So, in somewhat less civilized times, pure and utter failure in military and executive endeavors was typically ended in a more abrupt and irrevocable sense. The Japanese and Romans had ritual suicide, the French had Madame Guillotine, the Chinese had have the state-administered death penalty, and the Great Depression had nice tall buildings with conveniently-open windows all along Wall Street.
Sadly, with few notable exceptions in China, there's no real penalty for thorough corruption, malfeasance and utter incompetence on a scale that beggars the public interest. Enron, Goldman-Sachs, Bear Stearns, Citi, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG, GM, Chrysler and now BP... all of these companies ought to have had their CEOs step down at the very least and probably had most of their executive boards drug out and shot. Instead, most of the failed companies still have their failed leaders in place poised for more failure. Personally, I'm all for the notion that if your salary has more than 6 figures in it, you have to accept a "bullet to the head" clause in your employment contract. At least it would make me feel better about watching all of those birds covered in oil if I could watch BP executives getting shoved into that open oil geyser at the bottom of the ocean.
Posted by Vengeful Cynic at May 18, 2010 07:41 PM | TrackBack