Tuesday, January 15, 2008

This line struck me from the article below :

(”Hugo Cabret” has also proved popular with children, which is not a requirement of either award: “literary excellence” is.)


How does one determine that a relatively new book is 'popular with children'? They normally themselves don't buy books . And they wouldn't necessarily find these books themselves among the hundreds or thousands of children's books in bookstores or libraries unless someone guides them to them , or they are heavily marketed with a giant display and stacks of books with eye-catching covers .

Perhaps parents are buying a lot of them and they are a commercial success. OK this can be quantified and is probable. And perhaps then the feedback from some parents is that the kids liked the books ? But this information can be anecdotal at best, there are no polls or cumulative data to back up the statement that the book is 'popular with children' . This is almost certainly unprovable but it is presented here as some 'objective fact' .

The truth in this case appears to be that the reporter is equating 'marketing success' = 'popular with children' .

This shows how relatively small subjective use of words/phrases are sometimes casually thrown into 'objective' articles where they then become hard facts and incontrovertible.




The winner of the Randolph Caldecott Medal for most distinguished picture book for children was announced this morning at the American Library Association’s annual midwinter meeting: it was “The Invention of Hugo Cabret,” by Brian Selznick (Scholastic). The equally prestigious Newbery Medal went to “Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices From a Medieval Village,” by Laura Amy Schlitz (Candlewick).
Interestingly, “The Invention of Hugo Cabret,” an illustrated novel, was perhaps more talked about as a favorite for the Newbery than the Caldecott, a rare case of a book that could meet the criterion of either prize. (”Hugo Cabret” has also proved popular with children, which is not a requirement of either award: “literary excellence” is.)
One main difference between prizes like the Caldecott and the Newbery and, say, the National Book Award or the Pulitzer, is that the children’s prizes actually sell books. Those familiar gold medals on a children’s book cover mean lasting honor for the author or illustrator and dollars to the publisher, because libraries and schools will order thousands of additional copies. (They also impress parents at the bookstore).

Since the A.L.A. committees work in secret and don’t make nominations, the announcement of the medal and honor winners generate suspense and debate on listservs in the weeks leading up to the midwinter meeting. Maybe less so this year, though. The Children’s Book Council listserv devoted January to discussing the contenders for the Caldecott, but some participants found the discussion a little flat. “Does the lack of discussion and the disparity of titles seem to point to disinterest due to this being a year of rather dull picture books?” posted one participant yesterday.
But as Lisa Von Drasek, a librarian at the conference, told me today: “That’s ridiculous; there was no discussion because we were all here!” No matter; the nearly 1,000 librarians and children’s books editors and publicists in the audience seemed plenty excited.

Reporter or sympathizer ?

Just the objective reporting of news . The very act of choosing which words are used to describe incidents means that no reporting can be objective. In this case the subjectivity is obvious and blatant.

One sentence stands out by the use of a single word and gives a careful reader pause to consider the perspective of the AP 'reporter' :

The three militants stormed the popular luxury hotel just after 6 p.m., hunting down Westerners who had cowered in a gym.

Cowered ? Not , 'sought safe haven' or even 'hid' . 'Hid' would seem to be the obvious choice to use here . And the reporter also specifies it was Westerners ONLY that did the cowering .... apparently non-Westerners hear lots of gunfire and just go about their normal business .

Dictionary.com has the following definitions for cower:

to crouch, as in fear or shame.

To cringe in fear.

Cower is a first cousin of cowardly. Unarmed civilians hiding for their safety from gunfire is cowardly ?

Are there editors at AP that check word usage ? If so, did the editors are either incompetent or agree with the whole tone of this sentence and the use of the word cower.


January 15, 2008

Kabul Bombing Suspect Arrested

Filed at 6:55 a.m. ET

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Afghan officials have arrested four men following an attack on Kabul's main luxury hotel, including one suspected of wearing a police uniform during the multi-pronged assault that killed eight, officials said Tuesday.

Meanwhile, a militant connected to an insurgent leader in Pakistan was accused of masterminding the attack, which left at least one American among the dead and could signal a new era of brazen extremist assaults in Afghanistan.

Police said they also found a video made by two of the attackers in a home in Kabul, where they arrested two men. A fourth man -- believed to have driven the attackers to the Serena Hotel -- was arrested in eastern Afghanistan while trying to flee to Pakistan.

Amrullah Saleh, the head of Afghanistan's intelligence service, said three militants stormed the Serena Hotel on Monday evening. A guard shot and killed one attacker at the gate to the hotel's parking lot, which triggered his suicide vest.

A second attacker blew himself up near the entrance to the hotel's lobby, and the third attacker made it inside the hotel and shot his way through the lobby and toward the gym, Saleh said. A man alleged suspected of being the third attacker was arrested Monday.

The three militants stormed the popular luxury hotel just after 6 p.m., hunting down Westerners who had cowered in a gym. More than 30 U.S. soldiers in a half-dozen Humvees rushed to the hotel, and security personnel from the nearby U.S. Embassy ran to the scene.

Blood covered the lobby floor as gunfire rang out, witnesses said.

Saleh said the attack was masterminded by Mullah Abdullah, a close ally of Siraj Haqqani, a well-known militant leader thought to be based in Pakistan's tribal area in Miran Shah, the main town in North Waziristan. The U.S. military has a $200,000 bounty out on Haqqani.

Police arrested a man named Humayun, allegedly a key link to Abdullah, in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday as he was trying to flee to Pakistan, Saleh said, accusing him of supplying the assailants with weapons, explosives and suicide vests and driving them to the hotel.

Saleh showed a picture taken from the hotel's security cameras showing a gunman in a police uniform inside the hotel's lobby, apparently the third attacker. He was apprehended 15 to 20 minutes after the attack began, he said.

''The third person, after killing a number of the guests, maybe he changed his mind for some reason, he didn't detonate himself,'' Saleh said. ''He changed his clothes and later when security forces searched the premises, he was arrested.''

Authorities raided a house in Kabul early Tuesday where the alleged attackers had spent the night before the attack. Police found a video showing two of the assailants, identified as Farouq and Salahuddin, saying they were ready to die. The owner of the house and his brother were arrested.

''I commit this suicide attack for Allah,'' the video showed the attacker named Farouq saying. He was believed to have blown himself up during the attack.

Salahuddin was captured and provided information that led to the arrest of Humayun, Saleh said.

The official spokesman of the Kabul Serena said the hotel was closed for repairs, including damage caused by bullets and grenades.

''This will certainly affect our business,'' said the spokesman, who asked not to be identified citing company policy. ''The hotel was helping drive business in Afghanistan by creating a safe haven for international businessmen that wanted to invest and work here. This will dent that confidence.''

There was confusion over the death toll. Saleh said three Americans and a French woman were among those killed, but the U.S. Embassy said only one American citizen died. The French embassy was not aware of any French casualties.

The Serena spokesman said three hotel employees and two guards were killed during the attack. Officials have said an American citizen and a Norwegian reporter also died, and the Philippines Foreign Affairs Department said a Filipina spa supervisor wounded in the attack died on Tuesday, bringing the death toll to eight.

The Taliban has targeted aid workers and civilian contractors with kidnappings and killings, but this was the most daring and sophisticated attack yet on a prominent symbol of the foreign presence.

The Taliban have typically focused attacks on Western and Afghan officials or security personnel, not Western civilians.

Bo Asplund, the top U.N. representative in the country, said the attack was a matter of great concern, representing ''a deliberate targeting of foreign guests and Afghan civilians.''

''The international community has been present here for many years, enjoying the hospitality and generosity of its Afghan hosts,'' Asplund said in a statement. ''Its work is driven by the shared belief that peace and progress must prevail over war and suffering. This was an attack on those values, and a senseless crime.''

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Capital Punishment

International civil rights organizations, along with the UN , castigate the US and Israel every year ..... Human rights abuses of prisoners in both countries and the use and legality of captial punishment in the U.S.

But the rate of capital deaths per capita seems much higher here and the deaths are public. Will there be worldwide demonstrations and condemnation about the Saudi rules?

Saudis behead Indonesian maid

  • Story Highlights
  • Indonesian maid had been convicted of strangling her employer to death
  • Official: Maid had used a pillow to suffocate employer and stole her jewelry
  • Saudi Arabia beheaded 137 people last year, up sharply from the 38 in 2006

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) -- Saudi authorities on Saturday beheaded an Indonesian maid convicted of killing her employer, the Interior Ministry announced.

In a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency, the ministry said the maid used a pillow to suffocate her employer Aisha Al Makhaled and then stole her jewelry in the southern province of Asir.

Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islam under which those convicted of murder, drug trafficking, rape and armed robbery are executed in public with a sword.

The maid is the second person to be executed this year in the desert kingdom, according to an Associated Press count.

Saudi Arabia beheaded 137 people last year, up sharply from the 38 in 2006.

Hillary on race and gender in campaigns

She mentions that neither race nor gender should be a consideration in determining the nominee:

Asked what role she thought race would play in her contest with Mr. Obama, Mrs. Clinton responded, “I hope none.”

“I don’t think either Senator Obama or myself want to see the injection of race or gender into this campaign,” she continued. “We are each running as individuals. I think it’s absolutely extraordinary that the two leading candidates for the Democratic nomination for president are an African-American and a woman.”

This from a woman who invokes the dream of a female presidency at every whistle-stop, who used the 'teary eyed woman mistreated by men' as a campaign tactic in New Hampshire, who found her 'voice' (undoubtedly a soprano) there.

It certainly appears that what she is really asking for is for the other candidates not to use any 'diversity' card that applies to them while she gets free rein to play her gender card .


January 13, 2008

Clinton Accuses Obama Camp of Distorting Her Words

RENO, Nev. — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday accused Senator Barack Obama’s campaign of distorting her remarks to suggest that she had cast aspersions on the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

She said she was “personally offended” by the way her statement had been portrayed, and accused Mr. Obama’s campaign of being divisive.

Mrs. Clinton made her comments to reporters here after she was asked if she had spoken to Representative James E. Clyburn, the South Carolina Democrat who is the highest-ranking African-American in Congress. Mr. Clyburn had expressed disappointment in the Clinton campaign.

Mrs. Clinton said she had spoken with him. She suggested that she had told him her comments were distorted.

“I was personally offended at the approach taken that was not only misleading but unnecessarily hurtful,” said Mrs. Clinton, Democrat of New York. “And I have made that clear to many people in the last several days.”

Asked to whom she was referring, Mrs. Clinton responded, “I think it clearly came from Senator Obama’s campaign, and I don’t think it was the kind of debate we should be having in this campaign.”

A spokesman for the Obama campaign, Bill Burton, did not back away from its original criticism of Mrs. Clinton.

“People were offended at her words, and she can explain them however she’d like,” Mr. Burton said. “However, I think that Congressman Clyburn and other leaders across the country would take great offense at the suggestion that their response was somehow engineered by this campaign.”

Prominent black supporters of Mr. Obama, Democrat of Illinois, have been criticizing Mrs. Clinton over her remarks last week that some have interpreted as giving President Lyndon B. Johnson more credit than Dr. King for civil rights law.

Mrs. Clinton quickly clarified her comments with effusive praise for Dr. King, but the criticism has worried her advisers because of the potential impact it might have in the Democratic presidential primary on Jan. 26 in South Carolina, where up to half of the electorate could be black.

Mr. Clyburn said he was disappointed by what Mrs. Clinton had said and by former President Bill Clinton’s use of the phrase “fairy tale” in talking about Mr. Obama’s views on the war in Iraq.

Comments by Mr. Clyburn have raised concerns in Mrs. Clinton’s campaign that he might abandon a pledge of neutrality and endorse Mr. Obama later this month. Mrs. Clinton said Saturday that he had told her he would remain neutral.

This was what Mrs. Clinton said on Monday: “Dr. King’s dream began to be realized when President Lyndon Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It took a president to get it done.” At a later stop, she said that her remark had not captured what she had sought to portray.

Mrs. Clinton seemed prepared to address the question Saturday the second she stepped in front of reporters, and she went into the attack as soon as she was asked about Mr. Clyburn.

The back and forth in recent days has pushed race to the front of the Democratic nomination contest in the way it has not been.

Asked what role she thought race would play in her contest with Mr. Obama, Mrs. Clinton responded, “I hope none.”

“I don’t think either Senator Obama or myself want to see the injection of race or gender into this campaign,” she continued. “We are each running as individuals. I think it’s absolutely extraordinary that the two leading candidates for the Democratic nomination for president are an African-American and a woman.”

Mrs. Clinton spoke on the weekend when several of her advisers and donors said that the campaign had abandoned what was one of the fundamental assumptions of its strategy — that the nomination would be effectively decided on Feb. 5, when 22 states hold nominating contests. Her campaign has started to create an organizational hierarchy for its donors to accelerate fund-raising to pay for increasingly expensive advertising, travel and voter-outreach efforts, with a goal of raising more than $10 million by the end of January, according to several of the donors.

That target is important because several Clinton advisers and donors now believe that the Democratic presidential fight between Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama may not end on the mega-primary day of Feb. 5, as Mrs. Clinton and others had initially expected.

Advisers and donors said Saturday that they wanted to have enough resources — building on the $20 million or so that they currently have on hand — to advertise heavily in the expensive media markets of California, New Jersey and New York, which vote on Feb. 5, and still have money to compete strongly in the primaries later that month.

The new Clinton donor hierarchy involves the appointment of national finance leaders — major donors who will take a key role coordinating fund-raising goals across the country and ensuring that financial pledges are delivered on time.

Among the new national finance leaders are four New Yorkers and long-time Clinton supporters: Maureen White, a former fund-raising leader at the Democratic National Committee; her husband, Steve Rattner, an investment banker; Hassan Nemazee, a veteran Democratic fundraiser; and Alan Patricof, a venture capitalist. Several more leaders are expected.

The new hierarchy was discussed at concurrent meetings Friday night that Mrs. Clinton held with several dozen donors in Los Angeles and that Mr. Clinton held with a similar group in Washington. Mr. Clinton was joined by the campaign chairman, Terry McAuliffe, and the campaign finance director, Jonathan Mantz.

According to three donors who were at the Washington meeting, Mr. Clinton and Mr. McAuliffe said that the campaign was now national in scope, with political and advertising efforts either under way or about to begin from coast to coast. Mr. Obama has similar efforts under way as well.

Donors were told that Mrs. Clinton would fight hard to win the Nevada caucuses next Saturday, despite some powerful union endorsements for Mr. Obama, and would also compete in the South Carolina primary, in spite of Mr. Obama’s strong support among black voters in that state.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Burying globalization in articles

Who reads an article to the very last paragraph? In this article that is where a significantly critical part of the story resides, but it seems to be deliberately buried there. Half the layoffs are in this 'educational publishing unit', which admittedly had a good year , but needs to respond to 'technology changes'. Is this a new euphemism for a 'need to offshore replacements' ?? :

Ms. Diedrich said that the layoffs at the educational publishing unit, which has performed strongly this year, may be more a response to technology changes in its field. McGraw-Hill said in its announcement that it would consolidate some sales, editorial, marketing and administrative functions, primarily abroad, and shift investments toward digital and custom products.

Interesting that the article starts out , and spends most of it's time and verbiage, in blaming the layoffs on the S+P Division which is implicated in the sub-prime lending crisis as an overseer of ratings , yet half the layoffs have NOTHING to do with this and involve a strong performing division of their business.

So is this a result of the financial sub-prime crisis or of the offshoring of jobs due to globalization? Well, it's obvious how the NYTimes prefers to spins it .


January 9, 2008

Job Cuts at McGraw-Hill Will Eliminate 3% of Staff

The McGraw-Hill Companies said Tuesday that it was cutting 611 jobs, or 3 percent of its staff, and taking an after-tax charge of $27.3 million, or 8 cents a share, in the fourth quarter.

Although the job cuts are spread across the company’s business lines, McGraw-Hill tied its problems largely to the turmoil in the subprime mortgage market, which will reduce demand for credit ratings. The company owns the ratings agency Standard & Poor’s, as well as BusinessWeek magazine, an educational publishing business and other assets.

The greatest number of job cuts are at McGraw-Hill Education, whose products include course work materials. The unit is eliminating 304 jobs and will take a pretax restructuring charge of $16.3 million.

Standard & Poor’s is losing 172 jobs, or slightly less than 2 percent of its work force. The announcement came a day after the Moody’s Corporation, a top competitor, said it would cut 275 jobs and take pretax charges of $47 million to $52 million in the fourth quarter, citing similar external circumstances.

McGraw-Hill also said on Tuesday that it would trim 114 jobs in information and media and about 21 general corporate positions.

McGraw-Hill’s stock has tumbled in the past 52 weeks from a high of $72.50 to a close of $40.52 on Tuesday. That decline has come largely over concerns about Standard & Poor’s; in the wake of turmoil in the markets, analysts expect less ratings work ahead.

The company will not announce full-year earnings for 2007 for another two weeks. While it expects its fourth-quarter profit to come in below last year’s, it still expects the full-year figure to come in significantly higher than it did in 2006.

Robin M. Diedrich, an analyst who follows the company for Edward Jones, said that Standard & Poor’s reputation had been damaged by the subprime ratings debacle and pointed out that the Securities and Exchange Commission had allowed applications for new organizations to become ratings agencies.

“That has opened the door for more competition at a time when the reputations of existing agencies has been tarnished,” she noted.

Ms. Diedrich said that the layoffs at the educational publishing unit, which has performed strongly this year, may be more a response to technology changes in its field. McGraw-Hill said in its announcement that it would consolidate some sales, editorial, marketing and administrative functions, primarily abroad, and shift investments toward digital and custom products.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Worker value-add?

Layoff the long-time, experienced salespeople and sales seem to mysteriously decrease tremendously.... wow, who would've figured this would happen !??

The article, and by inference the CEO, seemed to blame low consumer demand and perhaps the general state of the economy for the poor sales. Then they mention, seemingly out of nowhere, that they would:

Schoonover said the company will pay attention to giving sales associates the "necessary knowledge and tools needed to improve both sales and margin." The company had laid off 3,400 high-paid workers and replaced them with lower-paid new hires in March

Seems like a lesson that modern execs do NOT get, i.e. that experienced technical people that are actually doing work on the ground, have significant value-add for a corporation and may be responsible for a significant contribution to company profits. Individual people's skills are important. But in an era where execs are trying to commoditize jobs and lower pay for the affected workers, by hiring cheaper workers here or via globalization, overseas, there occasionally are instances that prove the lie to this new accepted economic assertion.

This economic fad will prove disastrous in many cases and , like 'new math' , will cause suffering for those adversely affected by it until it's adherents quietly accept the failure of it's theory.

They now indirectly acknowledge that firing all that 'experience' was wrong and now seek to fix this by trying to stuff experience quickly into the new hires!? Some things take learning but also smarts gained from actual experience.

Obviously they layed off the wrong group of people for a Circuit City turnaround.

Circuit City same-store sales fall 11%

December sales down for electronics retailer, reaffirms fourth quarter guidance.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Electronics retailer Circuit City Stores on Monday said same-store sales fell 11.4 percent in December, as strength in the final two weeks of the month failed to offset declining sales of tube televisions, camcorders and other devices earlier in December.

Based on its sales results, the company continued to back its forecast of a "modest loss" before taxes for the fourth quarter, despite America's traditional holiday hunger for televisions and other high-tech gadgets.

"Our sales performance, while disappointing, was in line with our expectations," Chief Executive Philip J. Schoonover said in a news release.

Schoonover said the company will pay attention to giving sales associates the "necessary knowledge and tools needed to improve both sales and margin." The company had laid off 3,400 high-paid workers and replaced them with lower-paid new hires in March.

Attention also will be paid to expanding sales of Firedog, the company's PC services and home-installation business, Schoonover said.

The company said comparable domestic sales decreased for televisions, camcorders, DVD hardware and digital imaging products. It saw the most strength in video games and navigation devices.

Same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, are a key indicator of retailer performance since they measure growth at existing stores rather than from newly opened ones.

Shares were unchanged at $4.21 in after-hours trading.

For the month, the company said significant sales decreases in tube and projection televisions more than offset high single-digit sales growth in flat-screen televisions. Sales of camcorders and DVD hardware fell by double digits.

Revenue from Firedog increased 15 percent, Circuit City said. Sales of extended warranties were $36.1 million, compared with $52 million in the same period last year.

Domestically, Internet and call center sales grew 17 percent in December, the company said.

Last month, Circuit City reported a wider-than-expected loss for the third quarter, driven by lower extended warranty sales and restructuring costs. Circuit City had also said it has received a commitment to more than double its $500 million credit line to $1.3 billion.

Analyst Chris Horvers of Bear Stearns said the results fell short of expectations, partly due to the softening in flat-panel TV and notebook computer categories.

"Circuit (City) is a show me story right now and I think the management team has to show that their plan is going to work," Horvers said.

Unless there's some improvement in the first half of next year, Horvers said, investors will look at the stock skeptically, including seeing risks of it going out of business.

For the three months ended Nov. 30, Circuit City's losses ballooned to $207.3 million, or $1.26 per share, from $20.4 million, or 12 cents per share, a year earlier. Excluding tax-related accounting items, losses totaled 64 cents per share in the latest period.

Sales slipped 3 percent to $2.96 billion from $3.06 billion a year earlier, with sales at stores open at least a year falling 5.6 percent.

"Our efforts to turn around the business have led to greater disruption than we anticipated, but we continue to believe that we are on the right path to return to sustainable, profitable growth and increasing shareholder value," Schoonover said in Monday's news release.

Circuit City (CC, Fortune 500) announced last month that it approved millions in cash incentives to retain its top talent following the departure of several key executives over the past year. Executive vice presidents could claim retention awards of $1 million each and senior vice presidents could get $600,000, provided they stay with the company until 2011, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Rival Best Buy (BBY, Fortune 500) is scheduled to release its December sales figures on Friday.h

Attention also will be paid to expanding sales of Firedog, the company's PC services and home-installation business, Schoonover said.

The company said comparable domestic sales decreased for televisions, camcorders, DVD hardware and digital imaging products. It saw the most strength in video games and navigation devices.

Same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, are a key indicator of retailer performance since they measure growth at existing stores rather than from newly opened ones.

Shares were unchanged at $4.21 in after-hours trading.

For the month, the company said significant sales decreases in tube and projection televisions more than offset high single-digit sales growth in flat-screen televisions. Sales of camcorders and DVD hardware fell by double digits.

Revenue from Firedog increased 15 percent, Circuit City said. Sales of extended warranties were $36.1 million, compared with $52 million in the same period last year.

Domestically, Internet and call center sales grew 17 percent in December, the company said.

Last month, Circuit City reported a wider-than-expected loss for the third quarter, driven by lower extended warranty sales and restructuring costs. Circuit City had also said it has received a commitment to more than double its $500 million credit line to $1.3 billion.

Analyst Chris Horvers of Bear Stearns said the results fell short of expectations, partly due to the softening in flat-panel TV and notebook computer categories.

"Circuit (City) is a show me story right now and I think the management team has to show that their plan is going to work," Horvers said.

Unless there's some improvement in the first half of next year, Horvers said, investors will look at the stock skeptically, including seeing risks of it going out of business.

For the three months ended Nov. 30, Circuit City's losses ballooned to $207.3 million, or $1.26 per share, from $20.4 million, or 12 cents per share, a year earlier. Excluding tax-related accounting items, losses totaled 64 cents per share in the latest period.

Sales slipped 3 percent to $2.96 billion from $3.06 billion a year earlier, with sales at stores open at least a year falling 5.6 percent.

"Our efforts to turn around the business have led to greater disruption than we anticipated, but we continue to believe that we are on the right path to return to sustainable, profitable growth and increasing shareholder value," Schoonover said in Monday's news release.

Circuit City (CC, Fortune 500) announced last month that it approved millions in cash incentives to retain its top talent following the departure of several key executives over the past year. Executive vice presidents could claim retention awards of $1 million each and senior vice presidents could get $600,000, provided they stay with the company until 2011, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Rival Best Buy (BBY, Fortune 500) is scheduled to release its December sales figures on Friday.

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Pay for results... different for corporate executives

'Nice work if you can get it ...' George Gershwin (?? or did Cole Porter pen this one ??)

The kicker is buried in the VERY LAST paragraph ... he is responsible for a $279 million loss and walks away with lottery winnings .... I guess I should be getting a significant bonus this year for overdrawing on my checking account !

According to a regulatory filing, he is entitled to severance and benefits valued at about $14.1 million. He also agreed not to work for a competitor for 18 months, but may establish a hedge fund after six months or join an independent hedge fund after 12 months, the filing said.

Again this shows the lie in the reasoning for extremely large executive compensation ... i.e. Large compensation is justified because the execs have led the company to significant stock and shareholder gains .... but when they the lead the firm to losses the execs almost never take the same hit as shares (and stockholders) do .


January 3, 2008
State Street Takes Big Charge, Replaces A Top Exec
By REUTERS
Filed at 7:30 a.m. ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - State Street Corp said on Thursday it will take a $279 million fourth-quarter charge after making bad bets on subprime mortgages and other debt, and said it replaced its investment management chief.
William Hunt, who had led the State Street Global Advisors unit, resigned Wednesday after nearly three years in the job, the money manager said.
James Phalen, 57, head of international operations for investment servicing and investment research and trading, was named the unit's interim president and chief executive. He reports to Ronald Logue, State Street's chief executive.
The 71-cent-per-share charge addresses legal and other costs related to exposure to and illiquidity in subprime mortgages, State Street said.
It also addresses "customer concerns as to whether the execution of these strategies was consistent with the customers' investment intent," the company said.
State Street joins a growing list of financial services companies to record losses tied to deteriorating global credit markets.
The Boston-based company is the world's largest money manager for institutions, with about $2 trillion of assets under management as of September 30. It is also one of the world's largest providers of custody services for institutional investors, overseeing $15.1 trillion of assets.
State Street expects 2007 profit of $3.42 to $3.45 per share. Excluding the charge, merger costs, and tax adjustments, it expects operating profit of $4.54 to $4.57 per share.
Analysts on average expected profit of $4.20 per share, according to Reuters Estimates. It wasn't immediately clear on what basis this amount was calculated.
Hunt took over State Street Global Advisors at the end of January 2005, when he was 42. He joined the company in 1994.
According to a regulatory filing, he is entitled to severance and benefits valued at about $14.1 million. He also agreed not to work for a competitor for 18 months, but may establish a hedge fund after six months or join an independent hedge fund after 12 months, the filing said.