Citi and BOA gone with the wind?

[Iskaral Pust]

I hope a lot of people, especially those brandishing pitchforks, read this letter of resignation from an executive at AIGFP. [url="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/25/opinion/25desantis.html?_r=1&em"]link[/url]

And perhaps they should also note the reports today that the house of the ex-CEO of the Royal Bank of Scotland had ground-floor windows broken overnight and a car vandalized in the driveway. [url="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/business/worldbusiness/26rbs.html?ref=business"]link[/url]

[Lyanna Stark]

I think the difference here is that Sir Fred Goodwin was handling RBS while it went down the pan and then ran off with loads of cash, basically making him a disgusting human being. I don't think you'll find that he ever worked for £1 either.

While I don't condone violence and I think it is wrong to destroy people's property, I cannot really work up an outrage for what was done to his place. He had it coming by making the tax payer pay for his horrible greed. Maybe he should have thought of the consequences of his actions in not handing back his pension or parts thereof before he had to take his kids of out school and possibly leave the country. You reap what you sow sometimes.


EDIT: Oh and RBS still pays for his security with several hundred pounds a month, despite him no longer working there. In other words it means the British tax payer is paying for rich Sir Fred's personal security after he scammed a record pension out of the ever poorer British public.

Oh and apparently he had made a really clever deal on how to avoid most taxes on the money he was paid, I think with RBS footing most of the tax bill.

[Iskaral Pust]

[quote name='Lyanna Stark' post='1732831' date='Mar 25 2009, 11.47']I think the difference here is that Sir Fred Goodwin was handling RBS while it went down the pan and then ran off with loads of cash, basically making him a disgusting human being. I don't think you'll find that he ever worked for £1 either.

While I don't condone violence and I think it is wrong to destroy people's property, I cannot really work up an outrage for what was done to his place. He had it coming by making the tax payer pay for his horrible greed. Maybe he should have thought of the consequences of his actions in not handing back his pension or parts thereof before he had to take his kids of out school and possibly leave the country. You reap what you sow sometimes.


EDIT: Oh and RBS still pays for his security with several hundred pounds a month, despite him no longer working there. In other words it means the British tax payer is paying for rich Sir Fred's personal security after he scammed a record pension out of the ever poorer British public.[/quote]

I've less sympathy for Goodwin too, and didn't everyone smirk when they heard about Fuld getting punched in the Lehman company gym, but these things can get out of hand pretty quickly. It starts like this.

[Lyanna Stark]

[quote name='Iskaral Pust' post='1732841' date='Mar 25 2009, 17.51']I've less sympathy for Goodwin too, and didn't everyone smirk when they heard about Fuld getting punched in the Lehman company gym, but these things can get out of hand pretty quickly. It starts like this.[/quote]


Oh I agree with you. I don't think violence is acceptable at all, nor is vandalism.

However, these guys should have realised what was coming their way, but it seems they were totally blinded by greed. As for the AIG employees, I am sure a lot of people there will be swept up by the current storm even if they were innocent of whatever was going down in the CDs department. I don't particularly like the moral panic either, but a few really fat idiots (see Sir Fred for instance) have started the avalanche and now there is no stopping it.

Hopefully this will all stop once Obama et al can get some useful and sensible legislation in place, but until then, I think we'll see more of the Wild west sentiments. People just feel extremely powerless and angry, and that is a dangerous mix.
As someone with leftie sympathies I can feel it being quite refreshing as well, that people are actually rightfully angry. Hopefully something good will come out of it, maybe with more focus on a sustainable environment, organised labour and decent work conditions for the people on the lowest incomes, which popular leftist waves sometimes accomplish.

But yeah, vandalism and riots are a bit to French for my liking. As a Swede I am more in favour of large, peaceful demonstrations and union organised strikes.