Turbulence

It shouldn't surprise anyone that the players and robber barons from Wall Street are raising a stink about mortgage backed securities. And the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth from people being let go is getting louder and louder.

All this Judge can say is "QUIT WHINING!"

If you think anyone is stupid enough to think hedge fund managers believed what the likes of Fitch, Moody's and S&P were shoveling on behalf of their customers, you need to invest in Nigerian 419 scams.

The power players and raters knew exactly what was going on. So did employees. Some of them just didn't get their exit strategy timed correctly. They knew the reality of dishonesty being portrayed in countless court actions, foreclosures, bankruptcies and news stories would catch up to them, they just didn't know when to pull the plug.

No, instead they buried their collective heads up their collective asses and kept raking in the dough, stashing it away in other less risky gambling endeavours as fast as it kept coming in.

And it did come in. And it did go out. And there won't be any serious accounting of the billions of dollars that were taken from everyday people and ground through the machine into accounts held by the people who knew how to play the system without risk of prosecution.

It's a question of timing. You're at the table. You're ahead 200%, maybe even 300%. You see six months of mortgage payments in your grasp. Do you sit and play? Or do you think your run of luck is over and go find a more honest job?

For the employees of the scam artist companies who continued playing beyond rational expectations, it's not a pleasant scenario. They were in it for a few thousand a year in bonuses. For the executives in on the scam early enough, it's a simple bump in the road and the 7-figure lifestyle isn't really going to take a huge hit, unless of course all those political friends they stroked don't want to be seen with you. That can be painful to the ego. Just ask Ken Lay about what a night in the Lincoln Bedroom turned out to be worth.

But the properties, corporate jets, yachts, vacation destinations, casino nights, fine wines and gourmet meals are still within their grasp. They've got lots of people to blame and unlike Lay, their connections run much deeper than just the White House. None of them risk prosecution. They've paved the way to "no admission of wrongdoing" long ago with their influence on K street.

So to the industry workers who've lost their jobs, quit whining already. You went to work with these crooks. You deserve anything that happens to you. Find honest work.

And contact your local FBI office if you want to be able to sleep better at night.