No matter how many times I re-learn the story of the Emperor and his clothes I seem to quickly forget it. This is prejudice, but I read something like “CEO of a Bank” and I make certain assumptions. The truth is there, apparently, are plenty of idiots who are CEOs of banks. Politics is not a meritocracy and I guess business is not either. It’s kind of like reading that a guy was a Cy Young winner and learning he can’t throw a snowball.

You may be right. I guess I cannot relate. I was raised in the school of hard knocks so I know how fortunate I am. I know the value of a buck and I know the value of two hundred thousand bucks.

Throughout history I notice a propensity for the third generation of wealthy families to squander the capital the first generation built. The first generation builds capital through hard labor and thrift. The second generation is raised during that time. They are children when the first generation is beginning to strive for wealth and by the time their parents achieve financial success they are young adults, or adults. The second generation knows the value of that wealth since they witnessed the effor to achieve it. The third generation has no concept of the labor that went into accumulating the weatlh. The first generation can typically never spend freely, even when they have great wealth. They have wealth because they were frugal and they cannot change their nature once they obtain wealth. It is easier for the second generation to spend freely, and their children are raised in an environment of easy spending. Therefore, the third generation squanders what is given them and often loses the family fortune.

That’s an interesting theory. I wrote something similar yesterday. Are we so far removed from the reality of our humanity that we can no longer function? Societally I see absolutely no difference between these folk and families who have been on welfare for generations. Families who have lived off of government largesse for their entirety.

What percentage of our countrymen and women reside in these two groups? They are asymptotes on the bell curve of a capitalist society. If the percent under these asymptotes is greater than the percent under the bell we are doomed.

While I hesitate to pass judgement on people I solely know from a few sentences in a newspaper article, I don’t think “idiot” is a stretch here. How are these people any different than the citizens of New Orleans who failed to heed ample advanced warning of a looming hurricane and decided to roll the dice that Katrina wouldn’t wreak havoc on the city? As the patriarch of a family surely you can relate to the failure of these men to properly care for their families. What duty is more important? If you lost your job and were handed a check for $200k for your troubles would you not ensure every dime of that money went to ensure your family’s security and safety? I don’t mean anything sexist by this, but as a husband and father it is my duty to protect my family. $200k will buy a lot of mac ‘n cheese. The average American family household income is what? $35k? $200k is almost 7 years of average, household income. Get a part-time job as a greeter at the Wal-Mart for an additional $10k/year (you’re working part-time so you can continue to interview and look for a better job) and you’ve stretched that $200k to 9 years of average, household income. I don’t know much about unemployment, but a man earning six figures would easily qualify for the max benefit. That probably gets you another year of average, household income. If you can’t find a suitable job in 10 years then you’ve got a reason to complain to a reporter, but these folks squandered an incredible opportunity. How many people currently unemployed do you think had six figure severance packages? How many do you think had any severance at all?

I find the actions of those responsible for a family hardest to understand. The single woman who continues to live extravagantly… She was in denial, and I really don’t have empathy for her, but she hurt no one but herself. How can parents behave like the folks referenced in this article?

Anyhow, having just been through it, I sincerely believe these people deserve all the bad things that are going to happen to them over the coming months. They are ignorant fools who may come out better in the long run, having finally suffered some adversity in their charmed, easy lives. But I doubt it.