Oy, Oy. Why is this guy complicit in a "bonus scam?" He signed a contract for services and his letter rightly points out the hypocrisy of Messrs. Liddy and Cuomo. To that list he could have added gutless congressmen, hysterical newspersons and bloggers, and those economic experts organizing bus trips to burn crosses in the lawns of bonus recipients. This obsession with a minute blip in our economic crisis, and one that is mostly misunderstood, is actually going to end up causing long term damage. Sounds like Rush of the left.If you are conducting business with an intent to deceive, that qualifies as a scam in my book. That's why people are so angry. We're told one thing is happening to our money, when reality is quite another. We trusted that everyone invested in one, open market, when our money was really in some back room with a bunch of bookies making bets in bespoke suits.
By the same token, a scheme in which you sell your services to the public for $1 and fashion yourself a martyr when you're in fact a million dollar mercenary (because, let's face it, $750,000 after taxes means $1 million plus, before taxes), and obscure that fact under a ton of fine print -- doesn't exactly strike me as transparent. Worse yet, it plays the taxpayer for a dupe.
And just because it may be technically legal doesn't make it right. Many confidence games are perfectly legal. DeSantis had clever lawyers who, in cooperation with Geithner, helped him dance between the raindrops, is all.
That said, I don't begrudge DeSantis his intelligence, competence and work ethic that lead to his success. I give him credit for having the courage to take a stand for what he believes is true, even if it's an opposing point of view in a decidedly hostile climate.
Unfortunately, he only corroborated that he and his ilk exist in a rarefied bubble of entitlement. It is not the man himself, but the entire culture, of which he is a product, and for which he proudly stands, as evidenced by his defiance, that is being implicated here. He may be a lovely person, kind to small children and animals, but that's beside the point.
A true show of character might've been to return the bonus, thank his lucky stars he's comfortable enough to take some time off, book a flight to Aruba and STFU. Rather, he chose to grandstand in the New York Times, using his resignation letter to demand moral restitution from all the people who have wronged him, and to trumpet his noblesse oblige.
He may not have killed the goose that laid the golden egg, but that goose was good to him for a very long time, and for him to use a major media platform to whine about being misunderstood is so very... Marie Antoinette. Even if he was treated a little unfairly, suck it up. The people standing on line at food pantries and unemployment offices don't want to hear it.
To say we're missing the point, misses the point. AIG has become a potent symbol, and symbols have a habit of transcending the signifier. It's not about DeSantis or his cohorts, but what they represent. This can be dangerous, of course, and I don't agree with the posturing of certain lawmakers and attorneys general who leverage it for political gain, but to pooh-pooh the public's justified frustration is also not the answer. People become angry when they think they are not being heard.
You suggest we've lost the forest for the trees, but the reaction to AIG and all its subplots IS the big picture. Dragging ourselves out of this mess will require restoring confidence -- winning the hearts and minds of the people, if you will -- and responding with a patronizing "Calm down," or, "There are more important things to think about," or, "It's all perfectly legal," isn't going to accomplish that.
No one is advocating burning down houses. (Okay, some are, but they're in the vast minority and reactions to it are just as hysterical -- how many people showed up for that bus tour of AIG exec homes... 20?) The mere sight of a few unwashed investors expressing disapproval over contracts prompted AIG's captains of industry to gather up their skirts and run screaming into their secure compounds. With the exception of Mr. DeSantis, of course, who appeared briefly in a window to shake his fist at the crowd before quickly drawing behind the curtain.
Maybe what they actually fear is that the public reaction will bring about something scarily radical like a measure of finance reform that helps protect and strengthen the market. Or even more terrifying, perhaps it will encourage Geithner to drive a slightly harder bargain next time.
As for the comparison to El Rushbo, all I can say is he fills out pit boss attire -- all 40 yards of it -- better than I do.
Anonymous, thanks for your comment. It's nice to know someone out there is reading.
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