Goldman Sachs bonuses

Bank bonuses are way down from 2006 and 2007 when end of year holiday parties must have felt like drunken 18th century pirates sharing the bloody loot from hijacked galleons. No doubt they enjoyed the Pirates of the Caribbean movies on Wall Street. But how many sequels can you do in a row?

This year things are different. Goldman Sachs only exists at this point in time thanks to the generosity of the US taxpayer. But it is hard to go cold turkey from the drunken celebrations of financial piracy to the harsh cold reality of the holiday season in the real world most people face each day.

So, with 5 Billion in US funds from the TARP bailout safely in hand Goldman Sachs is passing out holiday bonuses anyway in the neighborhood of $200,000... much more than most American workers can make in many years of hard work. So while these puny bonuses are much less than in the devastating two years that set up our current financial tragedy, hard lessons can come slowly when you are so desperately out of touch. (note reference to the hands!)

This is exactly what Finish neuro-physiologist Matti Bergström meant when he described the syndrome and sequence, "finger blindness" leading to being "values damaged". Extract the fingers from the creative processes, thereby diminishing normal human understanding of the broad range of values inherent in human life, and as a result the single economic value, money, becomes the overwhelming concern depriving the individual of reasonable concern for others.

Welcome to the depression... a state of mind as well as an economic condition. The food bank in Eureka Springs is doing well. They fix holiday meals and serve the poor, and there is a richness of spirit that Wall Street bonuses could never buy.

Our daughter Lucy made it home from New York for the holiday season despite a very long wait for departure from La Guardia due to ice and snow. Her plane waited on the ground for 5 hours before her 4 hour flight. Her hours and hours on the small plane were made much easier by her heroic flight attendant Reggie, who rose well beyond the normal altitude of holiday good cheer. Can you imagine what people would say if a flight attendant made a $200,000.00 bonus? Or a teacher? Usually the people with the right kind of human values don't ask for such things or require them as their purpose for serving. We will know when our economy is on the right track. Our values will be there first. Cook, Nurse, Teach, Garden, Make. Get far from these 5 and we know we are off the track. But do these and encourage these in others and we will have a revival of spirit and will.

My holiday greetings will come to you again and again. May you share the important values with those you love this holiday season.