We’re lucky to have gotten out while we could.
The country’s conservative moralists shake their finger at low-income home buyers who dared to make a grab for a humble piece of the American dream. When the dream turns nightmarish, the foreclosed-upon are held personally accountable for their bad debt.
But there’s no personal accountability for those who actually understood the fine print behind those shaky loans, because they wrote it. No one tells them to hand back their bonuses. If they are eventually forced out, they walk out with huge paychecks.
By week’s end, some editorials were calling for executive compensation reform. But who really believes there is an end in sight to golden parachutes for corporate America’s golden boys and girls?
I feel like this is a horrible thing to say in light of everyone’s recruiting woes, but I’ll say it: I’m glad that working on Wall St. is no longer a default option for my friends. This debacle happened because a group of people thought they were invincible and couldn’t conceive of things going any way but their’s. Their appalling arrogance and sense of entitlement didn’t just manifest overnight. I’m certain it has something to do with Ivy League bubbles, ready-made careers, and unquestioning adherence to the reigning religion of their peers: capitalism. So no, I’m not particularly upset that this is the fate my friends have narrowly avoided.
Not that there’s anything inherently wrong with going the banking route. It’s just kind of scary that the people responsible for this mess are the type of people most of my peers would have considered successes pre-total breakdown of the world economy. And I am pretty much the first person to defend Harvard kids against the “spoiled brat” stereotype.
Let’s just chill for a minute and remember a few things. We’re 21. We’re America’s future golden boys and girls. Life is going to be just fine for us. We should all feel pretty goddamn lucky that our biggest concern is not landing a top-tier finance gig, because hey, we will probably still end up with a disproportionate amount of this country’s wealth and power even if we barely try. See? It ain’t so bad.
