Posted by
Professor Pitt Daddy on Tuesday, March 17, 2009 11:54:40 PM
It seems the politicians are outraged... OUTRAGED that working people... I mean white collar workers are getting money they are owed... I mean bonuses. We even have one Senator that suggested working people.. I mean executives, commit Hari Kari.
Apparently when politicians make laws, it's OK to become outraged when the people it affects receive what they are owed. Senator Dodd's amendment to the original TARP bill provides an “exception
for contractually obligated bonuses agreed on before Feb. 11, 2009” (http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/finance/dodd-cracks-aig---time/). Yes, that's right, the CONGRESS VOTED TO MAKE SURE THESE BONUSES WERE PROTECTED!
Now they act like the AIG employees that did their jobs correctly don't deserve money they are contractually owed. Did they not do their job correctly? Let's review that.
There was one division of AIG that caused most of their losses. It was a financial arm working with deriviatives, trying to make money on the same financial products that everyone agreed were safe. After all, most of the investments were covering mortgages by FNMA and Freddie Mac, 2 quasi-governmental agencies. Almost anyone in the financial industry would have told you they were among the safest investments you could make. The whole world agreed and were buying the investments, knowing they were sound. We now know, when the government gets its fingers into something, you can never be sure how sound it will be.
The other folks at the company were managers and executives that were meeting their quotas on new and existing business underwriting. Apparently they shouldnt be paid for doing their jobs.
Politicans love to hate business. After all, businesses make people independent of the need for government. And if we don't need government, they have no power.
They've been doing it for centuries. Why do we expect any different from this bunch?
The same people that created the interference in the markets are the ones screaming the loudest about the losses and asking everyday workers to refuse to take money they are owed. They are threatening to steal it back, using tax law. Imagine if the government tried to do the same in your job.
Every day, these denizens of democracy find new ways to usurp our Constitition and laws. Apparently contracts no longer have meaning. Congress and the media need to stop the witch hunts for AIG boogiemen and get out of the way of business. Let's keep up the Tea Party thinking and stop these people from destroying our laws.