In the last few days, Wall Street is rocking as its leaders tumble. Last week the nation's largest brokerage house Merrill Lynch saw its CEO Stanley O'Neal step down. This week, it's the nation's largest bank, Citigroup's Charles Prince III resigning.
I do not want to talk about their golden parachutes. (They leave with millions, having lost billions for their companies.)
I just wanted to mention that when O'Neal said his goodbyes, at least one reporter mentioned that he was Merrill Lynch's first black CEO. There was no mention that Charles Prince was another in a long line of white guys at the helm of Citigroup. Do we get it yet?
True equality is when a black guy can get fired for incompetence just like a white guy, and still get a sweet severance package... and then get hired by another financial firm after a short vacation (like the small club of re-treaded coaches in the NFL, or Don Imus).
I think as a country, we're almost there. Not quite, but almost.
