Friday, October 24, 2008

PAIN IS INEVITABLE, SEX OPTIONAL



Tomorrow night comic headliner Stephanie Hodge ("Unhappily Ever After, Nurses), Destiny (The Tonight Show, VH-1, MTV plus my Riviera, Pechanga and Sahara co-star) — and I present our 3-woman comedy show, "Pain is Inevitable, Sex Optional" at the Whitefire Theatre on Ventura Blvd. in Sherman Oaks. It's a work in progress. We discuss men, sex, love, sex, death, sex, God, sex and politics... Our MC is the funny, brilliant Nestor Rodriguez... and we'll have other standup comics warming up the crowd.
/SEX%20OPTIONAL%20SHOW.doc
Our host, the hilarious Nestor Rodriguez:
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Pain is Inevitable as thousands are finding out each week as indicators of a worsening crisis in the US are mounting daily as the economic downturn takes an ever greater toll on jobs. More layoffs were announced this week in the US and new data was also released showing a rising numbers of American families losing their homes through foreclosure.

There are fears that the US economy was ready to go into a depression. It has been said that the banking system manufactures recessions to give investors a chance to pick up bargain stocks or entire businesses. One has to wonder if there is reality in those sentiments.

Reuters reports that several US corporations which have made major layoff announcements in the past few which include:

• Chrysler, which announced an additional 1,825 layoffs on Thursday

• Goldman Sachs, which said it will cut 10 percent of its staff, or almost 3,300 jobs

• Pharmaceutical giant Merck, which announced it is shedding 12 percent of its workforce

• Biotechnology company Maxygen, which said it will cut nearly 30 percent of its workforce

• Money manager Janus Capital Group, which is sacking 9 percent of its workforce

• Xerox, which said yesterday it will cut 5 percent of its staff, or 3,000 positions

• Mining equipment maker Terex Corporation, which is laying off hundreds of its workers

• United Parcel Service, which announced plans to cut an unspecified number of jobs next year

• Fidelity National Financial Inc., which announced it will slash 1,000 jobs and cut pay by 10 percent

• Financial services conglomerate Popular Inc., which is cutting 600 jobs and closing more than a quarter of its branches in the US.

The US Labor Department reported that new applications for unemployment insurance increased by 15,000 to 478,000 in the week ending October 18, significantly more than was anticipated by economists. A year ago, new jobless claims stood at 333,000.

Unemployment rises in a recession. At the end of a longer recession, companies have the luxury of hiring from a larger labor pool at lower wages. Some companies citing hard times reduce benefits, cut vacation and other benefits of their workforce.

Workers in the auto industry continue to bear much of the growing assault on jobs and conditions. Chrysler announced 1,825 layoffs through the elimination of a shift at an assembly plant in Toledo, Ohio and said it would bring forward the closure date of a plant in Newark, Delaware that had been scheduled to close in 2009.

JP Morgan told Reuters they expect the General Motors to lose more than $12 billion next year. Like Chrysler, GM is slashing costs ahead of a potential merger between the two companies.

GM announced Wednesday it was considering selling AC Delco, its international parts subsidiary, a measure which will inevitably lead to further job losses. The company also said it will suspend many salaried employee benefits, including matching contributions for workers' 401(k) retirement plans.

A survey released by listing service RealtyTrac found that foreclosure filings, default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions—were reported on 765,000properties in the three months ending in September, up 71 percent from the third quarter in 2007. Six states—Nevada, California, Florida, Ohio, Michigan, and Arizona—accounted for more than 60 percent of all foreclosure activity. Nevada recorded the highest foreclosure rate, with one out of every 82 housing properties issued a foreclosure filing.

The RealtyTrac report concluded that the third quarter figures underestimate the situation. Many states have passed new laws requiring lenders to issue extended notices before filing default notices. These laws artificially suppressed September's foreclosure figures by temporarily postponing the full impact. Rising unemployment will further accelerate the catastrophe.

Rod Dubitsky, managing director for asset-backed securities at Credit Suisse, told BusinessWeek he expects that more than 5 million American families will lose their homes through the year 2012. He said 1.69 million families will lose their homes in 2008.

As election day draws near the hopes of millions of struggling Americans rest on whether or not Barack Obama is elected. In Obama we see a light at the end of an ever-growing darkened tunnel.

In the ever growing world of layoffs and foreclosures we all feel that "Pain Is Inevitable, Sex Optional and the election of Barack Obama is a must.

17 comments:

  1. You are not on the radio in my area.
    Do you offer a podcast?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lydia that is just inside our borders,

    Russian default risk tops Iceland as crisis deepens

    Global auto market may "collapse" in 2009: J.D.Power

    The credit crunch claims its biggest victim - Argentina

    Which country will go bust next?

    IMF plans rescue of emerging nations

    Is international trade grinding to a halt?

    GLG chief Emmanuel Roman warns thousands of hedge funds on brink of failure

    Lydia what seemed to start with the housing bubble bursting has exploded into a world wide contagion. It is out of control for many governments and central bankers because it is breaking out in places thought just a month ago safe.

    The effects will push the entire world economy to the brink, and the limited efforts to stop it have failed except for the certain chosen few who have received billions of tax payer money for their over extended greed.

    This is going to continue for well over the next fiscal year probably into 2010 before the ripples start to subside.

    ReplyDelete
  3. clif the cause wasn't the housing bubble, but it makes a handy thumbtack in the timeline.
    Had the economy not started a further downturn the housing subprime bubble could have been put off for quite some time.
    The housing symptom makes a handy scapegoat.

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  4. Larry - thank you for the post on our show. (We don't need a photo of me though! :) I am trying to find the one of the three of us.

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  5. 1138 -- yes all our shows are archived in MP3 format on the radio website at
    BashamandCornell.com

    thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I know 1138, the housing bubble was the match which ignited this fire, but it is NOT the center or main cause of it like most think,

    The CDS swaps and SIV trades especially commercial accounts are.

    ReplyDelete
  7. She's already losin' the base;

    If Republicans had to pick for 2012 today, it'd be: Romney 35%, Huckabee 26%, Palin 20%.

    Looks like the Twit better take what ever Hollywood or Fake News offers .... cause her political fraud days seem numbered.

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  8. I posted photos of my 2 co-stars in tomorrow night's show.

    Hey - 3 bizarro incidents happened today in the Pain-McCain circus.

    Palin said the "fruit fly" thing (which makes her look like a science-hating idiot because the fruit fly is vital in testing cures for Autism, etc.)

    McCain's volunteer got caught in her "attacked at the ATM by a black man scam"

    and what was the third stupid thing today? It's on the tip of my tongue...

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  9. What fruit fly thing?

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  10. Fruit flies and human DNA is very similar, which kinda explain crusty and will's ... widdle mental abilities, they have fruit fly brains.

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  11. The surge failed in the end;

    Al-Maliki Will Not Sign Security Agreement

    McClatchy reports that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has reneged on the security agreement that his office negotiated with the Bush administration, and now says he will not sign it and will not submit it to parliament. Instead, it is likely that Iraq will go back to the United Nations Security Council for a further mandate of six months to a year for the multi-national forces.

    Cause in the end the puppet told the idiot in cheifand his puppet master Cheney to piss off.

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  12. Lydia Cornell said...

    and what was the third stupid thing today? It's on the tip of my tongue...

    Was it the revelation that Palin's "pipeline to nowhere" (may never be built) deal that turns out she gave sweetheart deals to her business associates?

    Could it be Rush Limpmouth mocking Obama's trip to his grandmothers house and calling it "suspicious"?

    Could it be McCains triple gaffs, including using the "C" word?

    Could it be Clinton finally campaigning with Obama?

    Could it be the wacky right wing stooge calling herself a news anchor, Barbara West's wacky interview of Joe Biden where all she does is rehash right wing lies?

    Could it be Andy Griffith, Ron Howard and the FONZ!, publiclly endorsing Obama?

    Could it be all the republicans, like Colin Powell, Scott McClellan, Andrew Sullivan, Christopher Hitchens, and a slew of others who are tossing their hat in the ring for Obama?

    Or is it the voting fraud thats already going on, where Ohio is trying to throw out about 20 percent of the new vote?

    Or could it be the stunning revelation that the GOP is dividing over Palin\McCain and apparently so is the McCain campaign, with Palin apparenlty becoming a "rogue", ignoring handlers instructions and just saying whatever the hell she wants?

    Could it be any of these things or is it one of the other 2,397 things that happened in the last 72 hours? lol

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  13. By the way, Andy Griffith, Ron Howard and Fonz endorsing Obama wasn't stupid. Just cool.


    aaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!

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  14. Believe it or not I was on a conference call with Barack Obama yesterday (with about 2500 other Missouri volunteers). He said he's feeling good about his chances but do not let up -- we have to proceed as if we are behind in the polls. 9 more days!

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  15. Clif It's a mistake to think of the surge as something that could fail or succeed. The invasion was doomed to failure, a 'surge' cannot by definition from that point ever succeed.

    "All that we have to do is to send two mujahedeen to the furthest point east to raise a piece of cloth on which is written al Qaeda, in order to make generals race there to cause America to suffer human, economic and political losses without their achieving anything of note other than some benefits for their private corporations," --- Osama bin Laden

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  16. Point taken 1138, the surge was supposed to calm the situation so the neo-cons could achieve their original objective, a compliant government which would allow unfettered access to the oil, it failed thus the invasion failed, which many including you have pointed out was the only real option.

    ReplyDelete