Grassley Says Go Kill Yourself
Sen. Chuck Grassley said he would feel better if business executives killed themselves (via AP):
I suggest, you know, obviously, maybe they ought to be removed. But I would suggest the first thing that would make me feel a little bit better toward them if they’d follow the Japanese example and come before the American people and take that deep bow and say, I’m sorry, and then either do one of two things: resign or go commit suicide.
And in the case of the Japanese, they usually commit suicide before they make any apology.
He made these comments during a radio interview in the context the AIG bailout and their executives receiving bonuses. He has made similar remarks in the past about desiring executives of failed companies to follow Japanese norms.
Unlike the Senator, I do not think that AIG execs should kill themselves. Further, if the executives received bonus compensation based upon the performance of vibrant divisions of the company, federal officials attacking such compensation is akin to killing the goose that laid the golden egg.
To put the Senator’s statements in context, he is the ranking member on the Senate Finance committee with jurisdiction over insolvent programs such as Social Security and Medicare, plus irresponsibility for our bizarre federal tax code.
Perhaps the U.S. Chamber of Commerce should hold public hearings (a.k.a. show trials) investigating the failure of our legislators to reform tax policy and entitlement costs. After all, it is the taxpayers, especially the most productive, that provide the money for the federal programs mismanaged by our legislators.
Would Senator Grassley like to personally follow the Japanese norm based upon his legislative failures, which have cost Americans more than AIG ever could? Probably not, given that he responded to questions about his comments by hiding behind a spokesperson to clarify his statement about executive suicides instead of apologizing.
Update 3/17/2009: “A viler evil than to murder a man, is to sell him suicide as an act of virtue. A viler evil than to throw a man into a sacrificial furnace, is to demand that he leap in, of his own will, and that he build the furnace, besides.” – Francisco D’Anconia in Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged [HT: nine9s]
In Grassley’s call for others to commit self-immolation so that the Senator can feel a little better, he is fully consistent with the crux of Senator McCain’s campaign that individuals should sacrifice themselves to the collective by their own choice, before government attempts to force them to do so.
“A viler evil than to murder a man, is to sell him suicide as an act of virtue. A viler evil than to throw a man into a sacrificial furnace, is to demand that he leap in, of his own will, and that he build the furnace, besides.”
Awesome Rand quote. I totally forgot about that one. To me it perfectly captures religion in general but Christianity in particular.
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