For a generation so proud of themselves, the Boomers have been oddly reluctant to take credit for their tanking of the world economy. I say, step up to the plate Boomers and finally claim your own mistakes, you will be the first of your generation to do so!
It's all their fault, the Boomers, I mean. They did it and no one said a thing about it because they NEVER take the blame for anything. Boomers are finger pointers, they don't take responsibility for their own mistakes, only the good they accomplish. It's a generational thing, they don't believe they can do anything wrong, just ask them. Two perfect examples of this are our last two presidents, "I didn't have sex with that woman!" and the other one who said he never regretted anything he did, like going to war and decimating a country for trumped up excuses. Yeah, those guys are perfect examples of the Boomers.
You know the Boomers, those born after WWII in the flood of military home coming, an unprecedented new prosperity at the end of the war and the final end of the Great Depression.
They were born into the developments in Levittown, in West Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley. Their parents went to the outer reaches of cities across the country to create suburbia and find a lifestyle that suited their new families. They were the buyers of those giant sprawls of cookie-cutter houses newly affordable under the G.I. Bill.
They were the first of the American families to be able to attain the oft touted American Dream; something most families couldn't imagine when caught in the midst of the Great Depression. Every household had a shiny new car, one of those new fangled television sets, radios/record player combos in every room, telephones with no party lines and plenty of jobs to be had. This generation was brought up in the most affluent age in history.
The American nuclear family, as it was called, consisted of Mom, Dad and two point five kids. I never did figure out how that worked. They watched "Howdy Doody, " Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca, "Father Knows Best," Desi and Lucy and the Lone Ranger. Families modeled themselves after the Nelsons, "Leave it to Beaver" and "I Remember Momma." "The Great Gildersleeve" and Jack Benny made the leap from radio to television.
Those kids, the ones whose parents brought them to live in those new houses lovingly decorated in turquoise formica and orange shag in the latest styles from Good Housekeeping, came to be known as the Baby Boomers, the largest single age group to come down the generational pike. They were born between 1945 and 1964 according to some studies, and declared with pride they would change the country to the way they wanted it, and they did. They are the largest demographic bulge to date and they changed society, tastes, social conventions, sex, language, fashion, culture and financial models as they moved through the decades.
When they went to war in Vietnam, those remaining home marched against the war and protested as their right. They smoked dope, burned their draft cards, tossed their bras and made the establishment into villains in their new world. They celebrated the Age of Aquarius as an age of enlightenment and worked hard for social causes such as equal rights and woman's liberation. They were pro-abortion, wanted sex education and birth control and a woman's rights over her body. They were not religious, church attendance plummeted but Woodstock was spoken of in hushed reverence. They believed in science and watched in awe the first footsteps on the moon. They believed anything could be accomplished if they set their minds to it.
They insulted their parents for living in "ticky tacky houses all in a row" and called them little piggies and capitalists who cared for nothing but money. These kids were interested in social issues, reform, sex, drugs and rock n'roll. Many of them, fed up with the establishment, dropped out.
The attitude was "why not take drugs if they make me feel good" and certainly coke and pot did. LSD was mind expanding, marijuana was relaxing, booze wasn't bad either, but even better if taken on top of something else. There were years when a normal party included a bowl of pot and another of coke, provided by the good host or hostess for their guests along with some good wines and lots of food. And why not? They deserved it, were entitled to it because it made them feel good, and feeling good was the main goal in life.
But many of them changed their minds along the way. They became the most self-obsessed entrepreneurs since the carpetbaggers of the Civil War and the ruthless robber barons of the turn of the last century. These were children of parents who had suffered through the Great Depression and World War II; parents who were determined to give their kids superior chances in life, fine education, their own automobiles, elegant clothes and the best of everything. They were indulged by families who spared nothing to give their kids the best they could afford. But, they also didn't bother much to teach them the ethics and rules passed down by strict grandparents , rules their own parents had been brought up with. Like, "If you want to dance, you have to pay the piper." What kind of old fashioned shit was that?
How about crap like "If you don't have the money in the bank you can't afford it." "Don't buy what you don't need." "Your actions have consequences; keep that always in mind." And the final insult to another family, "Look at the Smiths over there, always concerned with keeping up with the Joneses."
Then there was, "Don't forget to put something away for a rainy day" and of course, "A penny saved is a penny earned."
Yeah, that was all just old guys bullshit. Everyone knew that anyone over thirty couldn't be trusted and like, didn't know anything, like they were really out of touch with the world. The new mantra was "me first" "I need my space" and the cult of ego and entitlement was born.
When this generation came of age, they believed in maintaining beauty, agelessness, and doing whatever it took to be the top of the heap, have the most toys and live the best life, the life of a king, or at least a lord of the manor. They were primed for MacMansions, chateau furniture, over the top salaries, trophy wives, huge yachts, vacation homes, and the most expensive, fastest and most "in" automobiles, but only for two years and then on to the next, preferably better. They were adrenalin junkies, pushed limits and pushed themselves. They worked hard and played harder. They believed in lots of sex, open marriages, group gropes, divorce and denying themselves nothing. They were entitled!
This mentality took over corporate America. They were shy on morals and long on greed. I remember "Little Abner" and Senator Claghorn who said, "What's good for General Motors is good for the country." What was good for the executives was good for the country, and if not, too bad for them, or, as the popular expression went "Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke!"
Excess became just and equitable entitlement. Games could be played with corporations to bring bigger bonuses, so what if doomsday might be pushed into the future, it might never come so why worry. Remember Alfred E. Neuman of MAD Comics fame, "What, me worry?" The accounting of Enron and Tyco are examples of this.
So, when you put it all together, the generation so socially conscious as teens and early twenties, who smoked dope, dropped out, snorted coke, poked hash into their pipes, were community organizers, led marches on the government to get what they wanted and came back to be part of the establishment with the understanding that they were better than everyone else and deserved more than their parents had. And, sadly, as they had been growing up, their parents were complicit in those lessons.
So, they took it to the next level and ripped off the world!
When you look at Joseph Cassano, the head of the AIG division that brought the company down, remember he was born into this, worked early on with Michael Milken, the junk bonds impresario. Why would he need more of an excuse to dream up credit-default swaps? Few people in the industry can completely explain what the hell they are, so those he reported to took the position that as long as he was making money it wasn't something they had to know much about. After all, it was a time when Presidents of countries (remember Nixon?), accepted the phrase "plausible deniability" as their right, so why shouldn't a president of a corporation? And what the hell, it was only money.
This mentality sees no consequences. No thought about if a company loses money, so do shareholders, pension funds that might be stockholders, employees with retirement tied up in the company shares, life savings tanked, people out of jobs. The only thought is me, me, me, look what I can do, see how much money I can make. And now, hands are out for the government to take the fall, save the day, come to the rescue so those at the helm don't lose their golden parachutes, stock options, executive packages. Just relate it to how they were brought up, given everything, spoiled, little or no rules, bought back into school if kicked out, indulged in whatever they wanted with little of the prior generations' ethics or values and never made to suffer the consequences of their actions. They were brought up by the world's best enablers!
Yes, the Boomers did great things, they were social conscious and interested in ecology and human rights. Without them there wouldn't be the equality we experience today, our society might not be as liberal, we would might not have a brilliant African-American as president, women could still be second class citizens; no understanding of global warming; yes, we have a lot to thank them for. But still, we wouldn't be in this mess caused by the self indulgence of a generation concerned only with feathering their own nest who left the bills to be paid by generations forward.
So, Boomers, here is your own private Hall of Shame. Please remember it next time you feel like puffing out your chest and expounding on how great your generation is.
Martin J. Sullivan, born 1955. Former President and CEO of AIG who presided over a corporate drop in value from over 100 billion to less than 1.5 billion as of February 2009, and received a severance package of $25.4 million plus added perks of approximately another $750,000.
Joseph Cassano, officer at AIG Financial Products, born in 1955 in Brooklyn, son of a policeman and the man credited with almost single handed bringing down the world financial machinery. Before he was forced to retire in March 2008 he received $315 million, $280 of it in cash and $34 million in bonuses, a $1 million a month consulting fees which he was still getting in September last year. When asked how this was possible, then CEO Martin Sullivan told Congress they "wanted to retain his 20 year knowledge." Huh!?
Ken Lewis, born 1947, current chairman, CEO and President of Bank of America for the last eight years and the guy who thought it was a good idea to buy Countrywide Lending, those guys who were running amok in the mortgage lending frenzy and eventually brought all their toxic mortgages over to B of A. He's a bit more circumspect with his pay and in 2008, he only made six million if you include the value of stock granted him between 2005 and 2007. So, for 2008 he took home a salary of 1.5 million, no bonus or stock options, not that they would be worth much at the moment. He also had $275,000 in other compensation which was largely personal use of corporate aircraft. This compared with 2007 where his total compensation was around $17 million, including stock options. Guess they aren't worth too much today if he hasn't already cashed them in.
Vikram Pandit, born 1957, and head of Citigroup, was given a compensation package in 2008 worth more than $38.2 million dollars as the bank posted five consecutive quarters of multibillion dollar losses under his guidance, and turned to the US government for help three times. He got $80 million from Citi for his hedge fund, you know, the fund that bets against the economy succeeding, and $800 million for his investment fund, Old Lane Partners, also sold to Citigroup. He has declined a 2008 bonus and said he will accept a $1 a year salary until the company returns to profitability. I guess he can afford it with all those millions he's already received.
Ajay Banga, Citigroups Asian operations manager, born 1960,and Gary Critterden, born 1953, were each paid between 10 and 11 million. However, since many of these awards were in stock, they have subsequently decreased when the stock tanked.
Charles Prince, born 1950, was former CEO and Chairman of Citigroup who retired November 2007 when he saw the writing on the wall with the companies 3rd quarter looses in those odd products that no one can figure out. He scampered away with a 38 million pay package as the company was tanking.
FYI, after government criticism and public outcry, Citigroup's bonus pool for 2008 was cut in half to a measly 4 billion dollars – paid of course, out of bailout funds.
So there you have it, a bunch of players in the global crash who the Boomers can claim with pride. The sick irony is they have destroyed their own future and the golden retirement so many of their fellow generation assumed they were entitled too. But hey, fuck 'em if they can't take a joke!
This is your Curmudgeongal signing off. I appreciate the time you spend with me, I know you all have busy schedules trying to make ends meet since the foxes have been discovered in the henhouse.
Website: www.curmudgeongal.com.
Podcasts at: http://www.curmudgeongal.libsyn.com
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