Who's Minding the Store?

I was reminded of the old saw my grandfather said in response to a statement I often made with knitted brows, "I'm Serious!"

"Well, I'm Roebuck, so who's minding the store?", my grandfather would say with a smile.

The American people are probably getting fatigued by all the drum banging over the bailouts to Wall Street firms and CEOs who now have clearly become anti-heroes. Just when the public has begun to absorb the latest blow, the CNNs and Foxes find one more piece of dry wood to add to the fire. Almost daily we hear what is another nuanced version of how much went to "bonuses" at AIG, how Merrill Lynch also paid bonuses as the ship was sinking, and on and on.

The President defends Treasury Secretary Geitner's behavior, feeling that his expertise is needed to save the country from collapse. And this may be true for all we know. The same argument was made by CEO Liddy of AIG who stated he needs those staffers (who are still there) who got bonuses to to stay on to close those toxic investment "books". That despite their ham-handed, if not immoral tactics, those same folks are now needed to right the ship.

But we heard conflicting stories from Larry Summers, from Senator Chris Dodd, and a lineup of others who seem not to have a view of the big picture. Someone needs to take a sober look at this financial mess in toto, and begin to put the pieces together. I'm serious.