How does he really feel about Sam Zell?

Mark Lacter points in his LA Biz Observed morning headlines to a column where Washington Post writer Steven Pearlstein calls B.S. on Sam Zell's claim that a "perfect storm" of bad financial news led to his reversals as owner of Tribune.

Please spare us the "perfect storm" metaphor.

It's hackneyed, for starters. It doesn't square with the facts. And for people who fancy themselves leaders, it's downright unbecoming....

By last year, when [Zell] was negotiating for Tribune, was there anyone in America who didn't know that the Internet was stealing readers and advertisers from the mainstream media, eating away at profit margins and calling into question the business model on which the entire industry was based? Did he wonder why nobody else in the industry seemed anxious to bid for some of the country's best newspapers and broadcast stations? Had he not seen the flurry of articles in the financial press warning of ridiculously loose lending and over-leveraged deals?

The only perfect storm to hit the Tribune was the one that resulted from the collision of Zell's ego, his arrogance and his utter ineptitude in running a media empire, along with a total disregard for the financial well-being of thousands of employees whose retirement assets he commandeered for a financing scheme that gave him control of the company while putting in very little of his own money.

Meanwhile, Times freelancers who live check to check — and the hundreds of recently laid-off who were promised severance — are waiting to see when or if they will get paid by Zell. As Veronique says at Native Intelligence.