BANKS PAY OUT BILLIONS IN BONUSES TO EXECUTIVES

(Tom writing) I'm sad today. Sad on so many fronts, but I'll attempt to be succinct. On the train ride in to work this morning, I read on the front page of the Washington Post Express that Citigroup paid out to its executives over $5.33 billion in bonuses - this action was carried out despite the bank being paid billions of dollars in taxpayer money to get out of trouble which their top paid executives got the bank into in the first place. But the report, commissioned by President Obama soon after assuming office and written by Mario Cuomo's son, Andrew Cuomo, also lists more banks involved in this pay out of bonuses using taxpayer money: Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs - in total paying out over 4,800 million-dollar-bonuses to their executives. I, for one, no longer believe that paying these outrageous sums to these idiots is the only way to retain "the best and the brightest" when these are the dumbheads that directly contributed to the mess we're in. Am I the only one getting angry over this?
On another front, I'm saddened that we are now learning more about our President's inner circle of "friends" - first it was the firebrand Rev. Jeremiah Wright, now it's a hothead Professor Gates. Professor Gates absolutely and categorically acted badly and did the wrong thing. Rather than calmly and professionally (like a well educated and highly respected Harvard professor should do) politely thank the officer for responding to a potential "emergency" at his home and hand over his I.D., he became belligerent and disrespectful of the officer's badge and immediately played the race card. The President should have had no comment and the whole matter would have gone away and Professor Gates would have faded off into obscurity without the rest of the country ever even knowing his name. But the President admitted to knowing Professor Gates, said that the police "acted stupidly," and now the President has a public relations nightmare to address distracting him from dealing with the mess outlined in the first paragraph above. And Professor Gates has gotten his 15 minutes of fame. He can go away now. Just like Rev. Wright.
OK, I'll get to my point. I'm saddened today because as I read the article describe in paragraph one above, I realized that the innocence of the country that I love and where I grew up is gone. I think it has finally dawned on me this morning that we (a collective "we" as a country) cannot any longer believe that our politicians and leaders will do the right thing. I firmly believe that corruption is endemic and has pervaded every corner of our Government and financial institutions - and no one knows how to clean it up. Our leaders are completely devoid of any conscience, ethics, or morals. The lust for money has pervaded every fiber of their being. Remember the day when at the first whiff of impropriety a politician would step down? Not any more. Now, a politician holds a press conference, sheds a tear or two, has his wife stand behind him at the podium, claims he has found Jesus, and he continues to stay in office. What's that all about?
Rob and I have these discussions all the time and I continually ask, "What will it take to wake people up?" What will it take to shake America out of its sleepy existence? I certainly don't have the answer and it's frustrating. Rob says to write to your Congressmen. Well, the two Congressmen from Maryland - Hon. Steny Hoyer (from the 5th district) and Sen. Barbara Mikulski - have been in office since I was in grade school and their ability to be instruments of change has long since passed. Rob says to stop banking at the institutions listed above. I guess that is one potential solution. I understand that our country goes through cycles of ups and downs - we just happen to be in a really serious "down" swing at the moment. I, for one, hope that we will find leaders that will stand up and do the right thing. And do it soon.

(PHOTO INSERT FROM ROB: I think this is a picture of a deceased banker from those institutions Tom mentioned. Note where his head is located in this skeleton.)