comment #1

DeafBrownTrashPunk says ...

I just read Anne's announcement on her blog and I couldn't believe it. What a shame!!! Here's hoping she finds another good job soon.

comment #2

The InSneider says ...

Thanks for the kind words Gruver but you'll always be "The Jeff" to me.

I'll be posting some Best and Worst of '08 lists soon on The InSneider. Stay tuned...

comment #3

Josh Massey says ...

"Shame on the Republican ay-holes who are fighting Obama on the stimulus package..."

Have you actually read the stimulus package? I have read quite a bit of it, and am finding it difficult to figure out how it intends to actually stimulate the economy. It's probably the most pork-filled bill in the country's history.

The last thing it's interested in is actually stimulating economic growth, and fixing events like the one that transpired at Variety today (not that that's the government's role in the first place).

comment #4

Pinko Punko says ...

Josh, seriously, just eat it. Spending money stimulates the economy. Giving rich people money that they invest in worthless stock bubbles and big ticket luxury items does not stimulate the economy. In fact, the Bush tax cuts went to directly fuel our fake economy and its bloated bubble.

Sorry to AT and Insneider.

comment #5

corey3rd says ...

has anyone figured out how much Variety lost in advertising when the Oscars moved up a month? How much cash did they lose in "for your consideration" action?

comment #6

shawn says ...

Anne Thompson is as good as this biz of writing about the inner workings of show gets.

Shame on the person who pulled that tirgger.

Don't let the bastards get you down, Anne!

comment #7

BurmaShave says ...

Hey Sneider, hang tough. Best of luck in your future endeavors.

comment #8

LYT says ...

This news makes me despair.

No film writer in print is indispensable any more. No one is safe. Anybody see a viable future for film writing beyond geek sites that do it mostly for the love?

comment #9

DeafBrownTrashPunk says ...

LYT, it's just the economy... but hopefully we will recover soon!

comment #10

LYT says ...

I think the economy is hastening it...but it coincides with a downsizing trend in print media that was going on before this latest downturn.

comment #11

Ray says ...

Unbelievable. She's one of the greats. Variety is cutting their own throat with this one.

comment #12

Josh Massey says ...

"Spending money stimulates the economy."

Here's a partial list of what this bill is spending money on (no, it is not a conservative blog). Look through it, and get back to me about how 90% of those items can possibly have the desired effect of stimulating the economy.

"Giving rich people money..."

See, that's the problem. First, you see an absurd amount of people as "rich," when they may show a big income but use it to support a business and pay employee salaries. Second, and most importantly, you consider letting people keep their own money as "giving" it to them.

comment #13

nemo says ...

Josh, you're going have to be a lot more specific about what you consider pork in that list. I don't see it.

Modernizing the nation's electrical grid? Improvements in ports of entry for security? Road and bridge work? Health centers? Head Start? Military hospitals and VA medical facilities? Homeless prevention? FEMA? Nurse and doctor training? So where's the pork?

These sound like excellent uses of stimulus money. Far better use of the money than our useless war in Iraq, or all that TARP money that went to banks that are just sitting on it.

No, these don't directly provide jobs and job security for the average person. But they do stimulate the economy while accomplishing something useful, unlike the Iraq war or TARP.

Look, the right wing loves to say that WWII was what finally pulled the US out of the Great Depression. What they fail to say is that WWII spending was a huge Keynesian stimulus from the government that was politically palatable to the right wing. WWII spending also did not directly benefit the average working person, but it had a hell of a big stimulus effect on the economy as a whole.

That's what this stimulus spending is supposed to do, but also get some useful things accomplished at the same time. So far, the list doesn't look too bad. Thanks for the link, but it doesn't prove your point. Quite the opposite as a matter of fact.

comment #14

PastePotPete says ...

I don't see it either. Frankly all of those sound like far better uses of our tax money than some of the more extreme military waste spending. We're spending $337bil on stealth aircraft that aren't stealth! It makes the stimulus sound cheap.

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2009/01/report-joint-st.html

comment #15

Hickenlooper says ...

Yesterday was a little unsettling. For the first time I heard economists using the term "Soft Depression" and not "Recession" to explain the current financial climate. Two on CNBC felt the national unemployment figures would peak at about 23 percent this summer. They are currently and quickly fast approaching 10 percent. There is a real chill in the air.

comment #16

Joel says ...

The stimulus package has a broken window fallacy type of feel to it. I'm not sure the government should sit by, but I really think we should just tough it out instead of creating more long-term problems.