Outrageous!

I will never associate the word outrageous with a recipe again. Meaning  “gross injury or wrong” or “grossly offensive to the sense of right or decency”, “passing reasonable bounds; intolerable or shocking,” a  recipe that bad, won’t see the light of day but rather the dark of the trash bin.

Outrage is the mot de jour describing the AIG executives who passively, and without protest or  public acceptance of responsibility for the current financial crisis, accepted millions of dollars of bonus money transferred into their accounts last Friday.

At last something has happened to make the American people, including President Obama, more outraged than calling for the head of Bernie Madoff, who, as immoral as he was, still harmed only a small fraction of mostly very rich (and very vocal) people.

The outrage aimed at him always surprised me given the fact that the banks and AIG have behaved not too differently from Madoff: both suggested for years that they had assets they didn’t; the growth and success of both relied on the willing suspension of disbelieft of experts;  both rested on business models no one understood.

The venom spewed at Madoff came from his victims and from people who saw him as the epitome of greed during a time of unbridled excess, which of course he was.  We could see him, his houses, yachts, family and jewelry. The Madoff story-from rags to riches to prison duds- was picked up on the celebrity channels whose usual fodder is Hollwood’s excess.We sucked it all up because he was a living, breathing example of someone who got caught. This was legitimate and guiltless scheudenfreude.

How  the press misled us all, including President Obama. Madoff was the fake bunnie all the press dogs were chasing while out in the real world the wolves were decimating our life savings. The “bankers” and  AIG “executives”  to this day remain faceless even as the news of their “outrageous” bonuses surfaced on Monday. Executives who have left the company even after receiving-somewhat cynically one would hope-”retention bonuses”, still are at large without bearing any sense of responsibility, not just to return the money but to let the world know who they are.

Suing them, asking them to do the right thing and return their bonuses while remaining anonymous are small penalties.  Making them come forward and identify themselves to their families, friends and neighbors, and then the general public, just as Madoff was forced to do, associates flesh and blood people with their actions and allows us to hold them accountable.

Only then can the level of outrage be directed where it belongs: to the people who have lost any sense of civic responsibility and connectedness. Let them suffer the isolation, scorn, and revilement that public humiliation brings. It is a higher cost than losing their bonuses and might actually make them think twice before finding a safe haven for all those dollars abroad.

President Obama used outrage first. Pre-election people worried that his inexperience would impede effective handling of foreign affairs. We marveled at his coolness under pressure. It didn’t occur to us that a global financial meltdown would be, as one New York Times letter writer puts it today “his Katrina”.  Now is the time  we need to see youthful heat and passion, genuine anger and actions that deal with outrage in its true sense of the term. Without any of these from the administration (forget Congress, they’re so tied up in this mess you can’t believe anything they say), we are forced to relie on words when in fact words will no longer do.

Outrageous…Outstanding Gluten-free Chocolate Nut Bars

1 cup  250g      all-natural nut butter, drained of any excess oil

1 cup 220g       dark brown sugar

2 heaping Tbsp cocoa

1/2  tsp            kosher salt

1/2 tsp             cinnamon

1                        egg

2 tsp                vanilla

5 oz             chopped chocolate or chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Line a 8″x 12″ pan with parchment paper.
3. Place all the ingredients except the chocolate into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle.
4. Beat on low speed until a smooth mass is formed.
5. Add the egg, vanilla, salt and cinnamon and beat until incorporated. It   will look crumbly, but don’t worry.
6. Add the chopped chocolate and mix until incorporated.
7. Pour the crumbs into the pan and press evenly into the corners.
8. Bake for about 15 minutes but no more than 20 or else they will be too firm.
9. As soon as they come out of the oven, slice them into squares and let cool.

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