The
Wall Street Journal, in its November 30, 2011 issue wrote: "A
judge sentenced Michael Jackson's doctor to four years in a county
jail for his role in the pop singer's 2009 death, calling Conrad
Murray 'a disgrace to the medical profession' in blistering
remarks... Judge Michael Pastor of Los Angeles Superior Court said
Dr. Murray's $150,000-a-month post with the pop star constituted
'money for madness medicine'.
Dr. Murray was found
guilty of "involuntary manslaughter after treating Mr. Jackson's
insomnia with a powerful sedative".
Apparently days
after his conviction, an interview with the good doctor aired on
MSNBC. Doctor Murray said he felt no guilt and he did nothing wrong.
He blamed Michael Jackson for his own death. To which Judge Pastor,
while handing down the sentence, reportedly said, "Yipes! Talk
about blaming the victim."
Talk about making a wrong
career choice.
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No body, no die
Dr Murray
should never have studied medicine and then decided to practice it.
He should have been in the financial services field. He was in the
right country: USA. And he had the right kind of clients - judging
by the fact that he was close to pop music legend, Michael Jackson.
His $150,000 a post with the pop star is impressive. That
works out to $ 1.8 million a year. Not easy to beat even in the
greed-ridden financial services sector. But, given that Dr Murray is
58 years old, he would have had a 30-year track record in the field
of finance. With 30 years of networking, chances are he could have
been generating more than $1.8 million per annum in salaries and
bonuses. Yes, Dr Murray could have made it to the coveted post of a
"Big Swinging D" or "Rainmaker".
In addition to the salary
and the bonus, which would make 99% of the 99% so ecstatic that they
would die of a heart attack, there are the perks.
With MJ
the Doctor got to visit PlayLand and hang around with some weird
people doing some weird things. But, with a Wall Street firm, he
could potentially have been set up with free alcohol, free drugs,
and fun-loving women. Of course, he would have to get the clients in
on it. And, as shown in the documentary "The Inside Job", no investigator would ever worry
about whether such practices could be "bribes".
More
importantly, if Dr. Murray had really made it big in the field of
finance, he may have gotten the crucial ingredient of mega-success:
inside information.
The good doctor could have been part of
the old boy networks that seem to keep the money in the rarefied
club of a select few.
Maybe Dr Murray would have been
invited to the special lunch with Hank Paulson in July 21, 2008 to
discuss the various options facing the US government to solve the
financial crisis. Including the shutting down of government-owned
entities: Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
While people are still
debating on whether the Hank lunch (with his mostly ex-Goldman
colleagues) was a violation of "insider trading" or "ethical" rules
and practices -or whether anyone present profited from the lunch or
not - that is an academic question. I mean if you get invited to any
sort of high-powered lunch with a dozen other people, think of what
you can learn on a one-to-one cigar-chomping meeting.
With
access to the right people, not only are you "the 1%" but you are
the "1% of the 1% of the 1%". Based on the US population of some 350
million and a global population of some 7 billion, that kind of
equals the number of Goldman partners "doing God's work" and a bunch
of other less religiously blessed (but equally wealthy) lesser
mortals. Yes, Dr. Murray, with his commitment to his clients'
well-being could easily have been "the Man".
And the best
part is Dr. Murray would not have been sent to jail.
Michael
Jackson died in 2009 and - within 2 years - Murray is tried, found
guilty, and sentenced.
Lehman went bust in 2008; there have been over a
dozen books and hundreds of articles about the role of the crooked.
There have been government hearings. And there have been millions of
minutes of media coverage. But, eh, has anyone gone to jail?
To be tried for murder, there needs to be a body.
No
body, no blood, no allegation.
That is the beauty of the
field of finance. Your bad advice or your selfish greed - or both -
can disrupt lives and can disrupt families. But you get to keep the
bonus and all the stuff that money can buy. And bought.
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We did it, we did it!
As has
been noted by many, the guilty have given their confessions in
public. Chuck Prince, the then CEO of Citibank, confessed that he
could not stop dancing. They all knew the music would stop, said the
Prince. They all knew the stuff they were doing was reckless, but
they had to keep dancing.
Why "had to" you may ask? Because,
dear victim, their bonus pools would swell the more they danced.
Just as the tax payers bail-out of the failed also would swell. But
that was not their problem.
Though, admittedly, not everyone
was in it merely for the money. Lloyd Blankfein, the CEO of Goldman
- again a very different breed even amongst the 1% - said he was
doing "God's work".
Funny, but that is what bin Laden said,
too. But, like Dr. Murray, bin Laden left behind a lot of blood and
bodies. They finally got bin Laden - and he got what he deserved.
Judge Pastor, who delivered the sentencing on Dr. Murray,
was shocked that this doctor gave his patients whatever medicines
they wanted. As a doctor, he should have known that the patient's
body was in danger.
But poor Dr. Murray just acted like the
regular people in the financial services industry. The financial
geniuses knew that there was too much risk in the action of many
clients. But, did they warn them? Did they protest and quit and say,
"No loans from me, baby!"? Not that we know of. In fact, they were
probably happy peddling the stuff a-la Dr Murray style. They kept on
dancing.
And, yes, they still blame the borrowers: they
should have known better many tell me. Out of 100 home loans, maybe
1 was mis-sold. The other 99% wanted to gamble on the real estate
market. It was not the fault of the bankers. But, did they try to
stop them? Were they sophisticated enough to understand the risks
and the consequences of what would happen when the music stopped.
Did the financial geniuses not understand? And if the financial
folks did not understand, what were they getting paid all this money
for? Like Judge Pastor remarked: "Yipes, talk about blaming the
victim."
But there is no body, so there is no murder.
And the thugs are still around waiting to knock you out any
which way they can.
After all there is still a lot of "God's
work" left to be done.
Dr. Murray, you could have been part
of that evangelist mission - being a doctor was a bad career choice.
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