Craig's Corner

Donald Trump’s The Apprentice took the unpleasant employment process and made it a catch phrase.   It was (for a brief moment) amusing television but never took the sting out of the reality.   Terminating somebody from the way they earn a living is a difficult process – difficult on the employer, and the employee.   I’ve been both sides, and know the angst that each situation causes.   I must confess that at one point I got so good at it that I earned a moniker of “Hatchet Man.” It had its consequences where I’ve had things thrown at me, been threatened, tires punctured – and no doubt had my mug on dart boards.   I’ve also saved dozens of companies and hundreds of jobs.   This week there was little company savings or much drama in a number of high profile media firings.   CNN’s new chief Jeff Zucker, fresh from driving NBC into irrelevance, has been sacking on air talent, behind-the-scenes personnel and probably everybody   in between. ...

For the past week and continuing through the weekend I’m on the road.   Like the mediocre movie starring John Candy and Steve Martin – my journey includes all forms of transport.   I’ve never been a fan of the TSA or the ‘security’ procedures at airports, and now I’m even less enamored.   The level of inconsistency is beyond head scratching.   I took Amtrack’s Pacific Surfer from San Diego to Los Angeles – a three hour ride past California’s coast.   Through a confluence of absent-mindedness and confusion, I had booked a 10:50am ticket but had convinced myself I was on the 9:15am.   I arrived at the station – stood in the Business Class line for 3 minutes and boarded with the porter looking at the ticket only to confirm I wasn’t a coach class ticket trying to get into the comfier seats.   Several stops into the ride another porter checked the ticket and not a word that I was hours early.   Had I hung out in the rest room or moved betwee...

Banks are infuriating to deal with.   It took nearly 15 weeks to finally complete a work related transaction that ultimately took 15 minutes to process.   My own bank, also a conglomerate, doesn’t even have branches in Massachusetts, requiring me to use the envelopes and stamps to get non electronic funds deposited because their mobile deposit ap won’t accept larger amounts.   Many blame the banks for the 2008 fiscal meltdown (though those causes are far more complex.)   The banks reached a settlement last week with Fannie Mae that stops the investigation and costs a fraction of a percentage of the impact of the failures.   I am surprised then to find that I’m not only sympathetic to but am outraged at what’s happened to a large bank. According to the BBC Switzerland’s oldest bank Wegelin, which was established in 1741, will close operations after it pays $57.8m in fines to US authorities.   “The bank had admitted to allowing more than 100 America...

Zero Dark Thirty earned several nominations for an Academy Award this morning, including Best Picture of the year - adding to their haul of other nominations this awards season.   The picture is a convergence of my interests, being a film buff who spent the bulk of my adult life living and working in Hollywood; and somebody who is passionate about politics.   While the film has been open for several weeks in Los Angeles, it was just last weekend that it “went wide” to the bulk of the country and was my first opportunity to see it.   The opening screen states that i t’s “based on first hand accounts” and has been described by its makers as journalistic in nature.   It’s not a documentary of the events leading to the death of Osama bin Laden, nor is it fictionalized.   It’s not the best of anything - in fact it's the worst type of hybrid imaginable.   Critics and marketers hype the ‘ripped-from-the-headlines’ nature of the piece.   Much of the polit...

The “resolution” of the alleged Fiscal Cliff is a near textbook example of what U.S. diplomats would usually call a Banana Republic.   Wikipedia’s definition:   “Banana republic denotes a country which is ruled by a plutocracy (the wealthy) who exploit the national economy by means of a politico-economic oligarchy (small number of people).“   Six people just decided a multi-trillion deal – arguably making this a case study.   In fact, however, the U.S. political system today reflects a Parliamentary system. The U.S. Government was designed to be a republic – where elected leaders represent their constituents and power was specifically and evenly spread among the three branches of government.   It’s big, it’s messy and it’s a pain in the ass to get nearly 600 people to agree to something.   That’s the design and the structure we’ve lived with for 236 years and is, in the words of Winston Churchill:   “Democracy is the worst form of governme...