Friedman and Fat Cats

In the middle of an otherwise eminently sensible and insightful Thomas Friedman column in today's New York Times about how to stop suicide bombers comes this, out of the blue, in a quote from "Dov Seidman, the C.E.O. of LRN, which helps companies build ethical cultures": "When we call a banker 'a fat cat' for taking too big a bonus, we're actually being inspirational leaders because we are telling them, 'You are behaving beneath how a responsible human being should behave.' We need to inspire the village to shame those who betray our common values." Mr. Seidman and through him Mr. Friedman are now joining President Obama in likening Wall Street banker bonus recipients to suicide bombers. That seems an awfully big leap to make, especially without defining what "too big" a bonus is. There are plenty of bankers on Wall Street whose bonus income is less than Mr. Friedman makes on his bestselling books and his $75,000 speaking fees, or who don't belong to the two country clubs Mr. Friedman belongs to, or have the $9.3 million, 11,400 square-foot house that Mr. Friedman does. Is Mr. Friedman's house "too big"? Are the bankers's bonuses "too big"? Maybe, but this column contains no rational argument that they are, just a cheap shot sideswipe.