Fred Goodwin laughing all the way to the bank

We don’t know much about this guy here in the USA but his behavior sure sounds familiar.  Fred Goodwin, former Chief Executive of RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland), has received widespread criticism since it was revealed that he’d be receiving a £16m pension. That’s about $23.3 million stateside.  Much like the disgraced bank execs in the U.S., Goodwin was forced to step down in October 2008 when RBS became nationalized after taking on bad debt and realizing a £24bn loss.  Of course, Goodwin argues that he’s earned his pension and that according to his contract, he’s doing nothing wrong by accepting it. To add insult to injury a recent whistleblower account of corporate waste at RBS revealed, among other things, that Goodwin’s office received a makeover using £1,000 a roll wallpaper and that company execs ran up chauffeur bills in excess of £100,000 a month.

Do the super wealthy really see things that differently than the rest of us?  Corporate greed is certainly not an American phenomenon. We all know that it is in fact, very, unfortunately universal.  But aren’t moderation and self restraint also universal? How about common sense?  Or is it too much to ask when money and power are involved? I always read these stories with that “one eyebrow cocked” look on my face because for the life of me I don’t get how they don’t get why most of the world finds this kind of behavior unforgivable.  The more I read stories like these, the angrier and more disgusted I become. 

FEMA, the agency that famously mismanaged Katrina under Michael Brown, is apparently (no surprise to the rest of us) plagued with management problems. 

FEMA’s interim director, Nancy Ward, was due back in the agency’s New Orleans office last Thursday to continue reviewing the allegations.   Employees  say the way the office is being managed is a disaster.  Ward’s visits began after a CBS Evening News report claimed that there were 30 complaints, in February alone, against Transitional Recovery Office chief of staff, Douglas Whitmer.  While the allegations are under investigation, Whitmer is on temporary assignment in Texas. To help assess the situation, FEMA created an on-line survey that can be completed confidentially by the New Orleans staff.  The larger story here is how the mismanagement is impacting the post-Katrina rebuilding efforts.  Nearly $4 billion of the $6 billion FEMA designated to rebuild after Katrina is still unspent, due in large part, many say, to the mismanagement in the New Orleans office.

Serious management issues are definitely not news to government workers.  Government agencies are notoriously plagued by bad management and low morale.  It would be great if these confidential surveys could be implemented throughout several government agencies and if when the results were released, real changes in management would actually take place.