This is at least a six-hankie story, so pull that box of tissues up close to you.
Ready? Wall Street executives are sad. And mad! They’re mad at you and me for being so negative about the fact that they crashed our economy. Also, President Obama has openly chastised them, and several candidates said some really hurtful things about Wall Street banksters in the recent elections. So, they’re sad.
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So sad that some of the biggest of the big banksters recently flew all the way to South Korea in search of shoulders to cry on. The Group of 20, the top governmental leaders of the world’s biggest economies was meeting there. Like camp followers, financial CEOs trekked along for a sideshow called the “G-20 Business Summit.” This allowed them to collar world leaders for what amounted to a group whine.
“I kind of feel like I’m living in parallel universes,” keened the chief executive of Citigroup, referring to the criticism of Wall Street back home. “I’m here in Korea and I feel this warmth,” he gushed. “But then, when I get back to my real universe [in the USA], it’s cold in that universe,” he cried.
Likewise, Stephen Schwarzman, a multibillionaire hedge fund huckster, cornered German Chancellor Angela Merkel to howl about his fear of excessive regulation of the schemes and scams that’ve made him ridiculously rich. But she offered a very cold shoulder for Steve’s tears: “There needs to be a mind shift away from making money to earning money, in the proper sense,” Merkel told Steve.
Still, the financial titans kept weeping, even pleading that their notoriously-goosey derivatives schemes should be spared from regulation: “[These products],” wailed the head of Deutsche Bank, “are creating wealth and prosperity in the world.”
Really, sir? For whom?
“Wall St. Brings Its Misgivings to the World, The New York Times, November 12, 2010.
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