This Drives Me Crazy

You may have seen the letter that appeared in the New York Times from Jake DeSantis, an executive vice president of the American International Group’s financial products unit, announcing his resignation because ... let's all get out our hankies here ... he was criticized for being paid a bonus of "$742,006.40, after taxes."  In the letter, he expresses his view of the unfairness of it all:  He stayed on after AIG's collapse, he had nothing to do with the trades that brought the company down, he was working "10, 12, 14 hours a day away from [his] family" for $1 salary per year, just like AIG's CEO, trying to do the right thing for AIG and the American taxpayers.

Apart from sad laughter at the incredible disconnect between this man's whining, self-absorbed rant and the position he still retains in American society (as others have pointed out, he is in a position to give all of his bonus to charity and yet go on living comfortably), the thing that really drives me crazy in his letter is this:

You and I have never met or spoken to each other, so I’d like to tell you about myself. I was raised by schoolteachers working multiple jobs in a world of closing steel mills. My hard work earned me acceptance to M.I.T., and the institute’s generous financial aid enabled me to attend. I had fulfilled my American dream.

I started at this company in 1998 as an equity trader, became the head of equity and commodity trading and, a couple of years before A.I.G.’s meltdown last September, was named the head of business development for commodities. Over this period the equity and commodity units were consistently profitable — in most years generating net profits of well over $100 million. Most recently, during the dismantling of A.I.G.-F.P., I was an integral player in the pending sale of its well-regarded commodity index business to UBS. As you know, business unit sales like this are crucial to A.I.G.’s effort to repay the American taxpayer.

The profitability of the businesses with which I was associated clearly supported my compensation.

MIT?!?  I thought students who were fortunate enough to be accepted to MIT would do something constructive with their lives -- if not engage in basic research for a university or a government, then at least go out and do research for a private corporation and, well ... create something.  But no.  This man took his degree from MIT and became ... an "equity trader," someone who pushes ownership units from one rich person to another rich person, taking a little bit for himself out of each transaction.  Then he became a commodity trader, doing the same thing with little pieces of paper representing interests (or future contingent interests) in raw materials, taking, again, a little piece from each transaction and, no doubt, making a ton of dough by leveraging tiny, tiny movements in the commodities market.

So in return for the hard work of his two school-teacher parents, and to repay the "generous financial aid" given to him by MIT to allow him to attend, Mr. DeSantis has accomplished ... what exactly?  Unlike someone who manages an enterprise that actually produces something, all of Mr. DeSantis' efforts throughout his whole life have created, net-net, absolutely nothing.  He skimmed off tiny pieces of the products of others' efforts -- the miners who mined the copper he traded, the executives who managed the company who mined the copper, the drivers of the trucks who deliver the copper, the workers and executives of the companies who actually provide a market for the (real) copper by using it in things they produce.  These latter members of the capitalist, free-enterprise system earn their keep, in my view, because they really do something, unlike Mr. DeSantis, with his MIT degree and his trading programs.

When I hear people say that the present crisis is an indictment of capitalism or of the free-enterprise system, I have do disagree.  The structures of the free-enterprise system are imperfect, but basically sound.  The problem with the system over the past 15 years is that we have come to believe that the economy can be sustained by people, like Mr. DeSantis, whose efforts don't actually produce anything; traders and analysts and deal-makers.  Mr. DeSantis may tell himself over and over again that "the profitability of the businesses with which I was associated clearly supported my compensation," but I suspect in his heart of hearts he knows that's a lie, I suspect that he knows that his empty activity has contributed to the decline of the American economy even as it made him ... and I'm going to use an intentionally loaded word here ... unjustly rich.  Or maybe that escapes him.  Wisdom seems to be a characteristic that disqualifies someone from working as a trader at AIG, or Bear Stearns, or Lehman Brothers.

Perhaps Mr. DeSantis will be able some day to be retrained and do something productive with his life.

15 (Plus) Albums

Cover of Reckoning

My sister-in-law Yvette posted this challenge on Facebook:

Think of 15 albums that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life or the way you looked at it. They sucked you in and took you over for days, weeks, months, years. These are the albums that you can use to identify time, places, people, emotions. They might not be what you listen to now, but these are the albums that shaped your world.

I tried, but there was no way I could limit the list to fifteen.  The best I could do was to try to winnow down the list to 15 groups related to 15 specific periods in my life, but even then I couldn't keep it to 15.  I'm a little hesitant to post this because I realize my selections are repetitive and somewhat ... hmmm, how do I want to say this ... well, perhaps boring is the right word, but then consider the source.  Here goes:

1. R.E.M. – Reckoning (1984) and Murmur (1983). I bought these two albums on cassette tape before making a driving trip from Portland, Oregon to the Midwest during 1984. That trip was memorable in many ways, none more so than being introduced, during long stretches of lonely interstates, to what was to become my favorite band. I still can’t hear Seven Chinese Brothers without being taken back to a hot August day driving on I-80 across the Great Salt Flats.

2. Jackson Browne – Saturate Before Using (1972) and For Everyman (1973). Emotional music for an emotional time. “There is a dance we do in silence….”

3. Neil Young – After the Gold Rush (1970). Gets on the list because it was a Christmas gift in 1970 from my first real girlfriend, Jeannie. Neither our relationship nor, over the long term, her attraction to men, endured, but my attachment to Neil Young did.

4. Stephen Stills – Manassas (1972). Odd choice, I know, but I loved this album when I was a kid. Underappreciated, in my view.

5. Eagles – On the Border (1974). I know, I know, don’t say it. I never listen to the Eagles nowadays, but I loved this album when I was in college, and to this day I think it is by far their best.

6. Bonnie Raitt – Bonnie Raitt (1971), Give it Up (1972), Takin’ My Time (1973), Home Plate (1975), Sweet Forgiveness (1977). Country and soul. Soundtrack to my entire time of misspent youth in Iowa City.

7. Jackson Browne – Running on Empty (1977). Soundtrack for my final two years of misspent youth in Iowa City.

8. Rolling Stones – Some Girls (1978). Sha doo bee, shat-tered shat-tered, sha doo bee. Oh, yeah, and all the other Stones’ albums, too.

9. Neil Young – Tonight’s the Night (1975), Zuma (1975), and American Stars and Bars (1977). Along with Some Girls, soundtrack to my law school days in Ithaca. Not exactly happy and uplifting, but consider the circumstances.

10. R.E.M. – Fables of the Reconstruction (1985). REMers debate the merits of this album (some love it, some hate it) but it hooked me on REM for good. Stuck in my mind forever with two others on my list, Life’s Rich Pageant (1986) and Document (1987).

11. Replacements – All Shook Down (1989) and Don’t Tell a Soul (1990). An odd sidetrip.

12. R.E.M. – Green (1989) and Monster (1994). These albums spanned the gap between my old life and my new life. I know most people say two other REM albums released during the same period (Out of Time (1991) and Automatic for the People (1992)) are better, but Green and Monster combine volume (lots of volume), playfulness, and creativity in a completely satisfying way. I’ve probably played Green more times than any other CD I’ve ever owned.

13. Jayhawks – Blue Earth (1989), Hollywood Town Hall (1992), and Tomorrow the Green Grass (1995). Quirky but emotional and satisfying.

14. Pavement – Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (1994) and Brighten the Corners (1997). Another odd sidetrip. Eclectic, simple, odd, creative, artistic, and often moving, especially the latter.

15. Green Day – Dookie (1995). Don’t ask about this one. I’m not a particularly big Green Day fan, but I loved this album when it first came out, for its pure pop simplicity.

16. Indigo Girls – Indigo Girls (1989) and Nomads Indians Saints (1990). Expressive, unique, moving.

17. Uncle Tupelo – No Depression (1990) and Anodyne (1993). Rock and country and folk perfectly combined.

18. Son Volt – Trace (1995), Straightaways (1997), and Okemah and the Melody of Riot (2005). An offshoot of Uncle Tupelo, it’s a mystery to me why this band is not more popular.

19. Jay Farrar -- Sebastopol (2001), Terroir Blues (2003), and Stone, Bright Lights & Steel (2004). Excellent solo albums by the creative force behind Son Volt.

20. Gerald de Palmas -- La dernière année (1994), Marcher dans le sable (2000), and Un homme sans racines (2004). Creative and listen-able, en francais.

21. Others I really loved at the time, in no particular order: Beatles, A Hard Day’s Night (1965), Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Damn the Torpedos (1979), Flying Burrito Brothers, Close up the Honky-Tonks (1974), 10000 Maniacs, Our Time in Eden (1992), Pretenders, Learning to Crawl (1984), Creedence Clearwater Revival, Cosmos Factory (1970), Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Déjà Vu (1970), Stills-Young Band, Long May You Run (1976), Neil Young, Ragged Glory (1990), Fleetwood Mac, Fleetwood Mac (1975) and Rumours (1977).

I'm sure I've missed some, but these stick in my mind (or maybe more accurately, under my skin).