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Bain Street

Main Street vs. Bain Street. Why is Mitt surprised? He’s been running for President for like 10 years. He never thought this subject would come up? With documents from the SEC? He should have had his ducks in a row.

Zzzomney was in the bizness of maximizing profits. At any cost. For shareholders. That means downsizing. Outsourcing. Geez. Wasn’t anybody around in the 90’s? Personal tax shelters. Okay, maybe in the old days. But, last year? Perception is everything. This is not competence we can believe in.

The entitled on Bain Street need not heed the problems of Main Street. Until they run for office. Arrogance or ignorance? Either way, scary.

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Cooked Books

JP Morgan trading losses, London Interbank Offered Rate manipulation. Perception is everything. Optics key. Makes the argument harder to justify for anti-regulation even if it won’t fix anything. As global financial boundaries continue to blur, it’s easier to hide stuff. Right, Mitt?

It’s not that Romney is rich. It’s that he is clueless about those who are not. If he was CEO at Bain after 1999, whether he was actively involved in management, who cares? Perception is everything. Bain Street vs. Main Street. And the ‘books’ of Mormon will be further roasted as the election looms. The church was, probably is the largest foreign exchange customer in the world. Global assets, cash beyond belief. From Marriott to Campbell’s to Huntsman, they rule more of the world than most people realize.   BloombergBusinessWeek.

So, on another sizzling weekend, read a book to escape. Or, if not re-read Tom Wolfe’s I Am Charlotte Simmons in the horrific wake of Penn State.

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Sicko Pants

“The Worst Marriage in Georgetown” is a true story stranger than any fiction. From Soros to Scalia and military leaders in between, it is incredible how easily they are sucked in by a psycho and his powerful “wife”. Washingtonian sycophants so insular, narcissistic, naive. It’s no wonder the country is in such sorry shape. Beautifully written by Franklin Foer. If you can’t link it here, get the New York Times Magazine tomorrow and read it. Worth the price.

Illustration by Pat Perry from the New York Times.

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Life Works

The article that is striking more debate than the lightning outside, is in this month’s The Atlantic. Anne-Marie Slaughter, former high-powered State Department director, has the guts to tell the truth. Women cannot have it all. It is possible to work and have children. It is not possible to do both well. A luxury quandary many women do not have. But, those of us women who cracked the glass ceiling and rose above middle management either made the decision not to have children, or sacrificed family for a career. There, I said it.

Reality bites. Something has to give. Having made the right moves for my family, it still hurt. My career, sometimes my sanity. What the wonderfully complete and complex article does not talk about is how those who are career-only employees also suffer the consequences of so-called work/life balance. Someone has to see the patients or take care of clients while parents are tending to stuffy noses or attending soccer games. There is resentment on both sides of the fence.

In this economy, the next generation will have fewer choices. Whoever has a job will work. No matter the gender.

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Mile Marker

97 degrees today. Reminiscent of hottest June day in Manhattan at PithyV’s 76th Street flat off Park Avenue. 30 year milestone. Dr.Husband may say millstone. Seems like yesterday.

Maybe not. Let’s see. Reagan, Thatcher, Mitterand, Brezhnev, Begin, Trudeau led the world stage. McCartney-Wonder’s Ebony & Ivory. Kingsley’s  Ghandi.

Suite at the Carlyle, before our first SideTrek cross-country. Route 80. I drove on highways, then. With a little help from friends. Stops in Santa Fe for a full lunar eclipse, seedy casino motel in Vegas, ending at 1808 Pacific, SanFran.
A long and happy ride.

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Mad End

I’m maddened. MadMen’s Season 5 is over. Word of this season- ‘dirty’. Advertising, dirty business. Dirty dealings. Joan’s pimp-out, Lane’s bookkeeping. Dirty city. Zoobeezoo women, philandering men. Megan’s dirty double-cross.

Megan employed her pouty charm to get Don to marry her, then promote her. Tonight Don said, “You want to be somebody’s discovery, not somebody’s wife.” Yet, she begged. The screen test confirmed her transparent neediness. He lost respect, disappointed that she was not ashamed to use him. Her betrayed friend may have the last laugh. Oh, Matt Weiner. A season so evil. A finale so sweet. Peggy and Joan strong and triumphant in the end.

This photo tableau says it all. ByeBye, ZooBeeZoo. See ya next season.