TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN

All the big boys are taking a hit. Some will not survive. Merrill Lynch, Shearson Lehman, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley---the REALLY big boys. The same ones that have created more millionaires and billionaires, especially for the investment bankers who run these places, than history has ever seen.

Even the rank and file at these companies were paid six and seven figure Christmas bonuses. Hey, who couldn't use a little extra cash at Christmas? Now they're in free fall, and some are down for the count. But wait. Who's coming in to help? The federal government, of course. In other words, you and me.

I have no problem with the government bailing out AIG---if the nation's biggest financial insurer went belly up, millions of ordinary folks and small businesses would be in a world of hurt. It's not the same, though, with the investment banking sector. So why the bail out?

At times like this, my cynical side wins out. Probably because it's dead right, again. Remember when W stepped in to bail out the subprime lenders and his answer to the real victims, the people whose houses were being foreclosed, was to give them a "stimulus package" of something like $600. Nice package, huh?

That was just one year ago. But it turns out that the nasty subprime mess has not run its course, and the very institutions that profited so handsomely when the going was good now get bailed out by the government when the going sucks. Sweet deal.

On an individual level, so many of those employed in investment banking are set for life, and for generations to come, and I mean really set, there's no reason to feel sympathy for them. They're the ones who took the money and now get to run. No consequences for them. A gentle landing into a sublime world of temporary unemployment perhaps, a perfect time to count the money. Maybe invest some of those earnings while things are tanking, watch the bailout lead to a speedy recovery in the market, and before you know it, they've pocketed another fortune.

Steve Miller's classic tune "Take the money and run" says it pretty well. But not as well as Dylan's great line "steal a little and they'll throw you in jail, steal a lot, they'll make you king".