Back when I used to teach a course on America in the 50s, one of the books we read was Jack Kerouac's On the Road. If you've read the book you will remember Dean Moriarty, the lovable con artist whose crazed mania drives the plot. Eventually Sal Paradise realizes that Dean is a con artist, but continues to go along with his schemes because he recognizes Dean as a life force. When some students had trouble understanding why anyone would put up with Dean, I used to ask them if they didn't know people like that, con artists who were always looking for some angle, taking advantage of their friends. Generally they pay us back sufficiently in entertainment value. Usually, these characters are fun to be around, at least for a while. When the fun stops we encourage them to move on, just as Sal eventually does with Dean. I call this the small con. Generally it's harmless, and often teaches us a valuable lesson about human nature and the economics of sociability and friendship. American literature is full of these characters, from Twain, to Melville, to Ellison and Bellow, not to mention television's Maverick and Rockford. Generally we all love a con man.
And maybe that accounts for the success of Bernie Madoff and AIG. This morning both the Washington Post and the New York Times have front page stories about the bonuses being paid out by AIG to the very guys that ran the company into the ground. It seems they're worried that if they don't give these characters their bonuses, they're afraid some other company will want to steal them. See what I mean: these guys are so smart they broke one of the biggest insurance companies in the world, so naturally every other company wants these geniuses to come to work for them, right. So we got to pay them big money to stay on and help us fix things. I call this the big con. These guys aren't bumming cigarettes and borrowing your car; they want your life savings, and a bonus to boot! Is this a great country or what?
No comments:
Post a Comment