Microsoft boss loses $7 billion

While you are at it Bill, lend me a bill or two.

How does one lose $7 billion? Surely IT Simply Rest Elsewhere in some Software? Energising AIMaJIC Accounts, ITs Role/Source.

I worked for Charter before their demise when the stock options were at $20+ and everyone thought the future looked bright. My MBA brain said otherwise and the very few brains in the company new the truth as well. I think they were trading at around a dollar when I left.

Paul Allen called all the shots secretly and then found fall guys to take the rap for his blunders. For a company of a founder of Microsoft we were at the ass end of technology. A co-worker of mine is the one who turned in all the VPs for falsifying subscriber counts and keeping two sets of books. It was hilarious - most the energy of mid management was waisted continually re-forcasting budgets in hopes of improving our bleak outlook by shuffling numbers around. Instead they should have been focused on getting and keeping customers. My personal gripe against Charter is they worked us 60 to 70 hours per week and only paid us for 40 hours. Lots of off the books overtime. Paul treated us all like crap. I hope he goes bust. Don't know if its true but some of the VP's said Paul has his own personal submarine with missiles.

Funniest thing is when they finally laid off a bunch of people they went with the idea that old cable people were of value and young smart people must go. You couldn't a better job of sabotaging the company. The only people left standing were the most incompetent old codgers with not a clue of how to improve the business. If Paul hadn't bankrolled Charter they would have bust long ago.It was probably a personal competitiveness thing. Bill Gates owned a chunk of Cox and Paul couldn't admit his company was pathatic.

He ruined TechTV. The only reason Microsoft is the company it is today is because Bill Gates.

Shad, you can't blame world banking for government failure. The U.S loathing of a strong Federal government that enforces strong regulations over markets (they love a truely Free market) caused this mess. Banks, like all corporations, exist soley to chase profits. We all know this, they owe nothing to noone but their shareholders (ie the public, are NOT important unless they own stock) Lending to everyone + their dog was because instead of real policy, the U.S reserve cut rates and threw gobs of greenbacks at the market. With this glut, banks almost literally gave money away (Banks make nothing with money on their hands) The world got screwed because it did what it always did, buy U.S securities and financial products. The same 'new' and 'sophisticated' financial products (CDOs) then, like a time bomb, blew up in their faces. The U.S banks, unfortunately, didn't manage to dump them all on foreigners, and so promptly cried poor to congress and got bailed. (Though it IS much better for everyone that it was saved than to have a complete financial system collapse)
The U.S got screwed because of capitol hill's love affair with the laize-affaire (Sp) economic policy. The banks did what they always did, and the market does what it always does. They played by the rules. This 'crisis' wasn't caused by shady deals and corruption. The rulemakers, (Gov) dropped the ball and they must now rewrite the rules and, DRED! play a real role in the market.

Why is so much news being devoted to the EFFECT of the current economic recession?

God knows how many thousand jobs lost this month.

We are all feeling the effect.

How about the news concentrating on the cause? The banks got us into this mess. Why don’t we see the CEO’s or Directors and their upper management having their assets seized and liquidated? Why don’t we see them prosecuted for gross incompetence?

No, what we see is the entire world plunged into economic decay, jobs being lost left right and centre because the banks are scared shitless to do anything.

1% interest rate? That’s the savers screwed. Mortgage owners, how come they don’t have the same interest rate?

Repossessions because of negative equity on a house or job loss is fucking taking the piss.

If the majority suffers because of the actions of a minority, who should know what they are doing, they should be made to suffer along with us. Or they should take the honourable route of a self-inflicted revolver round to the head.

Paul Allen was quoted in The Economist's "The World in 2009":

"I believe a real acceleration in progress and innovation comes from the open sharing of ideas and collaboration".

[Admittedly he was talking about medical research rather than software development ... but it looks like only a matter of time before he's saying that Linux is a great OS].

Great, absolutely fantastic! All large cable operators are trying to establish a communications monopoly. Instead of opening their network, selling an unrestricted Internet (no blocking in any direction), they limit it to favor the MAFIAA. Well, Charter Communications, and in particular Paul Allen, are now paying for their own arrogance, bêtise, craving for power and greed.