This was a comment to a story about Goldman Sachs execs foregoing their bloated absurd bonuses because the economy is going down the tubes, an event that they are in large part responsible for, and for which they certainly were acutely aware might happen.
**************************************
Re: GS execs foregoing bonuses:
I wouldn't be surprised if GS quietly finds a way to "make them [the execs] whole" somewhere down the road.
These guys and gals don't do much of any real value for civilization. They have just learned how to tap huge money flows and take a percentage like getting maple syrup from a tree (or like a vampire sucking blood). They don't need all that money except to build up their egos and quell their fears of being looked at as lame by their overpaid friends in the Hamptons and Malibu and wherever else ego-based money makers congregate. If they had any moral backbone, they'd say "several mill in the bank is enough, I don't need any more, give it to someone who does."
But they have no moral backbone. They probably think they are intrepid and disciplined and enterprising, but I think they usually have simply turned off their ethical dashboard light because they couldn't stand too much reality. In that sense they are lazy cowards afraid to face the truth. The only reason they are giving up their bonuses is that they are about to get tarred and feathered. It's all based in cowardly self-centeredness. As if they would give up their bonuses if they weren't under big pressure from others. They certainly aren't doing it for altruistic reasons, or they would've foregone their bonuses long ago.
Read "Liar's Poker" by Micheal Lewis. He talks about the intense peer pressure when he was at Salomon Brothers to get a good bonus at the end of the year. It's all about what your co-workers think about you.
.
**************************************
Re: GS execs foregoing bonuses:
I wouldn't be surprised if GS quietly finds a way to "make them [the execs] whole" somewhere down the road.
These guys and gals don't do much of any real value for civilization. They have just learned how to tap huge money flows and take a percentage like getting maple syrup from a tree (or like a vampire sucking blood). They don't need all that money except to build up their egos and quell their fears of being looked at as lame by their overpaid friends in the Hamptons and Malibu and wherever else ego-based money makers congregate. If they had any moral backbone, they'd say "several mill in the bank is enough, I don't need any more, give it to someone who does."
But they have no moral backbone. They probably think they are intrepid and disciplined and enterprising, but I think they usually have simply turned off their ethical dashboard light because they couldn't stand too much reality. In that sense they are lazy cowards afraid to face the truth. The only reason they are giving up their bonuses is that they are about to get tarred and feathered. It's all based in cowardly self-centeredness. As if they would give up their bonuses if they weren't under big pressure from others. They certainly aren't doing it for altruistic reasons, or they would've foregone their bonuses long ago.
Read "Liar's Poker" by Micheal Lewis. He talks about the intense peer pressure when he was at Salomon Brothers to get a good bonus at the end of the year. It's all about what your co-workers think about you.
.
No comments:
Post a Comment