Post under this name usually appear only on the weekend, since I am barely able to eat breakfast during the week, much less dispense gibberish. Last weekend, trying to put the issue of the week in some perspective, and to beg those who might read Barthisms to not lose sight of how we got into this economic mess, I decided that the official consensus should at least be recognized as having some basis, even if vastly overstated.

Man of the people I fancied myself as, I therefore wrote that the AIG bonuses were the result of

the pigs at the trough d[oing] what they usually do. Eat from the trough.

This is not news. This is what Wall Street does. They are not responsible for the operation of the United States economy. They are responsible for making money for themselves and their clients and shareholders.

That comment was made from ignorance that I was aware of and I deeply regret it, especially after reading the resignation letter of a recipient of one those bonuses in today's New York Times.


I believe that there were such pigs feeding from the trough, but I don't know who they were, nor do I have even barely enough information to fairly evaluate the issue. Neither does Attorney General Cuomo or Congressman Frank or any other other bloviators of both parties who believe otherwise.

My gut told me not to follow the mob and that when the vox populi get enraged, it is almost always wrong. I first learned this when I saw the George Reeves film which led to the Adventures of Superman on TV, called "Superman and the Mole Men." I was eight years old, I think, when I first saw that film and obviously wiser then than I am now.

On the other hand, it is heartening to note that the reporters of news have suddenly discovered the less than regal powers of the President of the United States, mainly because the current President, who understands his role in republican form of government established a few years back (about 220 years back), does not assert monarchical powers, unlike his predecessor whose education apparently ended after reading nursery rhymes about Old King Cole

The most recent Barthism on this subject was published last November and it is interesting both the hear the President explain last night that he doesn't expect his budget to be "xeroxed" and passed as he sent it to Congress, and that everyone, all of a sudden, seems to understand that.