Let's roll the videotape
Adele R. McDowell, Ph.D.
February 04, 2009
Or so we said. However, it seems a few of our more vocal citizens and assorted groups slept through the Zeitgeist of it all. They decided to act in the same old ways.
There is a curious thing about change. If you have moved forward, and, then, decide to go backwards, you end up falling into the same old trap, the very same hole that you have fallen into time and time again. The results can be disastrous.
I find myself more than a tad miffed at a few of the old guard who missed the change memo. There are some of you out there who are gumming up the works by hysterically holding on to the old model. And hey, there is a new paradigm in town. This paradigm is about working together for the common good. This paradigm is about honoring the fundamentally sound values of decency, honesty, integrity, goodness, respect and the like.
We have barely put our feet into the pool of the new year, and already the media is abuzz with the flip and flap of political dynamics and economic shenanigans. Serious, very serious issues abound and yet, like Jell-O, there seems to be a lot of wiggle room plus major posturing and general knuckleheaded-ness.
If you accept the spiritual, the metaphysics and the quantum physics of it all, we are all connected. That means what you do affects me, and what I do impacts you. In other words, every action counts.
And because it all counts, I find myself all fired up, like the character in the movie, "Network," "I am mad as hell…" I want one of those large foam fingers, and I want to wag that very large digit in a few faces and say, "Shame on you!"
To borrow from one bombastic newscaster, let´s roll the videotape, so to speak, and take a look at some of January´s bonehead moves and this month´s Hall of Shame.
1. Rush Limbaugh
I didn´t believe it when I first heard it. Well, maybe, more accurately stated, I didn´t want to believe it. Rush Limbaugh said that he hoped Obama would fail. I am told Limbaugh has 14 million regular listeners to his radio show. I wonder what his fans felt about such a statement.
My first reaction was, "Who says things like that?" And who says things like that when our country is broken? If Obama fails, we all fail. This is not a game of us vs. them. This is about us, all of us in the same simmering soup together.
From my perspective, Limbaugh´s words were cruel, short sighted, unhelpful and incredibly self-serving. Undoubtedly, he boosted his ratings and further rooted himself as the King of Inflammatory Broadcasts, and simultaneously, he failed the American populace.
Now let me be clear: Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and belief system. However, that said, especially in this time of crisis, it is possible for some of us to
act from a more thoughtful and well-considered place. Clearly, Limbaugh can —and will — disagree, but is it possible to do so in a more articulate and intelligent way?
I guess not. "It´s up to me to hijack the Obama honeymoon," Limbaugh later gloated, "and I´ve done it."
Hmmm …has he?
2. Wall Street Bonuses
They had no money, or so they told us. They came with their hat in their hand and asked pretty-please for billions. And they got their multiple zeroes, without much reservation and nary a restraint. And then Wall Street handed out a billion plus in Christmas bonuses. This makes no sense, no sense at all.
If you were making money, and, therefore, people reached their sales targets and were entitled to bonuses, why was there no money in the company till?
If you created derivatives and knew they had a false bottom and were basically selling the excrement that stuck on the wall, why should you be rewarded, especially when so many – and by many, I mean millions – have lost their jobs or their homes, or both?
From a fiduciary, psychological, marketing and moral place, this makes no sense to me.
Interested in more, check out Trick or Treat: Wall Street Christmas Bonuses
( http://www.religionandspirituality.com/view/post/1230011167430/)
3. Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo, a recipient of $25 billion in bail-out money who also announced a loss of $2.3 billion the last quarter of 2008, abruptly cancelled its annual sales meeting and junket to Las Vegas due to media exposure.
Representative Shelley Moore Capito, a West Virginia Republican who sits on the House Financial Services Committee, said it best: "Let's get this straight: These guys are going to Vegas to roll the dice on the taxpayer dime? They're tone deaf. It's outrageous."
I couldn´t agree more.
And as a P.S., in light of the above and in a pre-emptive move, Morgan Stanley, another $25 billion bail-out beneficiary, cancelled its spring trip to Monte Carlo.
4. CNN reporter response to Obama and Wall Street Bonuses
As I listened to a jolt of news on CNN, the reporter announced that President Obama had chided Wall Street for its ill-timed bonuses. Then, the reporter responded with the comment that President Obama was "all bark and no bite."
Really? A President uses the power of the media, your power I might add, and that is ineffective?
5. John Thain
John Thain, my ever-favorite Mr. Thain, the poster boy of the old paradigm, is former CEO of Merrill Lynch, who felt he deserved at least a teeny tiny bonus of $10 million for 1) working the deal with Bank of America and 2) keeping Merrill´s debt to only a mere $11 billion. That, however, is old news
It has recently surfaced that Thain had decided to redecorate and refurbish his former Merrill office to the tune of $1.2 million of the company´s money. No wondered Merrill needed a bail out.
His decorations included a $35,000 "commode on legs" plus a parchment waste basket for $1400. You have to wonder why this man´s waste products need such high-falutin´ receptacles.
And to think there are many school teachers who buy supplies for their classes out of their own pockets and armed services personnel who buy their own flak jackets.
Interested in reading more on Mr. Thain, check out http://www.religionandspirituality.com/view/post/1229240220724/
6. The Republican Senate
Agree or disagree, that is not the question. When the Republicans were questioned as to why there was a unanimous vote against the stimulus package, the reported response (again, CNN) was that they all voted no because of politics. Politics? What about your own thinking or even what benefits your constituency?
7. Citigroup
Last, but not least, another bail-out baby, Citigroup who received $45 billion in bail-out funds, planned to purchase a $50 million, 12-seater, luxury corporate jet until the White House strongly urged them to pull the plug on the purchase. Given the pressure of the new White House as well as the media exposure, the deal was scotched.
Where on anyone´s balance sheet does a company in financial duress require a luxury jet? How does this add up? And why would anyone trust their monies to a corporation who so blatantly makes the comforts of their executives´ derrieres a priority?
In a word, the actions of Citigroup including their well-paid Board of Directors who voted for this acquisition are shameful.
What can I say? Transition can be bumpy, but I am hopeful. We are taking notes and blowing the whistle.
Copyright 2009 by Adele Ryan McDowell
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