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Leon Panetta, Obama's pick for CIA chief, earned $1.2 million last year as a corporate consultant, speechmaker, and board-sitter. (Included in that was a $150,000 fee for consulting for the Leon & Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Policy at California State University. And if I were a California taxpayer, I'd be thrilled that the school was able to snag Leon Panetta to consult for the Leon Panetta Institute for a mere $150,000.) Like Tom Daschle, Panetta took in about $250,000 last year making speeches to corporations—Panetta got $56,000 from Merrill Lynch alone for two talks. I know there's been a lot of bashing of our corporate financial titans lately. How they live like pashas and pay themselves grotesque salaries in spite of the fact they have pretty much brought down the world's economies. But sometimes you've got to feel sorry for these former masters of the universe. For years they have been forced to sit at luncheons and fight to keep awake while listening to Tom Daschle or Leon Panetta drone on and on. How hard it must have been for them to fight the impulse to say, "Leon, I'll write you a check for $56,000 right now if you'll just stop talking."
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