john
New Member
Posts: 14
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Post by john on Apr 13, 2006 15:45:10 GMT -6
Yo TBear,
Ok, So you don't care about fiber...up to you, though I think you're wrong to dismiss the eventual benefits to the parish community--and the benefits that there already are for every school in the parish.
Step back from being so resentful for a minute. LUS fiber is now built out to every school in the community. That means there is locally-owned fiber within a few miles at most of every house in the parish. It's no accident that the very first public endorsement of the LUS plan was from the mayors of the surrounding towns. They see some benefit for their towns; and it's their responsibility to think that through. My guess is that they know something we don't. Patience
You might, too, ask yourself why the homebuilders (and the realtors, and the chamber of commerce, etc.) all endorsed the plan. It wasn't, I am sure, because the didn't care about roads. I suspect that they all thought it would be good for business.
There seems to be some sentiment that "this fiber" is just not something government is supposed to do. And that our government ought to match the stereotype of a do-nothing, unimaginative, ineffectual government that some people believe is true of all government. I'm pleased to discover that at least our local government, closer to the people than the state and federal governments that recently let us down, has the gumption to show some initiative... I'm not distressed that our local officials don't just lie down and let the future roll over them. Good for them.
So that's what I'd say to Abbd if I knew his name: That I vote for officials on the basis of their quality and their ability to serve me effectively and imaginatively. I'm not all that impressed with guys who fill potholes. I'm much more impressed with leaders who try and bring a better future--even if doing that doesn't match the stereotype some have of govt. officialdom.
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Post by abbd on Apr 13, 2006 16:46:02 GMT -6
Appreciate your concern, BUT I don't want any more government than we already have. You say potholes, I say fill the potholes and do what we elected you to do. Build the roads that are needed to accomdate the new residents. Remember the "electronic super highway" only works in cyberspace NOT in the real world of travel. Fast internet does not cure world hunger. Get government under control and off our backs, of course I never had a government job.
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Post by TBEAR on Apr 13, 2006 21:26:07 GMT -6
BECAUSE JOHN / LAYNE HAS NOT RESPONDED TO PM QUESTIONS HE IS RISKING BEING BANNED BY THIS ADMINISTRATOR AND FOREVER FORBIDDEN FROM POSTING AGAIN.
HIS REPEATED USE OF MULTIPLE USER NAMES FROM ONE IP IS UNACCEPTED.
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Post by coolcajun on Apr 13, 2006 21:38:53 GMT -6
first of all, the current city/parish council is a joke. they are still at each others throats about a road name change. if they can't agree to disagree about something how in the hell can i expect them to agree on fiber that i will not see for the next ten years. all of these men will be out of office when this project gets complete for the city of Lafayette. as for the schools getting this fiber........there are many schools in the parish, not city, that will not get this service because they are not with LUS..........im all for free enterprise but not at the TAX PAYERS expense. and if if you don't think the taxpayers are paying for this you must have forgotten about the legal expenses for all this time in court fighting will BellSouth and Cox. every time they lose like last time, cause they dont understand the law, they have to pay the legal tab..........BTW who in the hell runs LUS, the Mayor/President and the city council, not Terry, he has to answer to someone and its not the citizens of this parish.
so John/Layne i respect that you have an opinion, however, i think you need to stop going after the other board members, who i might add, have been on this board longer than you. i can agree to disagree, but i dont like when you are attacking posters by thier name. just post a reply and be done with it, and use one name, not two.
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Post by coolcajun on Apr 13, 2006 21:41:22 GMT -6
seems to me some people dont like the rules of this board.
well if you dont like them, dont post here and start your own board!
also, seems to me that some guest posters, are really members that just want to stir the pot to get people upset. be warned, this will not be allowed on this board and you may be banned
i posted this message in Feb of 2006 but seems to me some people have not read it!!!!!!!! so here is a repost
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Post by coolcajun on Apr 13, 2006 21:44:44 GMT -6
Yo TBear, Ok, So you don't care about fiber...up to you, though I think you're wrong to dismiss the eventual benefits to the parish community--and the benefits that there already are for every school in the parish. Step back from being so resentful for a minute. LUS fiber is now built out to every school in the community. That means there is locally-owned fiber within a few miles at most of every house in the parish. It's no accident that the very first public endorsement of the LUS plan was from the mayors of the surrounding towns. They see some benefit for their towns; and it's their responsibility to think that through. My guess is that they know something we don't. Patience You might, too, ask yourself why the homebuilders (and the realtors, and the chamber of commerce, etc.) all endorsed the plan. It wasn't, I am sure, because the didn't care about roads. I suspect that they all thought it would be good for business. There seems to be some sentiment that "this fiber" is just not something government is supposed to do. And that our government ought to match the stereotype of a do-nothing, unimaginative, ineffectual government that some people believe is true of all government. I'm pleased to discover that at least our local government, closer to the people than the state and federal governments that recently let us down, has the gumption to show some initiative... I'm not distressed that our local officials don't just lie down and let the future roll over them. Good for them. So that's what I'd say to Abbd if I knew his name: That I vote for officials on the basis of their quality and their ability to serve me effectively and imaginatively. I'm not all that impressed with guys who fill potholes. I'm much more impressed with leaders who try and bring a better future--even if doing that doesn't match the stereotype some have of govt. officialdom. well if that is really how you feel when may i see your name on a ballot
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Post by zoe10850 on Apr 14, 2006 0:50:02 GMT -6
To administrators "cool cajun" and "TBEAR", it is entirely possible to have several members of a household to have access to same computer/ISP. I for example have 3 machines on line in this house with 4 adults who may use them. I had a visitor that I directed to your site, and have told numerous friends, hoping to get people involved in our little community. I would suggest that you not be so touchy about multiple postings that might appear to be from one source.
I for one like the diverse opinions, some of which I concur, some I do not. I agree I do not make the rules of this site, but I would hope you would welcome all postings, regardless of the name/source, and wether or not the post is in agreement with your, or my particular beliefs. Controversy helps motivate people to become involved, and that involvement may spur people to be aware, involved, and perhaps to actually participate in the community (maybe even vote), who knows.
That said, I agree we should not belittle each others opinions, as that is indeed counterproductive.
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Post by zoe10850 on Apr 14, 2006 1:46:28 GMT -6
The comments on fiber; I think most people would agree that fiber cable is superior to copper cable. Great. The real issue to me is, again, the issue of government intrusion. I do not think the role of government is to seek new ways to use "our" money to improve and compete against existing business (and I do not work for BS or Cox).
To state that LUS can do anything cheaper, and to state that they do not have to make a profit, is ludicrous. The Bonding Attornies require them to make a profit, and they do indeed make a profit (substantial) and do not want to give it back to the very people who allow them to make that profit , like SLEMCO does. LUS is a monopoly. They compete with no one, you cannot select alternative utilities. LUS sets rates, apparently higher than actual cost, and use that money to expand and borrow more money to expand again. LUS pays no taxes, unlike the other utility companies.
Cox has an exclusive franchise granted by the LCG, and compete only with satellite companies, and pay a substantial franchise fee to LCG (us). If you do not like the service they give, complain to your councilman, and perhaps this can be addressed when renewal of franchise comes up again. BS must compete with many telephone companies, but LUS wants to use their monopoly access into your home(through utilities) to hog all the business (a privilege denied AT & T when they owned the Baby Bells, and wanted to get into cable TV), a privilege we have granted them This is what brought about the "fair trade" legislation that Mr Huval once lauded, but now is against because the law is at cross purpose with his agenda. Well, how about that.
A fellow poster commented that saying things like "everyone knows" without backing that up with facts, was not being fair. I say, we in Louisiana have had a first hand view of the efficiency of government after Katrina/Rita. The federal government was ill prepared through the useless, feel good Department of Homeland Security. The State of Louisiana through the expert leadership of the Blankstares was pathetic. The La State Police were no shows. Parish and municipal governments were simply overwhelmed. The military was about the only governmental enterprise that performed admirably (and a few Sheriff's Offices in Cameron, Plaquemines, St Bernard, Terrebonne in particular). The point is, government, no matter how close to home, is by nature inefficient because procedure demands it. Bid laws, civil service, politics etc all serve to slow down the process, and that is obvious to all. Govt can only compete when it has an advantage.
Perhaps I am simply shortsighted, but just because the chamber/board of realtors, homebuilders associations etc endorse a project does not make it right. They all have an economic interest, and none of them pay a nickel in taxes (all are tax exempt organizations). It is easy to spend other people's money for a benefit to you, but that is what we used to call socialism, now it is called imaginative government. My but the times have changed.
If you really believe LUS is competitive, do you think in a real world "our" utility company could compete with Entergy, SlemCo,or Cleco ? Not a chance. LUS would go broke in 6 months without monopoly protection, and everyone knows it, ecpecially down at LUS HQ. Why? Would lose workers with no retirement system and medical benefits, civil service protection, leave benefits etc. Would have to cut prices to compete, would have to reduce bureaucracy (administrators) to streamline management, and of course deal with the Public Service Commission.
Enough said, I just want a few things; true consolidated govt (no municipalities) that efficiently as possible does the job required - roads, public safety, clean water, sewerage disposal. That's it. Free enterprise can provide all my other needs.
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Post by TBEAR on Apr 14, 2006 4:43:28 GMT -6
To administrators "cool cajun" and "TBEAR", it is entirely possible to have several members of a household to have access to same computer/ISP. I for example have 3 machines on line in this house with 4 adults who may use them. I had a visitor that I directed to your site, and have told numerous friends, hoping to get people involved in our little community. I would suggest that you not be so touchy about multiple postings that might appear to be from one source. I for one like the diverse opinions, some of which I concur, some I do not. I agree I do not make the rules of this site, but I would hope you would welcome all postings, regardless of the name/source, and wether or not the post is in agreement with your, or my particular beliefs. Controversy helps motivate people to become involved, and that involvement may spur people to be aware, involved, and perhaps to actually participate in the community (maybe even vote), who knows. That said, I agree we should not belittle each others opinions, as that is indeed counterproductive. I totally agree and am aware of multiple users from one IP and I do not mind controversy, however when an administrator sends a pm to you requesting an explanation, send a response or post a repsonse. To avoid administrators questions is improper and appears deceitful. If that is the case of multiple users, that is fine, but I will not stand for someone playing games. And thanks for passing the word.
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Post by TBEAR on Apr 14, 2006 5:31:21 GMT -6
Yo TBear, Ok, So you don't care about fiber...up to you, though I think you're wrong to dismiss the eventual benefits to the parish community--and the benefits that there already are for every school in the parish. Step back from being so resentful for a minute. LUS fiber is now built out to every school in the community. That means there is locally-owned fiber within a few miles at most of every house in the parish. It's no accident that the very first public endorsement of the LUS plan was from the mayors of the surrounding towns. They see some benefit for their towns; and it's their responsibility to think that through. My guess is that they know something we don't. Patience You might, too, ask yourself why the homebuilders (and the realtors, and the chamber of commerce, etc.) all endorsed the plan. It wasn't, I am sure, because the didn't care about roads. I suspect that they all thought it would be good for business. There seems to be some sentiment that "this fiber" is just not something government is supposed to do. And that our government ought to match the stereotype of a do-nothing, unimaginative, ineffectual government that some people believe is true of all government. I'm pleased to discover that at least our local government, closer to the people than the state and federal governments that recently let us down, has the gumption to show some initiative... I'm not distressed that our local officials don't just lie down and let the future roll over them. Good for them. So that's what I'd say to Abbd if I knew his name: That I vote for officials on the basis of their quality and their ability to serve me effectively and imaginatively. I'm not all that impressed with guys who fill potholes. I'm much more impressed with leaders who try and bring a better future--even if doing that doesn't match the stereotype some have of govt. officialdom. I'm not resentful about fiber but nor am I passionate about it, Judice middle, Judice Elementary, and Milton Elementary are three schools I know do not have nor have they been offered fiber, there are no mayors for these communities and they rely solely upon the parish president to take care of them. I would love to see LUS run a fiber line to these rural communities, because if they did that, then they should pass by several parish homes and offer access, do you not think so? We dont even have city water where I live much less fiber, and Im only two miles from the city limits. The home builders endorsed the plan to add a sales pitch to their new houses and no they did not care about roads until they started noticing no one is wanting to buy their houses if you cant get out of your driveway for work in the mornings, but thats not the point I was making. It was to show how the city/parish government overlooked or was unable to think of a plan to improve verot. If they would have thought of this the road may have been built already. Poor planning as I have stated in other posts, it is not like the government did not see the boom of subdivions coming. It did not happen overnight nor take two hurricanes to have terrible traffic congestion on the southside of town. And the point that too much effort has been spent by this government on the fiber instead of the roads. Im sure your opinion of pro-fiber is based on you not having a traffic problem in your area like I do on the southside of Lafayette waiting for roads to be built and or improved over the last couple of years. That is why I am pro-roads. Read the my traffic posts for more details. And i will agree that I dont want some "dead head" politicians running the parish either, but lets get our priorities straight and worry about quality of life and safety for drivers and our children, on our substandard roads instead of wether or not we impress the rest of the country as being one a few fiber cities. And how about our parish president showing a little more compassion for his voters in the parish we are all lafayette residents. AGAIN I WILL REMIND YOU, I AM AWAITING A RESPONSE FROM THE PM I SENT YOU.
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Post by coolcajun on Apr 14, 2006 15:48:39 GMT -6
To administrators "cool cajun" and "TBEAR", it is entirely possible to have several members of a household to have access to same computer/ISP. I for example have 3 machines on line in this house with 4 adults who may use them. I had a visitor that I directed to your site, and have told numerous friends, hoping to get people involved in our little community. I would suggest that you not be so touchy about multiple postings that might appear to be from one source. I for one like the diverse opinions, some of which I concur, some I do not. I agree I do not make the rules of this site, but I would hope you would welcome all postings, regardless of the name/source, and wether or not the post is in agreement with your, or my particular beliefs. Controversy helps motivate people to become involved, and that involvement may spur people to be aware, involved, and perhaps to actually participate in the community (maybe even vote), who knows. That said, I agree we should not belittle each others opinions, as that is indeed counterproductive. i totally understand that. i am also very glad that your are getting the word out for this board. thank you. but, i did have a problem with one person doing this to stir up the boad. he was playing games with himself and others so his posts were deleted and he was banned.
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john
New Member
Posts: 14
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Post by john on Apr 15, 2006 9:38:09 GMT -6
First things first,
I'm not getting any "PM" which I presume means a personal message. If you are emailing the address I listed when I signed in it should be working...I got the acknowledgment message and I just successfully sent myself a email off the link on my personal page which I assume "administrators" have have access to. If there is some sort of special "PM" facility of this board I don't see access to it and I've rooted around a bit. So I'm not ignoring anyone. I'm just not getting any flags until I do an occasional return here.
As another poster remarked there are perfectly good reasons why one IP address might two members on this board. He's right. My wife also has registered here. Layne and I are not the same person. (As will surely become apparent if she continues to post here. :-))
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john
New Member
Posts: 14
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Post by john on Apr 15, 2006 10:07:33 GMT -6
Point of clarification:
I don't think I attacked anyone; that certainly wasn't my intent. I do think there is some unfortunate misinformation--factual, not merely differing interpretations of facts, have been laid out here. I've pointed to specific posts when making those objections, not because I have any intent to hurt someone's feelings but so that readers can look up the issue I raise and see if, in their opinion, the way I characterize the issue is fair.
I try pretty hard to separate fact from ideology and believe that mostly it's possible to do so..It's a fact that every school in the parish will get LUS fiber. It's ideology to believe either that govt should restrain itself to traditional roles or to believe, as I do, that it is sometimes legitimate communities to take up new tasks as the world around them changes. There are fuzzy areas. I don't think, for instance, that its fair to interpret the facts as _obviously_ supporting the position that a city-owned utility must be worse in price or service than a private one. Especially if the private one is a huge monopoly. But I do recognize that others might see it differently. So when I remark on something like that I try and use live examples like LUS and Entergy....
Anyway the point I'm trying to make is that I'm not out to get anyone.
I'll be even franker: I'm happy enough to see that this board is strongly moderated. I've seen boards without moderation get both ugly and useless and have railed against it and worried about it. I do worry that it was the content of my wife's and my posts that made them a flashpoint.
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Post by abbd on Apr 15, 2006 10:12:43 GMT -6
"And i will agree that I dont want some "dead head" politicians running the parish either, but lets get our priorities straight and worry about quality of life and safety for drivers and our children, on our substandard roads instead of wether or not we impress the rest of the country as being one a few fiber cities." I thank TBEAR for the above statement. Priorities, priorities, priorities, most of this government's priorities are surely missplaced. Look at the condition of our roadways, the lack of planning in our community and the horrible traffic conditions. I thought that was what joey was elected to do! Dumb ole me.
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john
New Member
Posts: 14
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Post by john on Apr 15, 2006 10:28:30 GMT -6
CoolCajun @ message #27 sez:
1) that the council is an embarassment. Yup, Often. 2) That parish schools won't get LUS fiber. Untrue. LUS won the most recent bid for Parish school services and is in the midst of finishing its buildout of 100 megs of fiber to each and every school in the parish. (This puts the LUS backbone in every nook and cranny of the parish and I am of the opinion that this means good things and additional competition down the line for the whole parish. I've got no inside info on this, granted. But the local mayors have sure been suspicously supportive for what is usually a pretty scrappy bunch.) 3) that the fiber lawsuits have cost LUS and the city-parish money. That's true. I'd differ as to whose fault that is. I'd be happier with the huge corporation that is suing us if they'd respect the vote of the people. I don't think LUS' interpretation of the law was out to lunch--after all Cox did not join BellSouth, and the Public Service Commission DID. The co-sponsor of the original law is now sponsoring a repeal bill in the Senate in part because he believes that the incumbents are not playing by the rules they agreed to around the table. 4) That Terry doesn't answer to the citizens of the community. I've watched the man and I think that he thinks he does. (Which is good enough for me.) I'm happy enough to grant that the chain of command passes through the LPUA (made up of city members of the C-P council) but really that's the top of the food chain. The mayor has a mayor's influence, sure...but no direct command power; it's not under his jurisdiction.
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john
New Member
Posts: 14
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Post by john on Apr 15, 2006 11:10:02 GMT -6
zoe10850 @ message 31 sez:
Zoe10850--thanks for pointing out that more than one member from an address is a likely explanation for multiple members from a single IP. Thanks, too, for standing up for differing opinions. It's appreciated.
There's a lot of interesting things in your post to respond to...mostly about monopolies, competition, and taxes.
Here's my quick response: I think that the LUS energy dept. is a monopoly--and so are all the other energy companies and coops. That's cause the network over which they run is a natural monopoly: Nobody can afford to come in and compete so by default the first one in becomes a monopoly. I do think that, in fact, LUS competes against other energy companie's to the same degree they compete against each other. And does pretty well, in fact. They don't compete on customers (the monopoly part) but they do compete on selling energy into the grid. LUS is a net producer of energy and is regularly able to sell its excess energy into the grid at a profit. Cox is a monopoly for the same sorts of reasons that Slemco, Entergy, and LUS are: it was the first to market in a situation where the expense of the initial buildout effectively prohibits new entry. Cox does not have an exclusive contract with the city-parish. I've been told it never did have, but that in any case federal law prohibits such contracts.
While MA Bell was a monopoly they did, in fact, exclude all other users from their lines. It was only after their breakup as part of a deal that let the regional bells back into long distance that they had to open up to phone competition (CLECs). Note: they are still selling long distance. The CLEC "threat" was recently ended by actions by the FCC. A few CLECs remain under old contracts but few in telecom think they will last. EATel, for instance, no longer offers service in the area. I'm not aware of any wireline telephone reseller that is still offering new contracts (but would be happy to hear of one!). Cox doesn't let anyone else use their lines either and never has. I wish they all were content to just offer the pipe/bandwidth and let others offer service but until Cox and BellSouth do so I don't think its is fair to single out LUS and say that they have to let others use _their_ pipe. It seems to me that it's fair competition.
While it's true that LUS doesn't pay real taxes the in lieu of tax is a real drain on their revenue that goes directly into the C-P coffers and is larger than any private concern pays (to all levels of govt!). This, in fact, is where what could be called "profit" goes. Roads, police, potholes, all the rest that get money from the general fund are in some substantial part funded by LUS. The way I look at it it means my taxes are correspondingly lower. I pay good (not great) rates for my LUS-provided monopoly services and the money stays local and goes to local needs.
Now, I'd be happy to join with anyone here in complaining about how some of that money is spent. :-) And I am absolutely with those that would prefer a real consolodated government to the current mess.
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john
New Member
Posts: 14
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Post by john on Apr 15, 2006 12:36:17 GMT -6
On the issue of schools; there seems to be a good deal of misinformation floating around about whether or not LUS will provide only the city schools or whether they wil build to all the schools. LUS has this on their website: www.lus.org/site.php?pageID=201&newsID=379(You'll have to scroll down...It makes it plain that all schools will be covered by end of year 07. I'd said that it smelled to me like the parish might benefit: here's part of why I think so: From an article in the Advocate in early April 05: Asked whether the planned connection to the parish schools outside city limits could lead to an expansion of LUS' planned fiber-to-the-home initiative beyond city limits, Huval said the public school network outside city limits could create an opportunity for such an expansion.
Huval said the school program has nothing to do with the fiber-to-the-home plan, but said that success of the two separate plans could open the door for expansion of fiber-to-the-home beyond city limits.
"We'll have a point of presence out there," Huval said. Of course, if you really want all the city services you could just petition to be annexed. :-)
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john
New Member
Posts: 14
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Post by john on Apr 15, 2006 13:40:37 GMT -6
Ok, I found the Private Message function. It's on the sidebar of the messages and looked to me like a printer. Trouble is I don't have any messages there either. Except the one I sent myself to check the function. I've reset the defaults to send me email; maybe that'll work better.
Color me confused.
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Post by coolcajun on Apr 15, 2006 14:07:56 GMT -6
john,
i would say you have some good points, however, unlike the city council i can agree to disagree with your feelings about fiber. i do feel the fiber vote was one sided. this is supposed to be a consolidated council. the people outside the city limits of Lafayette were unable to vote on this. i really don't think it would have passed if all the people of this parish were allowed to vote and this would now be a dead issue. but once again the council decided to make this only a city issue.
as to the fiber to the schools. thank you for the info and web link, i will be the first to say i was unaware of this. I'm glad to see this is getting to all the schools in the parish.
i still think roads are a major issue in this parish. we have many cars traveling on substandard roads, two lanes travel.
it takes me approx. 45 minutes to get to work in the mornings and about a hour to get home at night. this is about 1hour 45 minutes wasted. burning gas that i barely have enough money to pay for.
don't get me wrong, its not all the council's fault. this starts at the very top of state govt. the hurricanes have crippled this state for years to come. where will the money come from----- i don't have a clue---- but something has to give and to me it seems like the citizens of this state/parish or the only ones that are going to suffer.
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layne
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Post by layne on Apr 15, 2006 15:06:13 GMT -6
abbd, I just read about Mr. Lee Raymond, who retired in Dec. from Exxon. He "was compensated more than $686 million from 1993 to 2005, according to an analysis done for The New York Times . . . That is $144,573 for each day he spent leading Exxon's "God pod," as the executive suite at the company's headquarters in Irving, Tex., is known."
The article goes on to say that Mr. Raymond's compensation package at retirement included "more than $400 million he received in his final year at the company."
When I hear things like this, I have to wonder, is there so much profit sitting around Exxon that they can just stuff it into the pockets of their executives at this rate? If so, why don't they lower prices? All that cash was money you and I paid out at the pump, and it's all gone into this one man's bank account. He was paid more per day than many Americans make in 5 or 6 years of hard work. Does anybody deserve that much money? Certainly nobody needs that much -- he won't be able to spend it in his lifetime.
It's not the dividends to shareholders that bothers me about big corporations -- it's stuff like this. Government has inefficiencies built in -- but it will never pay ANYBODY $144,000 per day to run things, or give them $400 million when they retire.
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