Well, now we know where laid-off hedge fund analysts can find employment — refining transit schedules.
*****
Minnesota's Gov. Pawlenty unveils his budget today, but Britt Robson has already seen the trailer of this horror flick.
Like Houdini, Pawlenty is well-versed in the tricks of his trade. There will be fees, delayed payments in promised aid to schools, back-loaded funding “tails” on various programs, and myriad other accounting sleights of hand. One-time aid from the federal government will be gratefully accepted even as the state whacks local government aid to cities and counties and promotes other policies that are sure to result in higher local property taxes. Pots of money specifically earmarked for non-general-fund purposes will be raided. And on the expenditure side of the ledger, the governor will pretend that inflation doesn’t exist.
Unlike Houdini, Pawlenty is playing a role that can’t end painlessly. People will lose their health insurance, their childcare subsidies, their affordable nursing homes. Be it taxes, fees, or the withdrawing of government support, the bang for your buck in state tax dollars is almost certain to diminish significantly.
A different comparison comes to mind, because I've been reading about men who commit serial murders. When they are successful the first time, they tend to repeat the same methods, believing themselves to be smarter than anyone else and being incapable of seeing the larger, changing context in which their crimes are being perceived.
Instead of repeating their success, they are creating a pattern that will result in their capture.
I'm not saying the governor is a Ted Bundy. But charm, intelligence and dissociation are certainly going to be on display today.
*****
Or Madoff? Here's a short blog summary of a New York Times piece, "The Talented Mr. Madoff."
A forensic psychologist, J. Reid Meloy, said Madoff’s confidence reminds him of criminals he has studied who don’t fear getting caught. Such criminals tend to have sense of grandeur, they’re narcissistic and they have a strong sense of entitlement.
Since Madoff was able to fool the regulators for decades, that would have been a heady, intoxicating experience and would have fooled [sic] a sense of entitlement and grandiosity, “ according to the former F.B.I. special agent. Madoff also would have wanted to keep the regulators close since they were a threat to him, and turn them into allies and shape how they do their business.
