White Out

At the onset of the Bush Administration, Thomas White, a retired general, was nominated to serve as the Secretary of the Army. (It should be noted that this is not a ceremonial gig. Unfortunately, the success or failure of an Army Secretary is apparent only after they have moved on. Don't think so? Well, the unsung hero of Operation Desert Storm was the Secretary of the Army in the 1980s, John O. Marsh, Jr. )

White, however, had big time business experience -- he was the chief of an Enron (remember those guys?) subsidiary.

The combination of a military background and corporate success made him ideal in the eyes of the administration. After all, the idea was to operate the military as a business entity and ensure that efficiency ruled the day.

I won't get into the virtue of treating the military as a business -- there are good and bad aspects to that worldview.

Alas, with the failure of Enron, White became a target. You know, the what did he know and when did he know it stuff. One of the charges was that his company jacked up the price of electricity in California which prompted the state to institute rolling blackouts. Mr. White, alas, claimed that he wasn't aware that his company engaged in such practices. Regrettably for White, it appeared that he didn't have a clue as to what his company was engaged in.

White was a show horse and not a work horse.

Moreover, if you're OK with the idea of having authority without responsibility then it's only a matter of time before you rationalize other odd behaviors such as using government transport for personal jaunts, holding (and managing) stock long after you're required to divest, and backstabbing your boss.

The big mystery about White was why it took so long to fire him.

Anyway, White comes to mind when I hear about all these folks who lost their fortunes to Bernie Madoff.

People with a great deal of money and attendant responsibility just handed over their fortunes without the slightest due diligence. Like White, he seemed like a good guy especially as the profits rolled in. (Hey, its always about the money.)

However, if they just scratched the surface just a wee bit, they could have seen the train wreck coming.

Seldom are things the way they seem.