Without Comment

Bankers: Just in case you didn't despise them enough

Bank of America, feeding at the public trough while still compensating their executives and managers as if they were little Sun Kings, has a plan for making ends meet. I mean, beyond pleading for another massive bail out from the Feds.

Trick the relatives of deceased credit card holders into thinking they have to pay of the balance of their dead loved one's card.

Here are the details.

kind of gives you a warm fuzzy feeling that they are doing all they can to remain solvent, doesn't it?

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Corruption and family values

Year's ago, while discussing whether or not we should allow a textbook sales rep to buy lunch for the entire history department, the chair told me "Sure it's corruption, but it's an acceptable amount of corruption." There was more wisdom to that than I first accepted. Human beings need an acceptable amount of corruption to feel, well, human. Corruption is in fact a family value, something I try to keep in mind as I study the various societies I come across teaching world history. As Scott Simon recalls in an article on honest corruption in today's Wall Street Journal,

A Chicago alderman once complained to me about modern reform hiring laws -- the line was so good, I borrowed it, unembellished, for a novel -- "What's this world coming to when a guy can get a job for a stranger more easily than he can for his brother in law?"

Take care of your own first, starting with the family, the basic building block of all human society. Even the Spartans were not able to banish it, though Lord knows they tried. Having formulated this theory years ago when studying the decline of both the Ottomans and the Manchus, I am gratified to find Simon backing it up with some real world observations about Chicago, a place where people know corruption and can catalog its varieties.

Regulars know that regular people sometimes need a little help. Under this kind of ethic, steering rewards to friends and family becomes a virtue. As Mayor Richard J. Daley once famously exclaimed when caught trying to shovel city insurance business to one of his sons (not Richard M. or Bill Daley), "Any father who doesn't do for his son isn't a good father, and if they don't like it, kiss my ass."

One of the major engines of world history, and a real family value for people who hold Blagojevich, governor of Illinois, in the richest contempt. They know the difference between healthy corruption and simple graft.

and if you don't like it ...

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Some GOOD economic news!

Never let it be said that Clemens has turned into a mere doom and gloom commentator. There IS some good news out there, amid all the banks going bust, and other banks using your tax money for ... well, whatever they damn well please. Here it is, folks, some good news:

Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's largest publicly traded oil company, reported income Thursday that shattered its own record for the biggest profit from operations by a U.S. corporation, earning $14.83 billion in the third quarter.

So quit your whining.

and let's keep those billions going towards the banks. Next week: the car companies!

A book about Wall Street

Whenever I don't understand something I try to find a good book about it, due to my training and nature I suspect. I certainly don't understand the current economic crisis (though Jack has certainly tried to explain it to me). My inclination is to blame the greed of Wall Street and the venality of our politicians (yes, all of them). So I was gratified this morning to read in a column by Michelle Singletary, my favorite financial adviser,* a review of a book that excoriates Wall Street and damns it forever. This quote pretty much tells you the point of the review:

Two years ago, Gary Weiss wrote "Wall Street Versus America: The Rampant Greed and Dishonesty That Imperil Your Investments."

The subtitle was changed for the paperback edition last year. Now the book is called "Wall Street Versus America: A Muckraking Look at the Thieves, Fakers, and Charlatans Who Are Ripping You Off" (Portfolio, $14.95).

I like the revision, given current events.

I immediately wrote off to Michelle Singletary to put my name in to win a copy of the book in a drawing she has every month. After all, in these tight financial times there is no point in actually spending money on a book. Then, there is always the public library.

*mainly because her advice is so simple and plain I can understand it, but also because she seems to have the same outlook I do: save!

And working hard for every penny of it!

Exxon-Mobil. Top of the heap.

But I am sure they want to thank all the little people out there who helped make their success possible.