Worrisome

A Rolling Stone article on AIG and what the hell happened to the financial system. Get past the bitter beginning and it does a fairly good job of explaining the backstory. Hat tip, Naveen.

After all this, there will be a movement to re-regulate the banking industry and I'm sure it will go too far and the political bureaucrats will insist on having too much "hand" in the proceedings. It'll probably make things worse for awhile. Smart regulation is the right response, but the chances of that are about as likely as smart, ethical management in the first place. A better bet is the Cub's winning the world series.

What I think the world needs right now is a little boost of shame. What - in general - stops power grubbing tyrants from infecting the world with their miserable schemes? I think social shame should play a larger factor. I remember a moment in ALL THE PRESIDENTS MEN when a man comes forward to tell the truth about Nixon's cronies - and does so because his wife threatens to leave him if he doesn't. What happened to people like that? (I know it's a movie...but the point remains...)

All these guys running these crazy schemes and obviously getting paid tons of money to create nothing but paper wealth...everyone knows it's a scam, especially the people involved. Clearly, we need banks and insurance companies, blah, blah, we all know that. But the level of excess over these past 10 years (and prior) was obvious to all those involved and both a high and medium level. I mean, these dudes taking home millions a year must ask themselves at night - what did I add to the world over the course of this year to justify this amount of money? To be honest - I ask myself the same damn question and am making shit money and secretly suspect I might be overpaid. But then again, I'm a bit weird and feel guilty every time I see a cop and in every job I work am pretty sure think I'm about to be fired. But enough about me.

Who are these people's parents? Friends? Siblings? Significant others?

Cassano should fear his father's shame when he tells him the disgusting amount of money he's being paid to package bad loans together and disguise it as good debt. His father should say, "Don't you work at an insurance company? What the hell are you guys doing making loans?" But long prior to that, who are these people who reward the guy for being an out of control gambler with no accountability? Can't you tell what you're getting when you hire a guy like that? When you train him to be CEO? Shit, his grade school teachers should of been harder on him. His poker opponents should of wiped him out with his over aggressive betting.

As for the entire brain trust at AIG - they ought to fear their wives withholding sex for their bad behavior. They should fear their children's shame at school. These fears should motivate people working at these companies to "do the right thing." Other businessmen should refuse to do business with them.

But instead, as a society, we kiss the asses of these paper tigers. We call them risk takers. High earners. And we all take the money - the kids, the wives, the mistresses, the restaurants, the business partners, and the employees.