The results are in: The folks on Wall Street are dumber - or as dumb - as the ad folks on Madison Avenue.

How else can you explain the millions of dollars in bonuses paid to a group of fat cats who - by my standards - are guilty of having put the whole world into an economic black hole?

I am talking of course of investment bankers - the Robert Rubin type of folks who yesterday were so brilliant they shined like polished cotton, but today seem as dumb as dirt.

It's worse than that. They are unrepentant.

Quick! Can you think of an evil character in the entire superhero galaxy that appears as evil as these financial demigods? Even Batman's Joker had his redeeming qualities.

Evil we can live with. It is when dumb is thrown into the mix that it gets really dangerous.

Seems that even when they get it right, they get it wrong.

For starters, there's nothing wrong with owning a corporate jet - even buying a new one. But let's look at the way that Citigroup handled it:

Citigroup was set to buy a $50-million foreign-made corporate jet - just after receiving a $45 billion bailout subsidy from you and me.

When quizzed about it, the first press statement said simply that Citigroup had strict policies about how the jets (evidently they have many) are used for business.

Hold the phone. On the other hand, pick up the phone. Call Harold Burson or any number of PR folks just a brick's throw away in New York who would have told them to immediately say the following:

--We've already sent a letter to the manufacturer that we have held up the purchase. During these recessionary times, it just isn't right.

--If we should decide that there are cost savings in replacing a jet, we'll look at those American-made Gulfstreams from Savannah, Georgia.

--Oh, and our former chairman, Sandy Weill - who used a Citigroup corporate jet for a luxury family holiday after the bailout- He's been grounded.

We have provided Sandy's entire family with new bicycles.

I'm Mike Willard, and I AM the Ukraine Observer.