Busted Fatcats Have Everything —Except a Clue

High-fliers fail to realize that national mood has turned against them

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Feb 4, 2009 10:27 AM CST

(Newser) – The real problem with Tom Daschle is the $5 million he made on the post-Senate gravy train, not his unpaid taxes, Steven Pearlstein writes in the Washington Post. Daschle, John Thain, and their fellow corporate and government high fliers have run afoul of an American public that's "no longer willing to accept the corruption of the public process and the whole notion of public service."

The fatcats' obliviousness to the change in national mood stems from a wrong-headed sense of entitlement that has been warping judgment throughout American society, Pearlstein argues. "It turns out that those inflated pay stubs weren't really a measure of genuine economic worth but manifestations of the mirage that was the bubble economy," he writes. "Economically, they are no longer sustainable; socially and politically, they are no longer acceptable."

[Images (3)]

[Quotes (2)]

In this Dec. 5, 2008 file photo, former Senate Majority leader Tom Daschle watches a film before his speech about plans for reforming the country's health care system. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

In this Sept. 15, 2008 file photo, then Merrill Lynch Chairman and CEO John Thain, left, listens as Bank of America Chairman and CEO Ken Lewis speaks during a news conference in New York. (AP Photos/Bebeto Matthews, File)

Tom Daschle smiles as he prepares to testify on Capitol Hill, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009, before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on his nomination. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

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For the American public, Daschle became the latest symbol of everything that is wrong with Washington—the influence-peddling and corner-cutting and sacrifice of the public good to private interest. - Steven Pearlstein

Those inflated pay stubs weren't really a measure of genuine economic worth but manifestations of the mirage that was the bubble economy.
- Steven Pearlstein

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

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Busted Fatcats Have Everything —Except a Clue