In Mafia Films, Failures and Betrayers get Whacked, On Wall Street They Get Bonuses

A BUZZFLASH EDITOR'S BLOG

By Mark Karlin

I was watching a melancholy mobster film last night -- the superbly acted 1997 "Donnie Brasco" with Al Pacino and Johnny Depp -- when I realized that the price of failure or betrayal in the Mafia is getting whacked, but the price of failure on Wall Street is advancing from Filthy Rich to UnGodly Rich.

The mafia is a business when it comes down to it -- illegal and with its own code -- but in many ways it's a bloody parody of the corporate world.

Except for one big difference: when the "Dons" of the corporate world, particularly Wall Street, fail, they get bonuses and rescue money instead of getting whacked.

Let me be perfectly clear -- to quote Richard Nixon -- BuzzFlash is not advocating -- as is done in China from time to time to corrupt business CEOs -- capital punishment for corruption and fleecing the American people. We'd clear out Wall Street, Congress, and most of the Global Multi-National Corporations if that were the case.

In any case, BuzzFlash is a follower of Gandhi in terms of non-violence. Civil disobedience when required, yes; but physically harming or killing people, no.  That's what America has done far too much of during its age of empire, beginning with the slaughter of Native Americans as Europeans fulfilled their "manifest destiny."

As I watched "Donnie Brasco," I thought how thankful our "Masters of the Corporate Universe" must be that their crimes are legal, because otherwise they have failed in such a colossal fashion, they'd be sharing a trunk with Jimmy Hoffa if they were in the Mob.

Instead, they are living in multi-million dollar Park Avenue duplexes, jetting around the world, and planning more financial and corporate legal theft.

One thing that you can say for the Mob that you can't say for Congress; at least the Mob holds its failures and betrayers accountable. But then again, Congress just runs errands for the Mob -- uh -- we mean Wall Street and Corporate America.

A BUZZFLASH EDITOR'S BLOG