Disgorge the Bastards!
Getting mad as hell at tycoon villains is the new buzz.
Fill your Olympian lungs with bong smoke, throw an F-bomb tantrum on a movie set. Yawn. Tantrums by celebs like Michael Phelps and Christian Bale just don’t fire the public ire like they used to.
Not since the recession sent people into a kind of confused shock, that’s now maturing into collective rage targeted at villains like John Thain.
Thain, the CEO of Merrill Lynch who, after his firm sucked down millions in U.S. government bailout money, cut thousands of jobs while spending $1.22 million renovating his office renovating his office. Little decorative touches like an $87,000 rug and a $1,400 parchment wastepaper basket were what sent people from tut-tuting to steaming. A final flourish was that he told underlings to cut expenses including car services, while he spent $230,000 on his own driver.
On Tuesday morning, with the blogosphere mob chasing him down the street holding virtual pitchforks and torches, Thain resigned.
To the gallows!
As the meltdown continues to drip, the temperature of the public reaction to titans’ troubles has gone from cold smugness to hot blooded calls for revenge.