Tom KandoOkay, so the government of the Southern California city of Bell is made up of crooks. City manager Rizzo and council members voted themselves annual salaries ranging from hundreds of thousands of dollars to one and a half million. Then, forced to retire by the scandal, they will enjoy annual pensions ranging from a couple of hundred thousand to over a million. Bell is a poor suburb of Los Angeles, with a population of 40,000 people and an annual budget of $14 million.
And every day, we hear about other similar malfeasance - State senators receiving fat per diems even when they are not at work. Public officials on school boards and in the court system enjoying salaries in excess of half a million dollars, and then in addition charging Las Vegas casino trips to their office account, i.e. to the tax payer. And so forth.
But here is what gets me:
In the same issue of the Sacramento Bee which reports on the above crookedness, I find an article about Mark Hurd, the recently fired CEO of Hewlett-Packard. Guess what his severance package is? $40 million!
There is a lot of thievery in society. Greed and dishonesty have become pandemic. But where do we find the most astronomical instances of greed? We focus a lot on the public sector and on politicians. Politicians are seen as the lowest form of human life, something out of which Jay Leno and other banal comedians get a lot of mileage.
But where is the outrage about the ten or hundred times greater money grabs in corporate America?
The President of my university makes almost $400,000, which aggravates the Professors’ Union. Big deal. Michele Obama spent a few thousand dollars on a Spanish holiday. Wooptido.
Meanwhile, in April, Goldman Sachs paid its bank staff $5 billion (yes, that’s billion, with a “B,” five thousand million) in bonuses for three months work.
Clearly, the public is angry. The public wants change. The public has been brainwashed into believing that the government/public sector is the problem, and that corporate America is the solution. People like Meg Whitman, Carly Fiorina and Mitt Romney will save us (after buying their victories).
So here is my question:
Doesn’t anyone understand that, corrupt and dysfunctional as things may be now, a great right-wing victory in the Fall elections will make things infinitely worse?
“Change” is great, but change for what? Republicans offer tax cuts for the rich, cutbacks of the social safety net, escalation of the war in Afghanistan, more inequality, more privilege, more prisons to house the poor.
Two idioms come to mind, when seeing the direction in which groups like the Tea-Party want to go: Cutting off your nose to spite your face, and: jumping from the frying pan into the fire! leave comment here
6 comments:
I'm just glad that I know this stuff is happening. This is the first stage towards change. It is so ludicrous and so many people know about it that it will come.
Oh, pleeeeeze! The law and criminal proceedings are not based on economic value. Government crooks violate the public trust! Government crooks rob the taxpayer; they operate in the dark, hiding from public scrutiny and regulation, and obfuscating their dealings. Corporations are regulated by government agencies… salaries and bonuses are public knowledge published in annual reports or SEC filings, and subject to shareholder approval. The corporate executives have created value for the shareholders; it’s up to the shareholders to determine the remuneration, not the public.
Your town officials that voted themselves big paychecks are an interesting exception to the rule that most large amounts of thievery are in areas where power is concentrated and abstracted a level from the people getting ripped off. Wall Street and Washington are the worst problems, because the theft is from some anonymous taxpayer or investor.
Normally face-to-face relations cause people to feel more guilt because they run into the people they are ripping off in the grocery store and the local restaurant.
Besides the structural problems of government that allow this to happen, we cannot forget the "anything goes" mentality of postmodernity where we live in a world of information without values. In such a value relative culture, those with the strongest will-to-power are the "takers" (I won't call them winners). We are, in American society culturally, somewhere the Germans were at the time of Nietzsche. I think we will go through a dark night of the soul. As tomi said--at least people are starting to get concerned about it.
I can only agree with what Gordon says.
It's hard to say whether, and to what extent, Americans in positions of power have become more corrupt and dishonest. It SEEMS that they have, but at least some of this may have to do with the increase in whistle blowing and investigative reporting by the media - excellent things.
An annual UN report ranks the world's 200-or-so countries in terms of their levels of corruption. The US still ranks among the world's 10 or 12 least corrupt.
So I'm not sure whether the glass is half full or half empty.
“Where are the biggest crooks?” Why, Chicago of course! Speaking of which, Tom, what’s happening with your thoughts on Obama? So far in 2010 you and Marilyn have written 75 essays (versus 93 in 2009). Of those 75 essays, Obama’s name appears in only 5 (versus 18 essays in 2009). Of those 5 essays, all appearances refer to his wife (as in this one) or negative perceptions by tea party members or others conservative groups with virtually nothing flattering from you. Contrast this with 2009 where the 18 appearances of the Obama name contained your defense/support of Obama or his positions. Have you become disillusioned with Obama?
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