Conquer and divide

"Conquer and divide"--those were the last words said by a senior executive from Bank of America before she left last night.

We were among the guests at a Thanksgiving dinner.  At first she seemed just like any mommy from her class--Tory Burch vest, long blong hair, chic glasses, thin, three beautiful blond kids with high spirits and charming manners. Well into the event, after much champagne and wine, the truth came out. She wasn't just a capitalist apologist and beneficiary, the top 1 percent (or better), she was one of the bad guys.

She blamed the irresponsible poor for the financial crisis. Someone else at the table accused Obama of being a socialist;  she agreed. She lamented Bank of America's purchase of Wachovia, the worst decision they ever made; they basically had no choice (and odd claim given the way she blamed for the crisis the free choices of the poor--now reconceived as devious scammers, somehow lazy despite their inventiveness at gaming the innocent banks as they took out mortgages they couldn't afford). I made the crying gesture (index fingers moving from corner of the eye down the cheeks):  "this is me weeping for the banks."

At one point, after over half the guests had left the table and the yelling had died down a bit, I asked her, "You can't really believe what you are saying. You aren't a total idiot. Admit it, you guys are the ones who fucked up."

She wouldn't.

Which could mean it was deliberate--after all, they got bailed out. Too big to fail and all that. The ones left standing as the others went down. The senior vice presidents getting their bonuses and keeping their benefits.  It's not personal. It's business. Strategy.

Conquer and divide . . .

the spoils.

Comments

[C. DiDiodato]

I found this picture at the "Zeitgeist Spam" blog. Thought it was apropos here.

http://www.johnbr.com/zeitgeist_spam/2010/11/great-photo.html

[Alain]

Interesting exchange. I think it is there real response - many of the bankers feel that the government did impose upon them the deals to buy the failing banks and brokerages. Even at the time, the Bank of America CEO wanted to get out of the Merryl deal once he learned how much bad paper was on their books. I do not mention this to excuse your bitchy bank executive but merely to indicate that they do not wish to recognize that they set the entire mess in motion. They are too smart, too successful, too proud to ever conceive that they as a class fucked up. What strikes me about the aftermath is that the rest of the ruling elite has not called them on it. The only explanation I have is that financialization is so pervasive that there is no element of the oligarchy not infected by it either practically or ideologically.

Thanks for sharing the story.