It wasnt me !

Stumbled upon a BBC discussion on the economic crisis yesterday which had among its panelists the head of AIG (who a year back in a discussion on the same topic said there was no reason to worry), an expert nicknamed 'Dr Doom' because he predicted the housing crash among other things, the head of Guyana and the Swiss finance minister and a couple of others (am a bit hazy on the exact backgrounds of everyone but this is it rather more than less). Some of the rather eye-opening moments of the discussion included

- the AIG guy claiming that you cannot expect the board of a company to know what is happening within the same company

- some lady who kept claiming that it was the system that was at fault and what was done was in good faith and people didn’t know what the ramifications of their actions on the entire system would be

- a guy from the audience who mentioned that companies are paying out huge bonuses to their top management when they should be rewarded on their long term performance rather than the short term gains they bring which will have a negative impact on the company in the long run

- the Guyana Premier who said that had it been a developing nation that had made the same mistakes, we would all be sitting listening to a lot of preaching which isn’t happening now cause it is the developed world which is at fault (which received applause)
- the AIG guy who claimed the $85 billion dollar bailout for AIG wasn’t really for AIG but was a bailout for the entire system

Sometimes the bullshit was so evident I felt bad for the people doling it out - either they really believed what they were saying or that they knew that they had to keep maintaining the same stand lest they (!horror of horrors!) admit that they were wrong and should be accountable. Its really sad when I see the number of people being laid off each week and when the people who can make a difference hold their hands up in indifference and claim its not their fault.