America screams "AIG-ggggg!!!!"
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America screams "AIG-ggggg!!!!"
This will go down as the weekend that America collectively screamed "AIGGGGG!!!!!" For a long time, outrage over the multi-multi-billion dollar black hole that was once a powerful insurance company AIG simmered rather than boiled because a) other bailout recipients like Citi and Bank of America are more visible and b) most average people have a hard time wrapping themselves around what AIG did (although blogger John Marshall has been quite good -- as always -- on this.
But news of large bonuses to AIG execs -- especially in the unit that lost all the dough -- has changed that. Now everyone is talking AIG, and it seems like the "free market" Republicans (and some of their corporatist Democrat allies) are flailing the most:
On ABC's "Good Morning America" Monday, Sen. Richard Shelby said Congress must do everything it can to make sure the government money going to AIG is handled appropriately.
"We ought to explore everything that we can through the government to make sure that this money is not wasted," the Alabama Republican said. "These people brought this on themselves. Now you're rewarding failure. A lot of these people should be fired, not awarded bonuses. This is horrible. It's outrageous."
Basically, the heads of people like Shelby are about to explode as they try to reconcile their supposed free-market-anything-goes-Wild-West-get-the-government-off-their-backs approach with the awfulness of the real life people they've turned over our free markets to. I don't think it's that complicated....
Fire all the morons at AIG, Citygroup, B of A, et cetera, who got us into this mess, or they don't get a dime of our tax dollars. It might make for a few awkward moments down at the Capitol Grille, but it simply needs to be done.
Depressing? Here's the lighter side of the AIG fiasco.
"If I were the government, I would have put strings on the bailout money that required re-negotiating/restructuring executive employee contracts so that this could not happen." Sounds like a good idea Igg. But, won't this plan meet incredible resistance from Democrats who argued that there should be no conditions on the auto makers to renegotiate union contracts as a condition of accepting bailout money?— legatus
"the further we slip away from true capitalism." . . . . God forbid. The last true capitalist society was the USA just before the progressive movement, led by Republicans, saved us from it.- Legatus -- unfortunately, I think it was the Republicans who said there should be no conditions (including me, but in a different vein). To me, you don't want the government in the business of dictating product design, marketing, and finance to private businesses.— IggleFan68
- I agree Iggle..I don't think that the auto makers should be forced to rework their union contracts, nor do I think that companioes like AIG should have restrictions of the type that we are discussing placed upon them.— legatus
- And I'd disagree on both counts, legatus. Everyone needs to sacrifice appropriately if we're going to fix this mess. Unions do need to negotiate with management to make their companies more viable, just as companies have to stop crippling their bottom line with these obscene compensation packages. Outrageous executive pay would never fly in some theoretically balanced "free-market" capitalism. The only reason why it exists in our country is because board members are in bed with execs in their collusion to rip off shareholders and the general public. There is no bottom-line justification for these kinds of salaries and bonuses - it is a by-product of a corrupt system that lacks any government oversight.— Talking point sleuth
- I agree with everything you said Tps. Everyone should sacrifice if we are going to get out of this mess. I simply don't agree that the government should dictate the terms of the sacrifice that the unions or executives should make.— legatus
- z— James TL
- "I simply don't agree that the government should dictate the terms of the sacrifice that the unions or executives should make." . . . . . It can dictate the sacrifices we make for war, or should that be left to the "free market" too?
- ---}}} It can dictate the sacrifices we make for war, or should that be left to the "free market" too? {{{--- Interesting question - in that our government has also turned to the "free market" to outsource its oversight of its role in defense. I mean, the military industrial complex has already crippled government oversight in the name of profits, but the level of outsourcing that has taken place recently show how the government has become increasingly unwilling to dictate the sacrifices of war and instead use "war" as a tool for even more corporatists to clean up at the average American's expense.— Talking point sleuth
- ---}}} I simply don't agree that the government should dictate the terms of the sacrifice that the unions or executives should make. {{{--- I get that. I don't see government "dictates" as some kind of a panacea, but they play an important role, I think that it is foolish to have some undying belief in the superiority of the "free-market" dictating such balances, and I think that the belief that the American government is incapable of creating such balances contradicts historical realities and underestimates American "can-do."— Talking point sleuth
Comment removed.- TPS, Americans do support the concept of social security, but it's headed for insolvency in its present socialist form. Please explain how it's not a Ponzi scheme--current beneficiaries aren't paid out of a national "savings account" that's been set aside specifically for them (as many Americans believe); rather, they are paid only from the money current workers put into the system. http://www.articlealley.com/article_819297_15.html Consider the declining birth rates and the massive increase in average life expectancy since the SS program was implemented, and it's simply a doomed program without significant changes.— Vandy
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