February 4, 2009

U.S. President adds eligibility cap to bailout

Per the New York Times, "President Obama announced on Wednesday a salary cap of $500,000 for top executives at companies that receive the largest amounts of money under the $700 billion federal bailout, calling the step an expression not only of fairness but of 'basic common sense.'"

It did not take long for American twitterers to weigh in.

@danibabb (Calif.): $500k exec pay cap from Obama 2day ABSURD. U think a REALLY GOOD CEO is going 2 work 4 half a mil a year? GOVT needs to stay out of private!

@anne_wilson (Cambridge, Mass.): Kudos, President Obama, on the executive salary cap. http://tinyurl.com/b6vp6l

@denniskuntz questioned whether Obama had the authority for such a move.

@denniskuntz (Charlotte, N.C.): Wait, where does it say Obama can cap exec salaries? Must be in here somewhere...right? *flips through Constitution* #tcot

The most retweeted voice on the subject was Tom Peters, an American writer on business management practices. Dozens retweeted his opinion, shortly after author @DanielPink posted a link to it.

@tvbarn (Kansas City, Mo.): Tom Peters supports Obama's salary cap: "The myth of the irreplaceable CEO is just that - myth." http://twurl.nl/j005ul - via @DanielPink


United States of Africa?

Per the Sunday Nation of Kenya, "The African Union has made remarkable progress towards its grand goal of a single government for the continent." At their meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the gathering of heads of state discussed the idea of their "Grand plan" for 12 hours: a United States of Africa.

Early indications on Twitter showed Africans were skeptical about the idea.

@seunosewa (Nigeria): @nubiancounsel: a United States of Africa is impossible: first, we'll need united towns, united states, tribes, and countries. Not possible!

@mosilager (Lusaka, Zambia): @lrakoto the leaders of africa... they can't rule their countries properly and now they want to rule the whole continent!

@msfour, an American in Cairo per her bio, did not offer an opinion, but she made note of the news.

@msfour (Cairo, Egypt): qaddafi wants one africa with one passport and one military: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/03/world/africa/03africa.html?_r=1


Unemployment on rise in Spain

Per EuroNews, nearly 200,000 Spaniards lost their jobs in January, the highest toll for a single month in the country's history. Spain's unemployment rate is about 14 percent (3.3 million), the highest of any nation in the European Union, according to the report.

The tweets tell the story.

@Ayram (Salamanca): Buscando trabajo para Verano. No importa de qué. Si alguien tiene algo que avise. Preferiblemente Bilbao, Madrid o Barcelona. (Looking for summer work. No matter what. If someone has something tell. Preferably Bilbao, Madrid or Barcelona.)

@ivanmh (Madrid): Lo más triste es que no hay trabajo ni para quienes quieran hacerlo de gratis. Y asi @grotuk quería hace meses que yo fuera optimista. (The saddest thing is that there is no work for those who want to do it for free. And so @grotuk since months ago I have wanted to be optimistic.)

@mgdarrell (Madrid): Spain has been hit very hard by econ. crisis. As of today most on my job are owed 3 months back pay. Times are tough.