I’m
watching the news
today as the stock
markets enter into
free fall. Not a
pretty sight is it?
It amazes me that
the powers that be
could not see these
situations coming
many months ago. Two
years ago, when I
was in New York one
of the large
investment banking
firms announced
their annual
bonuses. The
average, get this;
the average bonus
was over $600,000
per eligible
employee. There were
numerous complaints
about a shortage of
Lamborghinis and
Rolls Royces. I felt
really sorry for
those guys, imagine
having all that
money and not being
able to find a
decent car in the
entire city. It
broke my heart.
Not really.
Looking in our local
paper this past
weekend, I found 19
pages in the sports
section and 6 in the
business section.
That should tell you
something about our
American mentality.
We seem to be more
obsessed over some
pro football
player’s girlfriend
than we are with the
leaders of our
largest banks and
investment
institutions handing
out huge bonuses and
feathering their own
nests.
And do they feather
their nests. If you
and I operated a
business that was a
loss, I venture to
say that when we
left the company or
closed it down,
there would not be
much left in the
till for us to take
with us. Wall Street
must operate on a
different set of
rules.
The majority of the
high paid executives
end up with
multi-million dollar
severance packages
in spite of the fact
that the companies
they were leading
lost millions of
dollars. This makes
zero sense to me.
It’s almost as if we
are rewarding people
for inadequate
behavior. Something
along the lines of……
“we’ll pay you more
if you make our
stock lose more
value.” What a deal.
I wish I had one.
So, this week with
the sky falling all
around them, these
corporate executives
are running from
pillar to post
trying to stay in
business. And it
appears they aren’t
having too much
luck. I don’t know
about you, but
making a $750,000
house loan to
someone with a
$35,000 a year
income doesn’t seem
to be very smart to
me. But what do I
know; I’m not a
corporate executive
who is savvy with
Wall Street and its
machinations. From
my viewpoint it
looks to me that as
long as money was
coming into the
system, the things
seemed to be
alright.
It was when the
money stopped coming
that things started
to go downhill in a
hurry. I seem to
recall some guy
named Ponzi tried
this back in the
1930’s and it failed
then as well.
Now these bright,
brilliant Harvard
graduates are asking
the taxpayers (you
and me) to bail them
out of their
financial mess.
They’re telling the
media that they are
simply too large and
too important to be
allowed to fail.
Imagine that.
If you and I go out
on a limb and buy a
grocery store that
doesn’t make it, I
can’t see good old
Uncle Sam rushing in
to write us a check
which would allow us
to stay in business.
And I’d bet you and
I would think we
were pretty
important and
shouldn’t be allowed
to fail. Our kids
have gotten used to
eating.
Don’t be standing
too long in any one
place, the finger
pointing is growing
in intensity and you
could be singled out
to be the culprit
even though you
might just be a New
York City tourist.
These guys remind me
of rats leaving a
sinking ship. Only
this time, it was
the rats who caused
the ship to sink in
the first place.
Greed and power will
do it every time.
While I have nothing
against people
making money, more
power to them, I do
take offense to
those who are doing
so at the expense of
others or that
profit by unsound
business practices.
I have applied for
many bank loans in
my many years of
business, and all of
them required me to
prove a sound
business plan as to
how I intended to
pay the loans back.
It looks to me as if
the people on Wall
Street should
practice what they
preach.
