MORE: MY CONSCIENCE - MY GUIDE

I’m not sure there are many altruists left on Earth. Cynics, looking at modern society suggest that just about everything we do is based on self-interest; that underneath even the most selfless, caring response to social needs, is the imperative to be self-aggrandizing. You could even argue that Mother Theresa had nothing material to gain by being caring about the poor, but even she was preparing her place in heaven.

Recently I received a lengthy booklet telling me about the future of commodities. It had nothing at all to do with feeding the world’s hungry, stopping the spread of greenhouse gases, or trying to stem the tide of exploitation of non-renewable resources. It was not meant to be that kind of document. It was solely for the benefit of people like me, who have money invested in securities based on commodities, not just steel and coal, but food and fertilizer – things that should be associated with human survival, not with making a buck. But I live on the income generated by investments. I can speak as if I were altruistic, and at times I have chosen principle over practicality, but when it comes to the money that keeps a roof over our heads and food in 0ur bellies, I am about as self-serving as they come. I’m not even sure that all my ideals that were wrapped up in my on-air opinions were in the service of telling what I believed to be truth, whatever the cost, and more about keeping my spot in the local pantheon of celebrities.

The financial meltdown that nearly took America down began in 2008 with the sudden realization that there were billions of dollars of “toxic” securities based on mortgages given to people who couldn’t afford them. Financial institutions were out of control. CEOs of money-losing companies were being given millions in bonuses and stock options. Hirings were made on the basis of how quickly you could enhance the bottom line, with there almost never being a long view of the ultimate results of runaway speculation. The first casualty was Lehman Brothers. They had accumulated so much in worthless assets that their stock plunged and took investors and employees with it. Bear Stearns, whose big “players” were famous for thousand dollar bottles of champagne consumed with hundred dollar cigars, was saved from extinction when it was bought for a fraction of its former value. In fact, if the Stock Exchange had not interfered and demanded more, they would have been bought for $2 a share

Merrill Lynch was about to be the next to go, bring with it ruin to more than 60,000 employees.

The book “Fall of The Titans” is the best thing I have read about how America went to the brink and narrowly escaped falling into something even worse than the Great Depression. The story of how the rating companies, Standard and Poors and Moody’s said those toxic securities were triple A even though most of the mortgages were “sub-prime. It has become a legend of despair. But to me, the most significant part is the completely self-serving attitude of some of the players. The architect of Merrill’s near ruin was Stan O’Neal, who ruled this venerable company like a dictator, brooking no interference and loading his executive with people who would march to his drumbeat. As the disaster became obvious, O’Neal’s future was on the line. (A friend of mine, a member of Merrill’s “Thundering Herd” said if he met O’Neal he would punch him in the face.) What author Greg Farrell observes is that with chaos threatening O’Neal thought only of his own survival. Everything he did was to advance or protect himself. I’m not going to jump from the particular to the general and say that all the financial moguls implicated in the great 2008 disaster were looking out only for number 1. I do wonder though. How many people involved in the securities business always act in the best interests of their clients, their fellow employees, and the larger health of the society? Profits come first.

In the last few months, the most venerable and successful of all the investment bankers Goldman Sachs paid an enormous fine for improper dealings. It was also said that Goldman actually bet against its own clients, hedging with short sales on the securities they had sold their clients. In other firms there were allegations of “front loading” a total violation of trust between broker and client. The securities department would receive a huge order from a client. Before they would fill the order they would invest their own cash in the stock, riding the coattails of what would predictably be a rise in price.

During those hectic times when companies were falling, when government would bail out those “too big to fail” there were panicked mergers. Of course, those mergers would result in the loss of thousands of jobs as companies “rationalized” their operations. But that’s business isn’t it?

There were a lot of bad guys and a few good guys. The good guys actually wanted, like the president of Merrill and number 2 in the pecking order, to save this venerable company and the jobs of thousands. I can’t look into his head to discover how much was honest altruism and how much was self-preservation.

“Looking after number one” is an integral part of our culture. But even the greediest should know that without goodwill there will ultimately be a shadow over the profits.

I have spoken like the perfect hypocrite whose continuing survival depends on the price of oil (it should go up) and the rising cost of food, and the next political crisis. Do I have any choice?