OUTRAGEOUS - AT 9:32 A.M. ET:  Churchill said that democracy was the worst form of government, except for all the others.  Well, free enterprise is the worst economic system, except for all the others.

We're all for free enterprise here, but the system can be terribly abused, and misused, and we're seeing that in the outrageous, contemptible behavior of some people on Wall Street and some corporate CEOs, whose greed is limitless.  These people can truly destroy the goose that lays the golden egg by prompting demands for massive regulation and the heavy hand of government.  What is especially enraging is that some of the greediest creeps have also shown themselves to be among the most incompetent managers, protected by pals in country clubs and by obedient boards.

The Washington Post reports:

NEW YORK -- Even as the nation's biggest financial firms were struggling and the federal government was spending hundreds of billions of dollars to save many of them, the companies as a group were boosting the perks and benefits they pay their chief executives.

The firms, accounting for more $350 billion in federal bailout funds, increased these perks and benefits 4 percent on average last year, according to an analysis of corporate disclosures filed in recent months.

Some chief executives, such as Kenneth D. Lewis of Bank of America and Jeffrey M. Peek of CIT Group, the major small-business lender now on the brink of bankruptcy, each received about $100,000 more than a year earlier for personal use of corporate jets. Others saw an increase in the value of chauffeured services, parking or personal security.

This at a time when unemployment hovers at 10%, with millions of other Americans underemployed or taking large salary cuts.

And the perk racket pales in comparison to the tens of millions in "bonuses" paid on Wall Street to people who come up with innovative financial gimmicks that contribute nothing to the economy, but much to their own wallets.

There is nothing new in this legal stealing.  It's just gotten much worse over the years, and is no ornament to free enterprise.  What is unique is that the chicanery is going on in the very firms that we, the American taxpayer, bailed out. 

We've seen some real visionaries on Wall Street, and in the corporate world - innovators who make real contributions.  We've also seen mediocre jerks, who just grab.  I'm afraid the jerks have been winning. 

It's time for a shareholder revolt.

October 20, 2009