to keep food in the house. Monomaniacal but very good at their work.
Bad laws don't get changed without their first being some resistance. That always comes at a price. I suspect the supermarket owners ran the scenarios and decided the penalties would be acceptable to limit loses during the strike. Laws are important but they need to evolve with the times lest they instead become tools for doing wrong rather providing deserved protection. For instance, some would like to blame the current economic problems on the repeal of Glass-Steagall but fail to understand that there was good reason for doing it and that the real failure was the responsible regulators who failed to propose effective new controls to suit the very different market that had arisen over the time since Glass-Steagall was first enacted. Some want to paint Phil Gramm as the bad guy but he is one of few serious economist to ever sit in congress and he knew far better what what he was doing than other other elected official making economic policy in recent history. It is a shame that he is severely non-telegenic and thus barred from ever reaching the Oval Office.
I don't live in Pasadena, I just work there part of the time in a building very close to that new Whole Foods. I as frequently work from home in Castaic, although the real work is on-site at clients' businesses or event locations. Although well out of the TMZ, the entertainment industry has a lot of blue collar personnel living here due to the number of nearby production facilities. (I believe this is what has sustained the branch of the First Entertainment Credit Union in the Magic Mountain back lot after the park stopped being part of Warner.)
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