In the midst of the acting out of Tea Party Congressmen and Senators, we must always remember these Washington clowns are only part of the circus which has become America.
Pictured here are various lawyers who were part of the law firm Dewey LeBoeuf, which failed and collapsed into bankruptcy last year.
The New Yorker article, by James Stewart, detailing the collapse in this week's issue is astonishing for the simple, unvarnished portrayal of rapacious avarice which characterized every one of the lawyers mentioned.
Mitt Romney became infamous for his portrayal of the "takers" who, with an outrageous sense of entitlement make demands on the federal government food stamp programs, on Medicaid and on a wide variety of "safety net" programs which Tea Party Congressmen claim are the bleeding this country dry.
The most egregious welfare queen cannot hold a candle to any of these entitled graduates of prestigious law schools whose sense of entitlement does not extend to a food stamp or a free visit to the emergency room: These guys feel mortally offended if someone suggests they should be paid less than $6 million a year, before their bonuses. One still claims the now defunct law firm owes him $60 which he richly deserves.
And what makes them so valuable and so deserving of this sort of salary? They bring in clients like Disney and they negotiate deals with other people's money, at no personal risk to themselves, their families. No lives are at stake. They play with the big dollars of big corporations, which, if things fall apart, will simply invest in new ventures.
Mad Dog is profoundly depressed reading about these people, just to learn how very loathsome human beings can become. He is currently trying to figure out how he would design a law to strip them of their huge, undeserved wealth.
After the Civil War, Thaddeus Stevens wanted to strip the plantation owners of their slaves, their estates, their wealth and make them get back to the soil and to a life of humble labor, to strip these arrogant aristocrats of their imperiousness and restore them to the life and virtues of a humble Republican.
Of course, "Republican" had an entirely different meaning in those days.
Is this the same law firm: Dewey, Cheatem and Howe? The Car Talk Brothers use this firm.
ReplyDelete--Anonymous
Good one Anonymous! It 's unconscionable that this loathsome cast of characters is better compensated than those in the medical,education,social services and fire and safety fields. All that money for helping their corporate clients get richer and avoid taxes-i.e. scam the system. What I don't understand is how any billable hours were ever completed between all the infighting, backstabbing, e-mail snooping etc. Can you imagine working among that group of disloyal vipers-there certainly was no honor among those thieves. But I'm not sure how you'd legislate what they got paid. How would you strip them of their wealth for having their hands out for what was promised to them?
ReplyDeleteImagine Thaddeus Stevens taking on the Tea Party members in Congress, although I can't think of an adversary worthy of someone like him in that group-certainly not Cruz, Rand or their cohorts. Guess you're right, we'd all be better served by a modern day Stevens taking on more formidable and influential opponents like the Koch brothers...
Maud
Stevens had the right idea.
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