Understatement of the Week: Eric Seligson

Gucci employees in Shenzhen, China, allege their employer is brutal, making them stand for 14-hour stretches without food or water, among other complaints.

Management abuses were so rough, employees said, several pregnant employees -- who were also denied food and water during shifts -- miscarried.

Gucci is owned by French company Pinault-Printempts-Redoute. And here is what a Gucci spokesman said about the alleged abuse, The Daily Telegraph reported Saturday:

"Gucci has proactively engaged external consultants to conduct a comprehensive review to support ongoing actions that can enhance our organizational structure, the welfare and training of our people, talent recruitment and retention and other business practices in China."

Is this French translated to Chinese and then translated to English or is meaningless jargon a universal language?

Anyway, that's a runner-up UPI Understatement of the Week.

This week's understatement of the week also falls into the category of odd jargon in that there was no correct response to billionaire investor Warren Buffett's offer to pay more taxes other than something like, "OK, let's do that."

Still, Republicans have come up with a different response. Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan., thought ideology should trump common sense and he challenged Buffett to reveal his 2010 return to make sure an article Buffett published a few weeks back was accurate.

That would be something on the order of someone saing, "Can I write you a check -- a rather large one?" and the recipient saying, "Well, maybe yes and maybe no, but I get to kick you first, OK?"

Then when Buffett came forth with the figures Huelsamp requested, that left room for sniping, as well. "By sheltering millions of dollars of income from taxation through charitable giving, Mr. Buffett demonstrates that he doesn't trust Washington with his own money either," Huelskamp told CNNMoney.

Again, the question was, "Can I write you a check?" And Huelskamp's answer is, "Ha-ha, you're a closet malcontent, just like me!"

With politicians ready to muddy up the waters that defiantly, some pundits this week even postulated that the Tea Party and the Occupy Wall Street group were, essentially, the same ... each of them anti-Washington malcontents wearing different clothing.

Summing this all up is a quote from Eric Seligson of New York City's Brooklyn borough, as lifted from an article this week that appeared in The Moderate Voice.

"The Tea Party is the opposite of Occupy Wall Street," Seligson said.

"The only thing we have in common is our homemade signs."