U.S. Bank CEO's make millions more than their counterparts

If I were to ask you who had a higher salary, the chairman of the world’s largest company or the chairman of the world’s fourth-largest company, I’d bet you’d think it was the CEO of the world’s largest company. Well in the case of the banking industry you’d be wrong. Jiang Jianqing, chairman of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the world's largest bank, earned $234,700 last year. That seems like a pretty respectable salary until you hear how much his counterpart at JP Morgan Chase earned. Jamie Dimon, chief executive of the world’s fourth largest bank, JP Morgan Chase & Co., made $19.6 million in 2008. This is according to a recent study by Reuters, which took a look at eighteen of the world’s largest banks.

    “The U.S. executive pay levels have always dwarfed pay for companies elsewhere in the world,” said Sarah Anderson, of the Institute for Policy Studies.  This extreme level of compensation has caused outrage among American citizens and political leaders. Why does the U.S pay so much more for bank executives than the rest of the world? One claim is that without such compensation there would be no way for these banks to recruit top -level talent. Yet their counterparts in Europe and Asia are able to do so at a fraction of the cost.

    The disparity of bank CEO compensation among countries will be one of the topics discussed at this week’s G 20 summit in Pittsburgh. With Wall Street continuing to recover and revenue continuing to climb, banks are unlikely to change their bonus pool structure. Four of the six highest paid CEO’s are American and many analysts believe it will be difficult for the U.S. to reach a consensus with the rest of the world on how these executives should be paid. 

Undies for lefties...

HOM, a UK based company specializing in mens underwear, has designed a new pair of underwear just for left-handed men. Forgoing the traditional vertical up-and down- opening, HOM has created a horizontal opening. The simple yet innovative change now means left handed men can easily go to the bathroom as their right handed brethren. The new underwear will be available at Debenhams.

Sept. 11

I felt like taking a day of silence today. The pain still lingers. It will never fade and when I recall the tragedy of 9/11 a sharp pain consumes me.

Now this is how you edit a trailer...

This domestic version is so much better than the international one.

Incredible Movie, Incredibly Awful Trailer...

Slumdog Millionaire is one the best movies I've seen in a real long time. My wife showed me the domestic trailer and that's what sparked my interest to see it. But this international trailer, with its cliche voice over and perky music makes me cringe. I want to find the editors and producers of this trailer and beat the crap out of them. Watch the superior domestic trailer.

That is one long snake...

Human Behaviour

Just posting one of my favorite music videos of all time. Ah Michel Gondry, you are an evil genius.

Arnel Pineda Journey CBS News Sunday Morning Interview

What an awesome story...

Supreme Court Video Game...

In an effort to combat what she called " public ignorance" about the judicial system, retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has come up with a videogame project called "Our Courts." The game, developed in conjunction with Georgetown University law school and Arizona State University, will be distributed free online.
"In recent years I've become increasingly concerned about vitriolic attacks by some members of Congress, some members of state legislatures and various private interest groups ... on judges," O'Connor told the Games For Change conference on using gaming technology for social improvement and education. Her fear is that there aren't enough Americans with adequate knowledge of all three branches of government, legislative, executive and judicial. Her hope is that by incorporating digital techonology, children will be more willing to learn about the court system on their own.
She said the web site at should have some initial material by this September and be fully operational with interactive elements a year later.

The Geo Metro and my obselete Dell 1100

I wish I had the wherewithal to update the internal combustible engine. Karl Benz received a patent in 1879 for his gas engine and it hasn’t really changed since. We’ve pretty much have had the same engine for over a hundred years, polluting our atmosphere and I believe playing a major role in the oil and food crisis we are currently going through. I have a Dell laptop from 2002 and its amazing to me how in six short years it’s practically obsolete. It’s a heavy clunker of a laptop compared to the latest models out there and I have to constantly update it to keep running smoothly. It seems like every six months there’s new software, updates, and applications. It’s hard to keep up. I wish a fraction of that energy would be spent creating a much more fuel efficient engine. We could lower our dependence on oil and clean up the environment at the same time. A few years ago I had a Geo Metro that got 49 miles/gallon. Where are those cars? I hear they’re making a comeback on eBay. Bring ‘em back I say! Bring them all back.

Free Rice

Have you wondered how you could help someone in need during this ever growing global food crisis? All you have to do is click here...

“What if just knowing what a word meant could help feed hungry people around the world? Well, at FreeRice it does . . . the totals have grown exponentially.”

- Washington Post