Showing posts with label business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label business. Show all posts

Thursday, October 06, 2011

Lessons of 1984

Innovation awakened the mobs.
Cupertino, can you hear our sobs?
Though an Apple a day
Could keep drabness away,
In the end, it could not save our Jobs.


The Limerick Savant


Apple’s Visionary Redefined Digital Age
STEVEN P. JOBS, 1955-2011
By John Markoff, The New York Times, 10/5/11

Friday, January 22, 2010

Corporate takeover

The Supremes never batted an eye
While deciding it's time that we try
Voiding campaign reform;
Readjusting the norm:
The best government money can buy.

Supreme Court OKs unlimited corporate spending on elections
By David G. Savage, The LA Times, 1/22/10

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Stiff opposition

You might think that the matter is silly.
In Chicago reaction's been chilly.
No one's shouting out "Cheers!"
That erection of Sears
Has simply become a Big Willie.

Chicago icon's new name may take time to stick
By Nick Carey,Reuters, 7/16/09

Friday, April 10, 2009

Not sMART

Have we ever been further apart
Than we are on the Medical Mart?
Its critics have railed
That the County has failed
In transparency right from the start!

Earlier drafts of medical mart deal had
Cuyahoga County paying overruns, kept dealings private
By Joe Guillen, The Plain Dealer, 4/10/09

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

School is not out yet on this plan

Don't you think it's time someone learned their lesson?

AIG has a novel invention.
It's the bonus that's paid for retention
Of delinquents, not there.
Do you think that is fair?
Or, instead, should we give them detention?

An Outpouring of Anger From Lawmakers at A.I.G. Hearing
By David Stout, the New York Times, 3/18/09

Thursday, March 05, 2009

Body of lies

Thanks to Mattel (and Hugh Hefner) for
fifty years of unrealistic expectations.


What psychic could possibly gauge
How this freak would become all the rage?
With plenty of plastic
She's looking fantastic
So Barbie's not telling her age.

Barbie doll gets a splashy 50th birthday bash
By Booth Moore, The Los Angeles Times, 2/17/09

Thursday, February 12, 2009

No Jif's brands or butters

All because of this arrogant putz
Salmonella's infecting our guts.
It sticks in the craw
And we hope that the law
Strings him up by his poisonous nuts.

Peanut-borne salmonella is subject of outrage in Congress
By Rebecca Cole, The Los Angeles Times, 2/12/09

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Hawk like an Egyptian?

Speaking of "bail-outs," look who's out on bail.

His investors aren't feeling so sunny
To discover the tar in the honey.
The deals of their dreams
Were mere pyramid schemes
Where the dealer Madoff with the money!

[N.B. The unfortunate fact is that you or I may be one of his unwitting investors by proxy!]

Bernie Madoff's Victims:
Why Some Have No Recourse
By Robert Chew, Time, 1/12/09

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Word of the Year 2008: "Bailout"

So "bail-out" was Word of the Year?
As a verb, we expected to hear
It used one of the times
When, for myriad crimes,
Those crooks went to court to appear!

Oh yeah. That didn't happen, did it?

About Auto Bailout
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Friday, December 05, 2008

Would you buy a used car business plan from these men?

In Detroit, yes, the outlook's not sunny,
But the Big Three's solution seems funny.
Do they really expect
To survive the car wreck
By filling their airbags with money?

Automakers Take Plea for Bailout to House Committee
Hearing Comes Day After Senate Appearance Fails to Persuade Lawmakers
By Lori Montgomery and Kendra Marr
The Washington Post, 12/5/08

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

"Thanks, but no thanks"

---Sarah Palin

'Tis the season we all should join ranks;
Remember good fortune; give thanks.
And though I concede
We must help those in need,
Do we need to give fortunes to banks?

Happy ThBanksgiving

Here is a turkey recipe that includes the use of popcorn as a stuffing. When I found this recipe, I thought it was perfect for people like me, who are not sure how to tell when poultry is thoroughly cooked, but not dried out.
Give this a try:

8 - 15 lb. turkey
1 cup melted butter
1 cup stuffing (Pepperidge Farm is good)
1 cup uncooked popcorn

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush turkey well with melted butter, salt, and pepper. Fill cavity with stuffing and popcorn. Place in baking pan with the neck end toward the back of the oven. Listen for the popping sounds. When the turkey's butt blows the oven door open and the bird flies across the room, it's done.

Restore TARP to Its First Purpose
By Peter Ackerman and John Vogelstein
The Washington Post, 11/26/08

Friday, March 21, 2008

Caveat exemptor

When you run with the bulls, no one cares
'Til the bottom falls out of your shares
And the lesson one learns,
In the case of Bear Stearns,
Is you're victim to very stern bears!

Bear Stearns' Fall Ripple Effect Felt
by Adam Davidson, NPR News, 3/20/08

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Who needs a presidency?

You have watched as her empire has grown.
Now, a network that's hers all alone?
For serious bettors,
You know the call letters
Mean there's nothing that O. won't soon...
OWN
Oprah Winfrey and Discovery to Create New Cable Network
By Edward Wyatt, The New York Times, 1/16/08

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Record* catch!

Seems Barry is joining the ranks
Of the greats with achievements like Hank's.
If using the 'roids
Automatically voids
His record, this guy still says, "Thanks!"



Record baseball may be worth $1m
BBC News, 8/8/07

Friday, August 03, 2007

Dora the Destroyer?

Fisher-Price could be losing its shirt
Over marketing toys that can hurt.
Now, Transformers I get
As a possible threat,
But "the terror of Ernie and Bert?"

At Toy Stores, Recall Casts Doubt on Trusted Friends
By Donna St. George and Delphine Schrank
The Washington Post, 8/3/07


When Big Bird has lost his Street cred
What else is there left to be said?
Has Mattel, in its greed,
Just forgotten the need
To ensure that they haven't missed lead?

Lead Paint Prompts Mattel to Recall 967,000 Toys
By Louise Story, The New York Times, 8/2/07

Friday, July 13, 2007

Whole Foods CEO selling spam?

It remains to be seen, Savant notes,
The effect that it had on stock quotes;
But it's certainly tacky,
The way that John Mackey
Has chosen to so-so Wild Oats.

Their new logo?


read more digg story
Whole Foods CEO belittled rival anonymously before bid
The Los Angeles Times, 7/12/07

Friday, June 15, 2007

Trademark infringement?

San Antonio challenged our fitness,
In Cleveland, to Rise-up® and Witness® ;
But expecting LeBron
To take it all on
Is a failure to Take Care of Bitness®!

Cavs bow out but expectations rise up
By Bud Shaw, The Plain Dealer, 6/15/07

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Vote 'til you drop?

So, WalMart has recently backed
Rights of voters, but showed little tact,
In supply and demand,
When they asked to expand
Them by adding a Shopping Rights Act*.

*We understand this proposed legislation purports to increase voter access and turnout by mandating that all polling locations be moved to the nearest WalMart. Plus an additional 15% off at the register for those voting a straight Republican ticket!

Voting Rights Finds Friends in Big Business
NPR Morning Edition, 7/27/06

Saturday, July 01, 2006

Quit blowing smoke!

To cigarette industry folk
Who’d let all the rest of us choke
While claiming “no harm:”
D’ya hear that alarm?
Your argument’s gone up in smoke!

Secondhand smoke debate 'over'
By Liz Szabo, USA TODAY, 6/27/06

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Du vin, chichi code

This week they, again, were divining
Whose vintage is tops, or declining.
Thirty years since the test
When the U.S. fared best,
But the French haven't ever stopped wining.

California wines beat French again
By Laurie Daniel, San Jose Mercury News, 5/24/06