The Disciples of Nihilism

What a week for accountability. AIG needs more money, but their executives are so out of control, they hold a getaway for themselves and spend half a million dollars. And what happens to them? Nothing. There are no sanctions announced. No public condemnation reaches the ear of the average listener. And why? First, because Congress doesn't have the backbone to take a firm stand, and second, our elected representatives, who are supposed to be representing us, are probably jealous as hell that they can't do the same thing.
The President, the most incompetent man on earth, tells us that everything will be fine, but does he really know? We now have whole countries hitting the skids and Iceland doesn't even come to us to help them out. What does that say about our reputation abroad?
Maureen Dowd talked about the similarities to Rome in her column today, including a section in incomprehensible Latin. (Note: I took Latin for two and a half years in high school, but I hardly remember a word.) I've had the same thought for years. Admittedly, I was in love with the idea of derivatives when I worked for a Wall Street firm, but mostly because I thought there was at least someone with their hand on the controls. I believed in the system.
Okay, while you're laughing, I will say this. I was wrong. The system was inspired and run by Gordon Gekko types with no concerns except for the size of their wallets. In the spirit of un-accountability, they were happy to pass off the responsibility to someone else, comforting themselves with the fact that they could easily find someone else to blame if things went wrong.
This brings us back to AIG. In Congressional testimony this week, the executives of AIG flatly denied responsibility for the failure of their company. They actually had the nerve to blame the framework of regulations that they worked so hard to circumvent. One columnist I read put it so well; he said that's like blaming the fever on the thermometer. Even Maurice Greenberg, who spent years building AIG into a global presence and was at the helm when these derivatives became popular, sent a letter to Congress saying it was his successors' fault, which, as I said, they denied.
I think it's easy to see my point. Someone is responsible, and it's not the shareholders who got wiped out.
Here's what should be done: First, the executives who went away for the retreat and completely ignored their moral responsibility should be billed by the government, and the bill should be payable immediately, in cash.
Second, the executives who authorized the retreat should have to work without compensation for five years to help clean up the mess they made. Third, they should also have to stand on a stage in front of a national, primetime TV audience and apologize to their shareholders and the American people.
I know what you're thinking; don't hold your breath. But recommending this kind of public sanction by a member of Congress would show some real leadership and would lift their public ratings out of the high teens where they now reside. And we all know why they won't do it; because all they care about is getting re-elected and corporations and lobbyists pump much more money into Congressional coffers than Joe or Jane sixpack.
So what we have are elected puppets, whose noses are drawn to the dank smell of fresh money, whose eyesight is clouded by the comfortable blanket of indifferent, "objective" media, and whose ears are deaf to the cries of the people they are supposed to represent. The epitome of impotence. And yet they carry themselves with egotistical swagger based on a dying reputation for relevance.
Let's see how many incumbents get re-elected next month. Then we will see if the American people have the courage to hold their elected representatives accountable. It's got to start somewhere.