Don’t Get Mad, Get Even

I don’t often agree with politicians, particularly the Republican kind, but this suggestion brought hearty cheers in my house:

Sen. Charles Grassley is so angry over AIG bonuses that he says the executives should resign or kill themselves. In a comment aired this afternoon on WMT, an Iowa radio station, Grassley (R-Iowa) said: “The first thing that would make me feel a little bit better towards them if they’d follow the Japanese model and come before the American people and take that deep bow and say I’m sorry, and then either do one of two things — resign, or go commit suicide.”

Of course, Senator Grassley’s suggestion is flawed because it presupposes a sense of honor among those cretins. Asking them to perform any voluntary acts of contrition is as pointless as asking Washington politicians to do the same. Neither resignation nor hari kiri will suffice. What’s needed is a practical solution that will be both emotionally satisfying for the American people and bring about a genuine change of heart in Wall Street culture, and I think I have just the thing: pillory them!