George S. May Business Blog

Justice the Grassley way: DEATH!

Iowa Senator Charles Grassley (left) suggested, Monday, an age old remedy for AIG executives’ blamed collapse of the company: kill themselves.

No this is not a joke.

Sen. Charles Grassley advocated that AIG executives should take a “Japanese” approach toward accepting responsibility for the collapse of the insurance giant by resigning or, well, killing themselves.

Charles Grassley’s callous commentary came during an interview with Cedar Rapids, Iowa, radio station WMT. These are somewhat of an echo to earlier comments he has made in regards to corporate executives mistakes and public apologies, however yesterday his remarks took a drastic step further:

“I suggest, you know, obviously, maybe they ought to be removed,” Grassley said. “But I would suggest the first thing that would make me feel a little bit better toward them if they’d follow the Japanese example and come before the American people and take that deep bow and say, I’m sorry, and then either do one of two things: resign or go commit suicide.

“And in the case of the Japanese, they usually commit suicide before they make any apology.”

Casey Mills, spokesman for Charles Grassley, in an attempt to perform some serious damage control, said the Senator was not really calling for AIG executives to kill themselves and that an apology would suffice in his eyes.

How forgiving of you, Mr. Grassley.

“Senator Grassley has said for some time now that generally speaking, executives who make a mess of their companies should apologize, as Japanese executives do,” Mills said. “He says the Japanese might even go so far as to commit suicide but he doesn’t want U.S. executives to do that.”

He then continued that Charles Grassley has been looking into other means of punishment should the AIG execs not apologize. Water torture and stretching are two at the top of his list.

Jokes aside, Mr. Charles Grassley has again stepped out of his own boundaries with outlandish statements. To suggest that someone should take their own life is far too serious to even hint towards, especially coming from a lawmaker. Yes, the AIG executives executed horribly poor judgment. Yes, the AIG executives were incredibly reckless with tax payers’ money. But, certainly Charles Grassley can’t see a self-inflicted death on their behalf as a viable means of retribution.

Mr. Charles Grassley, later in a private interview, recommended that Bernard Madoff be hoisted into a wooden block in the middle of the town square so that people could throw tomatoes at him, prior to being strapped to a raft and pushed out into the Atlantic.

Grassley then hopped in his horse-and-carriage and trotted home for tea time.

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