The Night Gallery of Corporate America and the Banking Industry

The news just keeps getting "stranger" with each day that passes. Citizens are urged to "make sacrifices" and tighten their belts, and government officials promise that saving the economy will take the work of everyone. It seems that banks and Wall Street feel that they are not part of "everyone."
When a bank such as Northern Trust, or Wells Fargo accepts tax-payer bailout funds, then they have joined the ranks of "everyone." Outrageous expenses on parties, lavish foods, highest priced hotel accomodations, and entertaining that ordinary people just can't afford seems to scream out "We don't care what you do without, because we don't have to do without anything." Northern Trust stated that they did not ask for the bailout funds. I cannot imagine an armored truck pulling up to Northern Trust's door, bandishing weapons and demanding that the safe be opened so that they could pour the billions of dollars into the coffers. It is more of a stretch of the imagination than Night Gallery. If it was a hostage situation where bank CEO's were held against their will and the money stuffed into their pockets by government agents, then I could understand their dilemna. This did not nor has it ever happened. Their open hands took the money and decided that now it was "party time."
If the Obama administration could do one thing while in office, it should be to make it plain, simple, and mandatory that banking and Wall Street "higher ups" do not make fools out of the American taxpayers, and that they share in the misery that they have created. There is a lot of finger pointing, but one thing is for sure. It did not happen overnight, it did not happen since January 20, 2009 when President Obama took office, and it did not happen because of the expertise of these highly educated and valued employees. It happened because of greed, stupidity and down right blatant "me and not you" attitudes. If you did not want the money Northern Trust, then return it, and ask your guests to pay the tab, and not the American people. You could have made corporate contacts at a much less lavish scandal then the one you flaunted in the face of the nation. So if the American people point their fingers, it should be at corporate America and the banking industry. There has never been in the history of America such a significant gap between those who have and those who have not, and especially in those who take and those who have to give. Taxpayers do not have a choice, they have to pay their taxes or face the penalties. Corporate and Banking CEO's do have a choice, as does the automobile industry. If GM buckled down, used common sense and tried to appease its customers instead of its investors, I can assure you that the economy would not be the straits it is now in and it would not be costing in the trillions. It should be the American people who celebrate when greedy corporations, whether Northern Trust, Bank of America, Citi-groups, or Chrysler face the taskmaster and pay up, shut up, or give up their opulent lifestyles. After all, it seems that with the lack of business sense displayed so far, there is a lack of education and quality among the CEO's of this nation. It is time to start cleaning house and dispose of the "malfunctioning", broken, and inadequate leadership in the business world. If they were in the private sector, they would be the first to be let go for inefficiency, non-productivity, and corporate theft. They stole the peace of mind, and the lifestyle of the everyday tax paying man, and woman and should be dealth with swiftly and forcefully. An uncontrolled child is disciplined and an uncontrolled adult is just not acceptable.
Something to think about
©Arleen M. Kaptur February, 2009

Automakers and Their Crocodile Tears

The American Dream - remember we were suppose to have a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage. This was the mantra of the nation and it was a good thought. It came with its share of problems but none to compare with the night-mare that is hovering over American soil.
The carmakers - Chrysler, GM and Ford - are working hard and burning that midnight oil. They have come up with a solution and it involves asking for about $20 billion more in bail-out money, but there is a string attached that they are hoping the American public doesn't see, or doesn't care about.
That bail-out money program still involves laying off thousands of workers. The money part is fine with them but what they don't want you to consider is that - you the taxpayer - will be handing over more money from your own unemployment checks to their unemployed workers through taxes. If the truth be known, while the nation "supports" the layed off auto workers, gives them food stamps and government assistance for their children, the car makers are taking that "pot of gold" in the form of billions of dollars and riding off in that "just off the assembly line" vehicle right into the sunset. This makes for quite a fairy tale - unless you read between the lines and realize that once again the American people are the "knights in shining armor" - only the armor is green and the metal for the armor is rusting quickly.
The auto makers had time to work up a "plan." If this is all they can come up with - we will take the billions in dollars, lay off thousands of workers and put them on the mercy of unemployment and taxpayer dollars, shut down a few plants and sell off some "models." This sounds like a plan right out of a mentally dysfunctional mind-set.
How nice of Detroit to "agree" to take your money, give you a whole bunch of people to take care of with more dollars, and then they feel that they have written up a very successful, workable program for future growth. President Obama has put into law the stimulus package to "create" jobs, Detroit, not add to the rolls of the unemployed. Maybe the American taxpayer just speaks a different language than GM or Chrysler. If you take a bail-out, exactly who and what are you "saving." It can't be the hard-earned money of the American tax-payer and it can't be lowering those tear-jerking unemployment numbers because you have just agreed to raise that number - oops, we were not suppose to figure this out.
If we want to live in fairy-lands and make-believe, then collectively the American tax-payers should allow the auto makers to file bankruptcy, get some restructuring guidelines and tutoring, and keep their workers working, and their bottom line exactly where it should be - at the bottom of the golden bowl that holds billions of dollars of wasted money on CEO's who don't have a clue, but know where the best resorts are, and the finest restaurants. After all, you have to spend that money wisely and how better to spend it then on yourselves and your families.
It should not be allowed to let the car makers do a literal double-take on the citizens of this country. You cannot, Detroit, have your cake and eat it too. If you take the money, then the workers stay. If you can't handle that scenario then obviously you are in dire straits, and need government overseers to go behind your fancy desks and into those file cabinets that hold your resumes. Polish them up and begin to wear comfortable shoes - you will need then when you stand in the unemployment lines and feel the "heat" of your bad leadership. However, why do I get the feeling that your lifestyles won't change and while you may not come flying in a corporate jet, you are leaving on a "gravy" train right back to the status quo.
Something to think about
©Arleen M. Kaptur February 20, 2009