Congress, the media, Wall Street honchos. Enough already. Let's start doing what you're paid to be doing.
Congress spends most of its time trying to get re-elected. Okay, the auto executives have no sense of modesty. But, is their flying down to DC worth more than one 5-minute harangue? Shouldn't Congress be analyzing the companies' plans for salvation? Yes, AIG was arrogant in spending our money on bonuses to the people who wrecked the company. But, why was the company allowed to pay its counterparties in full although the underlying investments were still solid? Why can't the financial products division be isolated so that it no longer continues to infect the entire company?
Is Congress really the cause of the media's devotion to trivialities? Are all opinions equal and deserving of equal play? Is economics the reason for the preponderance of 'reality' shows on television? Are the arts dead? How can a tv network devote months of daily coverage to the death of one girl in the Caribbean? Do the "pundits" demonstrate anything but the ability to be rude and the ability to yell? How often does one hear reasoned analysis of our current situation? Why does the media remain so insular and chauvinistic?
Okay, Wall Street may have always been a different world. But it has really become divorced from planet earth in this century. When did it become necessary to pay retention bonuses every year? Is it really necessary to pay brokers so much money? Shouldn't the stockholders get some of the profits? Whatever happened to investing for the long term? Should they have spent fortunes investing in securities hardly any of them understood? Why are they upset and threatening to take their marbles because the majority owner - us - starts to exert a modicum of control?
It is the first day of spring. I should relax.
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