A Comfortably Numb, Kodachrome Moment: The Wall Street Whorehouse
“I turned to look but it was gone I cannot but a finger on it now…The child is grown, The dream is gone…I…have become comfortably numb” Comfortably Numb by Roger Waters & David Jon Gilmour, Pink Floyd
What is the difference between Las Vegas & Wall Street? …One is a casino in the desert and another is a casino on an island in Manhattan. It seems each day we hear more about Wall Street corruption, MF Global, the now bankrupt Wall Street trading giant, was commandeered by Jon Corzine, former U.S. Senator and governor no less, appears to have been involved in the Wall Street trick of window dressing, which is more or less camouflaging debt, a trick which backfired on Enron and Lehman Brothers and who knows who else at this point. I..have become comfortably numb…
In another corner of the banking world, it appears that Bank of New York Mellon, which is in the cross hairs of regulators from New York, Virginia, Massachusetts and Manhattan’s U.S. attorney wants to settle for overcharging its pension clients billions in currency transactions. It wants to settle without admitting nor denying any wrong doing. Robert Kelly, the former CEO of Bank of New York Mellon, who was the Chief Financial Officer of Wachovia when it made the idiotic purchase of Golden West Financial for $25 billion or so, walked out the door of Bank of New York Mellon for with a heist of $33 million of final compensation…I…have become comfortably numb…
Kodak, the once mighty American giant in photography business, appears to be in its final hours, on life support by selling its intellectual property and selling more debt. The company immortalized by Paul Simon’s Kodachrome is a symbol of the decline of the American Empire. I…have become comfortably numb.
Meanwhile, the ranks of the poorest sections in America climbed to a record high according to the Census Bureau. About 20.5 million people, or 6.7% of the population are surviving on incomes of $5,570 for individuals or $11,157 for families. The District of Columbia, America’s capital, had the highest increase in poverty since 2007 with an increase of 10.7%. Robert Kelly from the Bank of New York Mellon walks away with $33 million. Henry Kravis, the buyout tycoon makes something like $58 thousand an hour. The greatest concentration of poverty in America, is in Washington D.C. I…have become comfortably numb.
