IT'S SO EASY...

IT'S SO EASY...
Some will recongnize that as a Guns and Roses song title. I have to admit, I love the band, but it's not one of my favorites. I mean, come on, when you've got Mr. Brownstone...seriously...as well as the classics Sweet Child O' Mine, Welcome to the Jungle, etc. The funniest thing is that I went to a show once at the Pepsi Arena in Albany. We were on the floor, and it was my freshman year of college, so it was really something...back before the days of 4:50am, paying attn to markets, etc. I would say that we had the full Axel Rose experience. About 2 hours behind schedule, just when many of us felt like the show might be cancelled, the band came onstage. And, from that point forward, it was an incredible show. I heard every song I needed to hear. Axel was out there with a NY Giants Jersey. I don't know what the logic behind that was. He must have been extremely unhappy this past weekend. But, anyhow, the thing that draws me to music is not the lead singer...rather, the guitarist. And this show, it occured maybe in 2002, in the fall, and Guns and Roses wasn't really Guns and Roses at that point. We saw Axel and some "other guys" on the stage. Most notable Omission: SLASH. Obviously, the one guy that I would really really really really want to see. In his place, there was this guy that I had never seen before. And, I guess I couldn't really actually see him, because he had a Halloween mask on and a KFC chicken bucket. Apparently, he is known as Buckethead. Initially, I am standing there like, what the fuck...but then he starts playing. OMG...I mean, many guitar aficionados have their own definition about what constitutes good. Some would say fast, speed, ability to shred. Some like Jazz. Others classical. Others prefer a stevie ray vaughn or BB King, where each note basically cries. Then, finally, there are the Hendrix fans...who knows what was going on in his head and the sounds that he heard, prior to all of the technology and gizmos that we use today. But, the thing is, whether or not speed is your absolute preference, if you play, you can appreciate raw ability and talent, especially when the notes are so closely spaced that your mind wants to freak out and have a seizure. I swear, he has the same six string guitar and 10 fingers that I do...but if we were to play next to each other, it would sound like he had 1000 fingers. Some people just have innate talents and abilities. In my dreams I will always be on a stage, lead guitarist for the greatest act since Led Zeppelin. Then, of course, I will always have to be waking up and going to work.
Now, in this situation, in hindsight, we as fans can EASILY criticize Axel Rose, the other members of the band...or whatever...because they aren't playing together. We are sitting here, outside of the situation, and we can see the sheer sums of money they're leaving on the table. I think now, had they been together on that tour, they could have probably pocketed more money than I will make in the next 10 years of my career, just on that one stint. Hell, maybe they'd make even more. But, in the moment, and I admit I don't know the details, they couldn't get along. And, whether or not they behaved rationally by the definition of a normal human, they made the decision they had to make. Life is spattered with these types of "mistakes." Michael Vick anyone? Adam "Pac Man" Jones? Play 16 games, function w/n the law, make potentially hundreds of millions. Again, so easy for us all in our rational states of mind and our 9 to 5's to point that finger. So easy, but I for one will admit that I won't know...ever...whtat it is like to play in the NFL. So, I truly can't put myself in their shoes.
And so, I come to my main point. I have thought about this for a while. Alan Greenspan. Sandy Weill. Music, NFL...these are ultimately entertainment. Michael Vick is an egregious criminal who tortured defenseless animals. By any stretch Pac Man was piece of work. Axel...probably was an asshole to the other members of his band...and vice versa. Today, we are in a CREDIT CRUNCH that affects millions of people. Celebrities in entertainment can ruin their own lives, and it's terrible, but we can always just turn off our TV's, we can always just change our channels. Greenspan and Weill, today, are frequently being blamed for potentially having a hand in ruining the entire economic system that is the USA. Two guys. People are saying it was obvious...obvious that Citigroup was too big and that they should have known this would happen. It was apparently also obvious that Glass Steagal, had it been kept in place, would have "saved us". And Alan Greenspan...he was in the mortgage business without knowing it, selling all of the ARM's and whatnot. And, Ok, so he recently says that maybe he messed up with regard to derivatives. He was the only one? True, ok, he is the head of the FOMC, so he should be ahead of the rest of all of us. But, he is supposed to instantaneously understand everything that can happen with each new type of investment and security structure, when the top people on the Street, paid millions and millions...couldn't understand them either. They could at the time...but assumptions like normal distributions must have gotten into the models...muddling things up. Oh well....
The biggest thing is think for a second how funny it is. The right move, you claim would have been to raise interest rates sooner, or not put them too low. Ok...I'm sure we'd have all loved Greenspan for that. Or Weill shouldn't have created Citi. Ok...but he did make billions and billions and billions for many shareholders. At the time Citi was awesome. it was the new paradigm. But now we say the smart money would have said not invested. that it would have prohibited the situation. Why didn't it? Or if derivatives were so bad, why did every financial instituation that could write them write as many as possible? Why didn't 1 or 2 players stand back? Why are there no investment banks? Can no one think for themselves? When it's all in vogue, we go all in. Then, when that's not in vogue, we criticize. No one is thinking originally here. You have a few hedge funds who did the right things and bought the write CDS instruments and made out big. But the entire establishment was wrong. It screwed up. I'm sorry, but it just annoys me so much. Greenspan, Weill, they had their faults, they had their problems, but they also had legendary careers. I just think we shouldn't forget that. I know every crisis needs a scapegoat...a singular decision...or a singular reason...that led to everything. And, I feel like I can give it. We're human. All of us. We're not better and we're not worse than those in power making the calls. and if there are billions on the table, we would have taken them too.