Impressive moves by Paul Hastings lately. Most impressive.

PE bullied Discover Card into dropping its fees for exceeding the credit limit. He is a tiger in court.

he also bullied me into dropping my pants as a first-year. he is a tiger in the supply room as well.

The fact that the Heller link isnt working enrages me. I am close to being overcome with the type of all encompassing fury that is generally only felt by Elie on Christmas when he finds that the doughnut shop is closed for the Holiday.

Since firms don't publish detailed financials, It's certain that many other firms are playing the same games right now. I'm sure lenders will have taken notice and may be taking another look at firm's facility schedules.

Everyone is always impressed with PH until the 3rd day of orientation when everyone is shown the Coat Hanger room.

Offers to 91 out of 97 summers at Weil NY.

So the odds are just posted on what former Heller Ehrman partners are going to be disbarred.

never trust anyone or anything based out of Norcal.

- SoCal Stud

If the law is unjust and the judge judges according to the law that is justice, even if it is unjust.

Alan Paton

Off-topic, but I need one of y'all whiz kids to help me out here. I see that worker productivity rose by an astonishing 6% last quarter. The media ALWAYS reports productivity rise as a good thing, because it supposedly equates with a higher standard of living.

My question is this - why can't a higher productivity mean that people are working their assess off to make the same paycheck / work the same hours? That is, can't productivity spikes reflect worsened working conditions? I assume not, since it's never reported like this. Explain to me why. Please.

Preet Bharara doesn't have a wikipedia page. Who's up to the challenge?

Higher productivity just means higher quantity of output holding inputs steady. Has nothing to do with the workload of those producing. More production = more supply, which means more availability of goods, and also lower price (since there's less competition for a particular good if there's more supply). This, higher SOL. In theory.

14 - ty! So a drop in consumption will appear as a rise in productivity?

I'd really like to go back in time and kick those Heller management people in the nads. And YES that includes Phyllis -- you know she only wore scarves all the time for one reason. Hey Matt -- not the smartest guy in the room after all, eh? Just a common crook.

Impressive moves by PHJW? Unless you're a patent attorney or working in LA on white collar crime matters, I fail to see how anyone at PH will be affected, other than having to foot the tabs of some more expensive partners (Luc rings a bell).

15,
Consumption has to do with demand. Production relates to supply. Reread 14's correct post on the subject.

- not 14

14, and if people are paid their marginal product per work unit their wages will go up as well. Let's see how that works out in this economy.

19 - unclear. WTF you talkin bout willis?

15 - you're hoplessly lost. As 18 says, the two are different concepts. A drop in consumption means less sales for the producer. So earnings fall, wages/incomes fall, prices may eventually decline (since again, supply outweighs demand). The goods have already been produced.

Here's what you do. On a graph, draw two lines in an X. Label one supply and the other demand. From there, it's all rather intuitive. If your results don't seem right, try switching the labels.

Snarky 14

20/14 - You see the problem now, don't you? If productivity is purely a measure of supply holding inputs steady, then, yes, higher productivity could reflect people working harder and with greater burdens to increase supply. "Using easy process A, worker can make 4 parts in 4 man-hours with 4 pounds of material. Using more difficult/arduous process B, worker can make 5 parts in 4 man-hours with 4 pounds of material"

Your waving this away in post 14 probably led to 15's mistake that productivity was merely an inventory measurement.

21 - what's your point. I'm sure there is a website somewhere that let's you figure out exactly what the government is computing, and assuming, when they put out productivity numbers. The rest is just math. How you interpret what that COULD mean is a different topic. Since I'm busy producing billable hours (read: contract review and happy to have it), maybe you can go to the BLS or GAO or BEA and figure it out for us.

http://www.bls.gov/lpc/peoplebox.htm

Turns out you can cut wages, and - unless people throw wrenches into the system - boost productivity by producing exactly the same amount of crap.

9- roughly the same as any laid-off employee ever receiving their severance check... that money is gone gone GONE, baby.

on a related note- odds that matt larrabee is still a twatwaffle: even.

23 - ty!

I don't understand why it's always "yay! productivity it up!" I'm sure they have model productivity at labor camps.

I would like to see a Heller dedicated post. It would be interesting to see if there is any more information/analysis out there (either via the official post or the comment speculation).

25 - don't get too excited. You cut wages too much, and people either leave, drop out of the workforce, or take long ass breaks or surf ATL all day long, reducing output. It's all elastic.

Like any ratio, it can be moved by altering either component. You're smart to look behind the numbers and ask why a metric went one way or the other. But don't think you're smarter than everyone by 'discovering' that a positive may actually be a negative. If you think increased productivity is BS in one period, look at the inputs quarter over quarter and find out why. Either labor went down, or output went up. It's not a mystery to figure out which.

I second the request for a dedicated Heller thread.

29: Third request for dedicated Heller thread.

Let's hope that someone like Bernie Madoff can *ss-fuck that smile off of Matt Larrabee's face we saw in all the articles last week.

Oh yeah - and may he use sand for lube.

http://hellerdrone.wordpress.com/2009/08/11/updated-docket-sheet-everyones-gettin-fat-cept/

First Canadian to say it's cruel and unusual not to put that freak out of HIS misery and hang HIM.

your debt