Since discussions about bloated union benefits are all the rage, here’s a good one for you. The top paid stagehand at Carnegie Hall makes $442,599 per year, plus $107,445 in benefits and deferred compensation. There may even be a certain number of free Swedish massages performed on-site several times a year as well. If not, that should definitely be in the next union contract.

But forget about “top paid” let’s talk average salary. The average salary for a stagehand at Lincoln Center is $290,000 per year. That’s for a job that requires no special skills. A monkey could do it. They put chairs into place, hang lights, etc.

Unions would have us believe they’re about the “working man” and a “strong middle class.” Maybe on occasion, but for the most part they’re about greed. They’re about extorting all the pay and benefits possible from their employer even if drives them into bankruptcy.

From WSJ:

WASHINGTON—Federal telecommunications regulators approved new rules Tuesday that would for the first time give the federal government formal authority to regulate Internet traffic, although how much or for how long remained unclear.

A divided Federal Communications Commission approved a proposal by Chairman Julius Genachowski to give the FCC power to prevent broadband providers from selectively blocking web traffic.

The rules will go into effect early next year, but legal challenges or action by Congress could block the FCC’s action. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) on Tuesday called the FCC’s action "flawed" and said lawmakers would "have an opportunity in the new Congress to push back against new rules and regulations."

The new FCC rules, for example, would prevent a broadband provider, such as Comcast Corp., AT&T, Inc. or Verizon Communications Inc., from hobbling access to an online video service, such as Netflix, that competes with its own video services.

No Internet company had proposed stifling the Internet or blocking access to anything for anyone. This was a “problem” invented out of thin air by actual Communists and Marxists at the ironically named group “Free Press.” The group was founded by Robert McChesney, a Marxist professor at the University of Chicago.

Free Press is funded by George Soros. Its board is a who’s who of radical leftists.

Here’s all you need to know about Net Neutrality. If an organization like Free Press wants it you know it’s bad for America.

Fortunately, this so-called “Net Neutrality” is going to be short lived. Republicans in the next Congress are going to stop it. Moreover, the courts will once again stop it.

Our country just needs to hang on for two more years and then we can throw this radical president and his radical cronies out of office. 

The Wall Street Journal had a great piece yesterday about how this phony “Net Neutrality” issue came to be.

From WSJ:

Federal Bureau of Investigation agents raided the offices of three hedge funds as part of a high-profile insider-trading investigation, and more could be on the way, according to people familiar with the matter.

The offices of Diamondback Capital Management LLC and Level Global Investors LP were raided. Both hedge funds are run by former managers of Steve Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors.

The third firm raided is Loch Capital Management LLC, based in Boston, people familiar with the matter say. Leonard Pierce, a lawyer for Loch Capital, declined to immediately comment.

I’m not a Wall Street hater by any means. But I’m glad to see the FBI holding people accountable who broke the law. I don’t think there’s any question that illegal activity played at least some role in the current financial crisis. A free-wheeling ethically challenged atmosphere was allowed to develop in some corners of Wall Street.

The folks who chose not to play by the rules deserve to go to jail. It’s the only way to restore trust in financial services industry.

One of Obama’s top cronies is Big Labor thug Dick Richard Trumka who heads the AFL-CIO. He has a long and sordid history within the labor movement. He’s a thug and a bully in every since of the word. He’s now working with European Socialists to get a “global tax” or “Robin Hood” tax passed.

Hey Dick, keep your hooves out of my pocket.

[Breitbart TV]

Bernie Madoff got his ass kicked in prison according to ABC. The dirty thief was treated at a hospital for a collapsed lung, facial fractures, and broken ribs, all of which are consistent with a prison assault.

The way I see it, Bernie made a deal with the devil early in his life. The decisions he made allowed him to live like a king during his best years. The majority of his life was spent enjoying luxuries most humans will never experience.

Now, he’s 71-years old and must pay for all those good years with his life. Bernie will spend his twilight years doing menial jobs like laundry for 5 cents a day, while dodging convicts looking to make their bones by extorting him, assaulting him, and eventually killing him.

Chances are he won’t live to be that old. For the sake of argument let’s say he lives to be 80. That would mean he spent about 40+ years living a hedonistic lifestyle funded solely by blood money and barely 10 years in prison.

To a sociopath like Bernie Madoff, that’s not such a bad deal.

Fox Business Network is losing one of its stars and its vice president of news. Alexis Glick has announced she will be leaving Fox Business for a new unspecified venture.

"I’m about to embark on a new venture…. I can’t give any details yet," she said on her show.

Damn, I wonder what the venture is? She had a pretty sweet gig at Fox and was a popular anchor on both Fox News and Fox Business.

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin delivered a much anticipated speech to the world’s top investors at a conference in Hong Kong. She discussed a wide range of issues including the U.S. budget deficit, health care, foreign policy, The Federal Reserve, trade policy, and China.

Media wasn’t allowed at the event, but no doubt someone has a video of the speech. I’ll post it when I find it.

From the WSJ:

The Federal Reserve chose a labor leader to succeed a former Goldman Sachs executive as the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of New York’s private-sector board of directors.

Denis Hughes, president of the New York state branch of the AFL-CIO, had been serving as acting chairman of the New York Fed board since May, when Stephen Friedman stepped down from the position.

Put big labor in charge, that’s the ticket!

This calls for a repost of the best union ad ever:

Here’s how the media treated a recovering and then soaring economy under Bush and how they’re treating the economy under Obama.

(hat tip Gateway Pundit)

Here’s president Obama talking about his bailout of the UAW GM: