From President Obama to lawmakers to the public, rounds of condemnation have been unleashed about bonuses handed out by the American International Group.
Charles E. Grassley
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But none perhaps were as severe as remarks made by Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, who demanded that American corporations adopt some of the ways of societies like Japan, where leaders — when shamed — may publicly express deep regret or commit suicide.
In a conference call with Iowa reporters on Tuesday, Mr. Grassley tried to clarify the remarks he first made on Monday to a radio station there, saying he was not calling for corporate executives to commit suicide. But he still offered up the example of hara-kiri as he denounced the lack of accountability by corporations receiving bailout money.
“What I’m expressing here obviously is not that I want people to commit suicide, that’s not my notion,” Mr. Grassley said. “I do feel very strongly that we have not had statements of apology, statements of remorse, statements of contrition on the part of C.E.O.’s of manufacturing companies or banks or financial services or insurance companies that are asking for bailouts.
“That they understand that they are responsible for running their corporation into the ground and now they’re coming to the taxpayers for help and have been coming to the taxpayers for help for the last six months. And it’s very difficult for the American people to understand the justification for it.”
Mr. Grassley said public apologies by Japanese officials showed that “they accept full responsibility, and the entire society knows they accept full responsibility.”
Without such expressions of remorse, he said, “It just makes it very difficult for the taxpayers of my district to just keep shoveling money out the door.”
