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General Electric captured 40 percent of the vote for worst footnote of 2012 on the popular biz blog, footnoted.com.
GE, which revealed it was going to pay a former executive more than $80,000 a month for a decade, edged out Texas-based Dell for the win, Monday, according to an official announcement.
Check out footnoted’s announcement.
A deal to avoid the fiscal cliff is in sight, we're saved! By RD Varnon
Senate leaders and the President claimed to have seen the shadow of a deal to prevent America from plunging off the fiscal cliff.
But then everyone realized it just means we’ll have six more months of gridlock. (It’s a joke based on the ground hog seeing its shadow.)
AP reported just after 4 p.m., Congress will not be able to meet the midnight deadline to vote on the deal. Whoops.
Anyway, the initial deal discussed appears to extend unemployment benefits beyond the 26 weeks, which could mean 43,000 Connecticut residents will still get payments next year.
And taxes will go up on families making in excess of $450,000 a year, which will hit Fairfield County pretty hard.
And there are plenty of issues still to be worked out that will ultimately act as a drag on the national and local economy, including defense and social program cuts. This year alone, the plan called for more than $56 billion in defense cuts alone.
Until more is known, enjoy your New Year, let’s hope 2013 is better than 2012.
This wasn’t the right Christmas to buy that semi-automatic assault weapon for your loved one.
Fresh off the murder of 20 children in Newtown, six school staff members and the crazed killer’s mother, four firefighters were shot and two of them killed in Webster, N.Y., just before Christmas.
It is time for Congress to pass legislation banning the manufacture of semi-automatic assault rifles for public use. These guns are based on technology used to make nearly the same weapons for the U.S. military and law enforcement agencies.
Gun manufacturers in Connecticut, including Colt in Hartford and West Hartford and Sturm Ruger in Fairfield, employ nearly 2,900 people, who earn $224 million a year, according to a recent Hearst Connecticut Media report.
Colt, known for manufacturing the “gun that won the West,” is privately held, and detailed financial information is not as readily available as with a public company like Sturm Ruger, which reported net sales of $118.2 million in the third quarter ended Sept. 29, compared with net sales of $80.5 million in the same period last year.
Chief Executive Officer Michael O. Fifer said the impressive jump was driven by a 47 percent growth in sales and improvement in operations at Sturm Ruger, which does not manufacture in Connecticut. It has two U.S. factories in New Hampshire and Arizona where its semi-automatic assault weapons, much like the Bushmaster used in the Newtown incident, are made.
Limiting production of these weapons, which use large ammunition clips, to law enforcement and military use, could mean the loss of well-paying jobs and a decline in revenue, upsetting some investors.
But perhaps it is time for these investors to urge these companies to halt production for the general public.
After the shootings, there was a television interview with an individual about shooting a semi-automatic assault rifle. “It’s fun,” he said.
Can someone forgo the “fun” of squeezing off multiple rounds from a semi to bring back the lives of 27 people in Newtown and two firefighters in New York state?
I think so.
Better think ahead if you want to chase your hangover with something from home on New Year’s Day, the package stores will all be closed.
The Department of Consumer Protection send out a press release this weekend urging people to get their alcohol before New Year’s Day, to drink responsibly and to not drink and drive.
As part of its announcement, the DCP said because the doors of the package stores had been pried open on the Sabbath, they would remain closed on New Year’s Day. Not sure why they need to be closed, the Mines is pretty sure the liquor stores still pay rent or taxes on their property on this day. No grocery stores are allowed to sell beer on Tuesday, either. So if they do, please report them after you’ve made a purchase.
And last call for celebrations in bars is 3 a.m. Jan. 1, unless the town has set a different time. Bars and restaurants may open at their normal times on Tuesday.
“I urge everyone to guard against needless tragedy – please drink responsibly, don’t drink and drive, and don’t serve or provide alcohol to anyone who appears intoxicated or is under the age of 21,” DCP Commissioner William Rubenstein said. “We offer our best wishes to everyone for a happy, healthy and safe holiday.”
Copyright © 2013 Hearst Communications Inc.
