Saturday, February 14, 2009
Chasing the Sun
The American media's insistence that Barack Obama is a clone of Abraham Lincoln will nonetheless inspire more Americans than any other politician since Roosevelt. In fact, Obama's first Address to Congress ended with a crush of autograph-seeking congressmen acting like kids at a Miley Cyrus concert. The most significant sound bite from the Obama speech, however, was his promise to hold Wall Street accountable for their actions. Captain "Sulley" Sullenberger, who many consider a biocybernetic reproduction for landing an airliner on the Hudson River, is even more incredible considering how many financial high flyers, having steamrolled the world economy into the ground, are falling out of the sky over Manhattan. Like pengiuns on an iceburg heading for Maui, millions of investors simply baked in the sun and enjoyed the ride while it lasted.
With the economy in free fall, take the recent example of the hedge fund manager who, after defrauding investors of hundreds of millions and revealed only by a collapsing stock market, set his plane on autopilot and parachuted out in a bid to fake his own death and continue the fraud in another country.
Citigroup received 45 billion in taxpayer bailout money and like out of control lottery winners, went out and bought a 50 million dollar corporate jet. Citi people say the money will not be coming out of government bailout money, but rather shareholder funds now accessible because of government bailout money. Not surprisingly, the CEOs of the Big Three automakers are complaining the loudest, having been forced to trade in their corporate jets for domestic cars.
Consider the CEO of Merrill Lynch, who was handing out billions in bonuses to employees, while at the same time telling the U.S. government that he required an additional 20 billion of federal bailout money to stay afloat. Four billion in bonuses were given out in 2007, and his compensation package alone was worth 83 million for the year. Nonetheless, he still billed the company 1.2 million for renovations to his office while the company was losing billions and laying off thousands of employees.
The CEO of Leyman Brothers, under investigation for fraud and insider trading, "sold" his 50 million dollar Palm Beach mansion to his wife for one dollar to keep it out of the hands of regulators.
In light of the successful landing on the Hudson River, the CEO of American Airlines recently announced that he will equip aircraft flying over water with enough life rafts for all 236 passengers on board. This is up from the 228 they were previously able to accomodate. The CEO decided that in the case of a water landing, too much time would be taken up arguing over which of the 8 extra passengers end up going down with the plane.
Whether historical amnesia or deja vu, ten years from now another stimulus package surpassing the 787 billion of '09 will be chasing another iceburg full of penguins, baking in the sun and heading for Maui. Obama will no longer be in office to rescue colonies but according to the American media, there's always Lincoln.