My AIG Quandry

For the past day or so every time I turn on talk radio the only thing everyone seems to be talking about are the AIG bonuses. I've been confused on why so many congressmen are so upset about it, when they agreed to these bonuses as part of the AIG bailout. If there is one thing I can't stand it's someone who is wishy-washy on issues. I even heard Senator Chuck Schumer say today that he was going to get the law changed so that these bonuses could be taxed at 100% if the recipients did not give them back voluntarily. (This is my loose paraphrase of what he said.)

I have been totally against these bonuses, but when I heard his comment today I started thinking that if congress can do this with AIG bonuses, what would stop them from taxing my quarterly bonus at 100%? Then I started thinking, these folks that got these bonuses, did they earn them based on some contract they had and lived up to? No one on the news has answered that question.

Basically, what it boiled down to by the end of the day was confusion. Then this evening I watched Glenn Beck on TV. He broke the whole thing down in a very logical and easy to understand way. This video is not his complete presentation, but it explains a lot about this whole mess.

  The last half of his presentation, which unfortunately is not included here (maybe it will be on his website later), drove the point home that the $165 million for bonuses is a drop in the bucket compared to the billions of dollars the government has given to AIG, including billions that were funneled to other countries through AIG. So the government is using this bonus fiasco as a diversion to keep our eye off the real issue of the AIG bailout debacle.

I'm so frustrated that these guys in Washington can make decisions that are bad, and then cover them up by turning our focus to something else. Just listen to Barney Frank over the past year. He's flipped-flopped so many times I'm surprised he can keep everything straight. They don't even seem to feel bad that they don't take responsibility for their actions. I just don't get it! What have we become that this behavior has become acceptable?