Hoots in Charge

 

Just ‘cause people are in charge doesn’t mean they should be...

Remember the brouhaha created when Congress passed the $398 billion drug bill in 2003 because conservative Republicans insisted that it be kept under $400 billion? Then it turned out that the actual estimated cost was going to be $536 billion, but the Health and Human Services Department had gagged their actuary from telling Congress the truth. Though the Administration insisted that it in fact it had told the Republican leadership. Well, now it turns out the bill will be $720 billion. Don’t you wish you had this kind of flexibility on your credit cards? You children certainly will. Said Bush-Lite shamelessly, "once we modernize and save Social Security for a young generation of Americans, then it'll be time to deal with the unfunded liabilities of Medicare." Uh-huh.

Over-promising and under-performing in the private sector was Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. You might remember all the excitement about her taking the reins of the computer giant six years ago. Then two years ago she pushed through a merger with Compaq. Critics complained that was like grabbing an anchor when you’re trying to swim. She was politically astute enough to win the battle. But not the war. The board shoved her off the boat the other day. When The New York Times business report came on WQXR, it was noted that the market liked the move a lot; there was a six percent hike in H-P’s stock. Asked the reader, "How’d you like to leave a company and have the stock go up?" Then he laughed. Too bad Congress won’t impeach The Bush Boy for similar mismanagement.

The Safeway folks have been spending the past six months remodeling their Mill Valley store. Now it sports a sign which promises "Experience the unexpected" and if that makes sense to anyone but the corporate marketing goofs, well, um... Unexpected but not unsurprised were employees by the fact that two of the dozen cash registers weren’t working. And not to beat a dead horse, but being the noble shopper, I wasted my time complaining to their manager about their teeny-bop-type music of the sort that would appeal to mindless young women being piped through the store. She explained proudly it was coming to us via the Safeway satellite system. I explained that it was inappropriate for the toney community, but -- surprise, surprise -- didn’t seem to get through.

And that’s SetonnoteS...I’m Tony Seton.

 

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