Enough Already

Jesus.

Watching the news these days is like being treated to a bloody train wreck. I can barely stand it. Doom and gloom: Wall Street melt downs, scary unemployment figures and sour earnings reports.

Enough.

And then, in a league of its own, is the insurance giant, AIG. I cannot seem to get my head around how screwed up the whole situation is. How in the world can the captains of that ship discuss bonuses with a straight face? Fail miserably and get paid to do so? It's mind boggling. I heard the most recent defense which claimed that these monies had to be retained to keep the "talent".

Really.

I'd say, roll the dice baby. Where is the "talent" going to go? They are part of the problem and the unspoken threat is that they might leave the company if they didn't receive bonuses? What does one say to that?

Umm...thank you? I'd be helping them to pack up their offices.

Obviously, some of those employees knew that they'd just won the lottery because over 52 of them collected nearly $34 million and promptly left the company.

And then there is Bernie Madoff and his extended family. After financially ruining the lives of so many people and confessing to those sins in a packed courtroom, this guy has the unmitigated gall to ask that he be granted permission to live in his luxury penthouse until the day of his sentencing. Is it just me or is that unbelievably inappropriate?

His wife, sitting on sixty million worth of assets, continues to proclaim that the family was ignorant to the scheme.

Oh please.

She was the freaking bookkeeper for 50 years. Regardless of when she knew, every luxury that she enjoys today came at the expense of thousands of ordinary people. If she were a principled, decent human being, she'd be doing her part to return as much money as possible to those that have been fleeced.

I guess the thing that has me shaking my head is the overwhelming sense of entitlement that we are witnessing from the likes of General Motors, AIG, the Madoff clan and others who now find themselves in dire straits. Maybe to them, a million here, a billion there is merely chump change but they've forgotten who has funded them. It is regular taxpayers, struggling to make their mortgage payments, juggling credit card bills with newly higher interest rates, taking on a second job or looking for a new one after being laid off, clipping grocery coupons, skipping the family holiday or laying awake at night wondering when it will all get better who have given up a portion of their revenue to underwrite the mistakes and excesses of others.

We haven't forgotten, though. These are very hard lessons that several generations of people have been forced to learn. We are not likely to forget anytime soon.