Power Corrupts GSB

["Harold Fox" <hfox@>]

We all harbor secret fantasies: deep, dark desires we must keep private from
our closest relations, no matter how understanding or trustworthy they are.
These fantasies give our lives meaning. They push us to be ambitious, to
strive for success and power: that we may one day be able to marshal the
resources to make our depraved delusions a reality. The more elaborate the
fantasies, the more power we need.

For example, if your fantasy is to drink beer and watch Police Academy
movies, you are lucky, and you can look forward to a simple life of quiet
contentment. However, life is more complex if your fantasy is to have your
head shaved by an Austrian shepherdess while surrounded by naked, chanting,
Buddhist monks with a herd of camels licking chocolate sauce off your body.
The monks and the shepherdess might be achievable if you became director of
CSAIL, perhaps from some DARPA slush fund. However, to include the camels,
you would have to become President of MIT, to skim from the endowment and
extort wealthy prospective students' parents.

In this context, consider Client #9, the honorable Eliot Spitzer. The
popular governor of New York, famous for cracking down on crooked financial
companies, has spent $80,000 over the past few years with an elite call girl
service named Emperor's VIP. Each tryst was $1000/hour, the latest of which
occurred on Feb 13, the night before Valentine's Day. In a similar story,
Fidelity recently agreed to pay an $8 million fine to the SEC. Fidelity
traders had been given gifts by stockbroking firm, Jeffries & Co, for
running its trades through them. One of the gifts was a $165,000 bachelor
party for Thomas Bruderman. Bruderman was flown on a private jet to a
weekend in Miami with trips to exclusive golf and strip clubs. The weekend
culminated on a chartered yacht, where Bruderman was provided a bag of
ecstasy and a harem of escorts. The party also featured dwarf tossing, a
game where a diminutive man dresses himself in velcro, and party guests
attempt to hurl him at a target.

Coincidentally, Bruderman was getting married to Dennis Kozlowski's
daughter. Kozlowski, the former CEO of Tyco Inc, who also tossed a dwarf at
Bruderman's party, is now spending time in prison for embezzling $400
million of corporate funds. One of the embezzlements was a $2 million
birthday party in Sardinia for his wife. The organizers paid $250,000 to fly
in Jimmy Buffett. The upscale toga party also featured a cake in the shape
of a woman's breasts and a life-size ice sculpture of Michelangelo's David
with vodka streaming from the penis.

When events such as these appear in the headlines, there is the tendency to
feel shock: why would such powerful people throw away their hard-earned
positions in such infantile pursuits? Or perhaps we feel sadness, that a
promising career is cut short by a meaningless scandal. In fact, we should
feel joy and envy. Someone actually made it to a position of power, and they
took advantage of the opportunity to make their dreams come true.

Raise a toast to one day fulfilling your secret fantasies at this week's:

           +-                                                  -+
             girl scout benefit -+-  5:30 pm  -+- 32-G9 lounge
           +-                                                  -+

              For those coming from elsewhere: Building 32 is
               <http://whereis.mit.edu/map-jpg?selection=32>
          Once you are in 32, just take the G-elevator to the 9th
      floor and we will be in the lounge that you will be looking at
                    <http://projects.csail.mit.edu/gsb>


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