A couple of days ago, the New York Times had on its front page a story about how Wall Street paychecks had quickly returned to the peaks they had been in 2007.
Simply stated, it's like nothing ever happened.
What impresses me about this is that, bluntly stated, Americans are complete sheep. And they can't scale what real theft is.
If some poor soul breaks into a person's house and steals $50 in cash, no one in this country has a problem with the homeowner blowing the burglar's head off.
But if a group of senior banking executives effectively steals $50,000 from every house in America, no one says a word.
Well, that's not quite right. They do say a word. By Jiminy, they hoot 'n' holler for at least several days. Stern words are spoken! Firms editorials are printed! Goodness gracious, they get spitting mad! Let's see how long it lasts:
The graph above captures what I'm trying to say. It shows the instances of news attention focused on the 90% tax that was contemplated against AIG bonuses. Do you remember that? Yep, it was only a month ago, and hardly anyone remembers it. Because no one talks about it. Because outrage in America is measured in hours, not months.
I don't blame the Henry Paulsons, Vikram Pandits, or Lloyd Blankfeins of the world. I mean, look, if you can (a) run your business any way you like (b) be absolutely guaranteed, to the tune of trillions of dollars, that nothing you do will have any lasting consequence (c) know that the average citizen doesn't have the intelligence or patience to sustain any energy against you, wouldn't you just keep ripping everyone off? We are economically rational beings, after all. If this is a nation of sheep, why not simply keep fleecing them?
And so we shall continue to be. Because as long as Americans can get their $3 hot dogs at Costco (with unlimited refills on the accompanying soft drink), they're just fine and dandy.
There are a few folks I do feel sorry for, though. Those AIG executives who got guilted into returning their multi-million dollar bonuses out of fear that they'd be taxed out of them. Boy, I bet some of them feel really stupid. Because they actually thought Congress and the public would follow through! Wow.
