Paul Krugman agrees that when Jamie Dimon says he just wants to be loved respected, that we should take him at his word
This seems completely right to me. When you make a billion dollars a year, you can buy anything you want — which means that goods and services yield almost no marginal utility. What you crave, then, is what money can’t buy: respect.
Actually, I’ve seen this in action at meetings where financial big wheels and professors mingle. You’d think that the people with the big bucks would be confident; on the contrary, they’re insecure, because they want respect for their minds
The thing is hugs are cheap. Bad policy is expensive. Somebody give those boys some hugs. I don’t know why there is not a Hedge Fund Manager and Financial Executive Hugging Task Force.
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Sunday ~ March 18th, 2012 at 10:15 pm
Twundit (@Twundit)
but what about the moral hazard of giving those guys too many free hugs?
Monday ~ March 19th, 2012 at 6:22 am
Y. Alekseyev (@yalekseyev)
I think this is mistaken. Hugs are of course free, but that’s not a good reason to give them. Yes, it’s important to have good policy vis a vis financial industry put in place via legislation/administrative rulemaking that works, and even better to have that policy enforced by SEC, etc. But the reality is that neither the former (laws/regulations) nor the latter (enforcement) will ever be perfect, and civilized and law obiding society relies quite a bit on the perception of some activities as not just illegal, but immoral and deserving of a stern “you go and stand there in the corner, young man, and don’t you do that ever again!” When people are on the same page as to what’s ok and what’s not ok, society sort of works.
Giving free hugs to bankers while trying to whip their lot into shape with “policy” will do nothing but widen the rift between what we think the law and regulations require and what happens out there in the real world. Public shame and humiliation would do the opposite – if not for this generation of banking CEOs than for the next.
Monday ~ March 19th, 2012 at 9:48 am
Th
Does giving these guys hugs fall under the “soft bigotry of low expectations” meme? I can hear my grandmother say as she pats him on the back,”It’s OK, Jamie, you did the best you could. It’s not your fault you almost blew up the world. Those people who blame you just don’t know how hard you are trying.”
Tuesday ~ March 20th, 2012 at 9:02 am
Joe
We treat this lightly, but it really is a big deal. Issues of taxation and the 1%, and Occupy Wall Street have been framed primarily in terms of fairness. So what the wealthy hear is that they really don’t deserve their wealth. That gets them right where it hurts the most. Their wealth/income is a huge part of their identity. That’s one of the reasons they work so hard for it.
Hugs are cheap and effective, so why not use them? Some of those people have exploited the system in socially destructive ways, but they are not the point. We aren’t after them. We are after a better system.
While I’m here, I might as well plug my plan to eliminate the deficit through hugs http://goo.gl/u7nfa