The Wall Street Journal, in its November 30,
2011 issue wrote: "A judge sentenced
Michael Jackson's doctor to four years in a
county jail for his role in the pop singer's
2009 death, calling Conrad Murray 'a
disgrace to the medical profession' in
blistering remarks... Judge Michael Pastor of
Los Angeles Superior Court said Dr. Murray's
$150,000-a-month post with the pop star
constituted 'money for madness medicine'.
Dr. Murray was found guilty of "involuntary
manslaughter after treating Mr. Jackson's
insomnia with a powerful sedative".
Apparently days after his conviction, an
interview with the good doctor aired on
MSNBC. Doctor Murray said he felt no guilt
and he did nothing wrong. He blamed
Michael Jackson for his own death. To which
Judge Pastor, while handing down the
sentence, reportedly said, "Yipes! Talk about
blaming the victim."
Talk about making a wrong career choice.
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No body, no die
Dr Murray should never have studied
medicine and then decided to practice it. He
should have been in the financial services
field. He was in the right country: USA. And
he had the right kind of clients - judging by
the fact that he was close to pop music
legend, Michael Jackson.
His $150,000 a post with the pop star is
impressive. That works out to $ 1.8 million a
year. Not easy to beat even in the greed-
ridden financial services sector. But, given
that Dr Murray is 58 years old, he would
have had a 30-year track record in the field
of finance. With 30 years of networking,
chances are he could have been generating
more than $1.8 million per annum in salaries
and bonuses. Yes, Dr Murray could have
made it to the coveted post of a "Big
Swinging D" or "Rainmaker".
In addition to the salary and the bonus,
which would make 99% of the 99% so
ecstatic that they would die of a heart
attack, there are the perks.
With MJ the Doctor got to visit PlayLand and
hang around with some weird people doing
some weird things. But, with a Wall Street
firm, he could potentially have been set up
with free alcohol, free drugs, and fun-loving
women. Of course, he would have to get the
clients in on it. And, as shown in the
documentary " The Inside Job", no
investigator would ever worry about
whether such practices could be "bribes".
More importantly, if Dr. Murray had really
made it big in the field of finance, he may
have gotten the crucial ingredient of mega-
success: inside information.
The good doctor could have been part of
the old boy networks that seem to keep the
money in the rarefied club of a select few.
Maybe Dr Murray would have been invited
to the special lunch with Hank Paulson in
July 21, 2008 to discuss the various options
facing the US government to solve the
financial crisis. Including the shutting down
of government-owned entities: Freddie Mac
and Fannie Mae.
While people are still debating on whether
the Hank lunch (with his mostly ex-Goldman
colleagues) was a violation of "insider
trading" or "ethical" rules and practices -or
whether anyone present profited from the
lunch or not - that is an academic question. I
mean if you get invited to any sort of high-
powered lunch with a dozen other people,
think of what you can learn on a one-to-one
cigar-chomping meeting.
With access to the right people, not only are
you "the 1%" but you are the "1% of the
1% of the 1%". Based on the US population
of some 350 million and a global population
of some 7 billion, that kind of equals the
number of Goldman partners "doing God's
work" and a bunch of other less religiously
blessed (but equally wealthy) lesser mortals.
Yes, Dr. Murray, with his commitment to his
clients' well-being could easily have been
"the Man".
And the best part is Dr. Murray would not
have been sent to jail.
Michael Jackson died in 2009 and - within 2
years - Murray is tried, found guilty, and
sentenced.
Lehman went bust in 2008; there have been
over a dozen books and hundreds of
articles about the role of the crooked. There
have been government hearings. And there
have been millions of minutes of media
coverage. But, eh, has anyone gone to jail?
To be tried for murder, there needs to be a
body.
No body, no blood, no allegation.
That is the beauty of the field of finance.
Your bad advice or your selfish greed - or
both - can disrupt lives and can disrupt
families. But you get to keep the bonus and
all the stuff that money can buy. And
bought.
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We did it, we did it!
As has been noted by many, the guilty have
given their confessions in public. Chuck
Prince, the then CEO of Citibank, confessed
that he could not stop dancing. They all
knew the music would stop, said the Prince.
They all knew the stuff they were doing
was reckless, but they had to keep dancing.
Why "had to" you may ask? Because, dear
victim, their bonus pools would swell the
more they danced. Just as the tax payers
bail-out of the failed also would swell. But
that was not their problem.
Though, admittedly, not everyone was in it
merely for the money. Lloyd Blankfein, the
CEO of Goldman - again a very different
breed even amongst the 1% - said he was
doing "God's work".
Funny, but that is what bin Laden said, too.
But, like Dr. Murray, bin Laden left behind a
lot of blood and bodies. They finally got bin
Laden - and he got what he deserved.
Judge Pastor, who delivered the sentencing
on Dr. Murray, was shocked that this doctor
gave his patients whatever medicines they
wanted. As a doctor, he should have known
that the patient's body was in danger.
But poor Dr. Murray just acted like the
regular people in the financial services
industry. The financial geniuses knew that
there was too much risk in the action of
many clients. But, did they warn them? Did
they protest and quit and say, "No loans
from me, baby!"? Not that we know of. In
fact, they were probably happy peddling
the stuff a-la Dr Murray style. They kept on
dancing.
And, yes, they still blame the borrowers:
they should have known better many tell
me. Out of 100 home loans, maybe 1 was
mis-sold. The other 99% wanted to gamble
on the real estate market. It was not the
fault of the bankers. But, did they try to
stop them? Were they sophisticated enough
to understand the risks and the
consequences of what would happen when
the music stopped. Did the financial
geniuses not understand? And if the
financial folks did not understand, what
were they getting paid all this money for?
Like Judge Pastor remarked: "Yipes, talk
about blaming the victim."
But there is no body, so there is no murder.
And the thugs are still around waiting to
knock you out any which way they can.
After all there is still a lot of "God's work"
left to be done.
Dr. Murray, you could have been part of that
evangelist mission - being a doctor was a
bad career choice.
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