This morning I found myself thinking, “Money makes people do the wildest things?”
I awoke from a late night of studying, and I could hear the voice of anchor woman Contessa Brewer, reporting on the morning news. The first thought that came to mind was “I overslept… AGAIN!”
I missed Morning Joe and needed to get out of bed to make a cup of tea. But the always so somber demeanor of Secretary Timothy Geithner on the television screen prompted my attention. He was addressing the Economic Club of Washington. In his speech Secretary Geithner stated;
The world economy is going through the most severe crisis in generations…
We bear a substantial share of the responsibility for what has happened… [And] never before in modern times has so much of the world been simultaneously hit by a confluence of economic and financial turmoil such as we are now living through.
“What else is new,” is all I retorted.
I started to get out of bed, but once again the news coverage distracted me. This time the story was much more terrifying. It was about the “purported suicide” of Freddie Mac’s Acting Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President, David Kellermann.
Quite ironic and sad to say the least; the parallel between the Geithner speech, and Kellermann’s untimely death. Here you have a 47-year-old Secretary of the Treasury addressing his colleagues about the state of the economic crisis and nearly 16 miles away, in your typical east coast suburb, a 41-year-old Chief Financial Officer presumably ends his life as a result of that same economic crisis.
If the autopsy does corroborate police speculation, no one will ever really know why Kellermann did what he did. We can speculate that maybe he committed suicide because he felt overwhelmed at the task set before him, or maybe he buckled under the pressure of the nation’s dependence of him or maybe it could have been guilt; somehow feeling personally responsible or at least partly liable as a result of his involvement with Freddie Mac.
But beyond all else, the hearing of the “suicide” somehow echoed and even solidified many parts of Secretary Geithner’s speech.
“Am I being illogical in thinking this recession may be worse than many of our leaders say it is?”
Entering into this era is rather terrifying. I wish I did not feel so in the dark about the sate of our State.
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