What The Heck

Is it better to be good or be lucky? Sometimes I think it is better to be lucky, no matter what, these people land on their feet, keep making money and inspire jealousy as overpriced hacks. Sometimes I think it is better to be good, integrity and all that, giving us true meaning in our lives; whether rewarded or not, the absolute value of good transcends all. Ultimately it is better to be lucky and good, the benefits of being the best coupled with the rewards of being so lucky. May the best part of this be bestowed on many of us as we navigate our journey through this minefield of financial uncertainty.

Tonight's Nightline broadcast threw out the loaded question of whether Wall Street executives deserve bonuses this year. It got me to thinking:

The term "billion" is thrown around so regularly now that I am led to believe that Americans really do not want to comprehend what that numerical amount really means because true comprehension would require the reality of riots in the streets.

Spell out $1 billion dollars in zeros and it is $1,000,000,000 or $1000 million dollars. $35 billion in bonuses is $35,000 million ($35,000,000,000) dollars in bonuses handed out last year to the lucky few simply because they worked in the financial sector where people use money to make money. Most of us simply cannot comprehend that amount of money, we just accept the monetary terms in shorthand without the zeros.

It has been reported that the stock market lost almost $$3,000,000,000,000 this year in value and the government and quasi-government agencies - the Congress, the Treasury, the FDIC and the Federal Reserve - have injected almost as much into the seized financial markets to keep the whole system alive.

I lost my job yesterday due to the financial mess created by these Wall Street executives. To utter the word bonus should be an insult to the intelligence of the ordinary person. How could anyone receive a bonus for losing so much money and by extent undermining the economy? This couldn't possibly be the intent of the bonus system or of capitalism itself.