Stephen H Baum Leadership

It is especially hard for the outrage of a Congress tainted by its aiding and abetting what Warren Buffett called an economic Pearl Harbor (not an apt analogy since we did it to ourselves) to be credible. It must come from the electorate and CEOs with the right values.

Outrage about what? About the self-absorbed rationalizing of those in charge at AIG, Lehman and others. AIG’s partying and indulging in expensive luxuries just after receiving a bailout from their own mismanagement of risk gives new meaning to F*ck You Money – it used to mean having the wherewithal to protect yourself against abusive employers.

Now it means treating the taxpayers’ money and the shareholders’ money as your own, really your own and telling them nothing is your fault.