AIG
posted in General |I’ve been a baseball fan since I was 6 years old, so early on I learned about baseball terms and acronyms – LOB, BA, AB, RBI, ERA, SB, K, DP, etc., etc. Now that our media is dedicated to the world of high finance (or low finance??), there are many more acronyms or abbreviations in play. AIG is a good example. Last year I probably thought AIG meant Almost inconceivable Greed, or maybe Average Industrial Growth, or maybe even Almost Intelligent Guesswork. But not a financial giant big enough to turn the world upside down. Now our history books will refer to the Scandal of the Bonuses (SOBs)
The formula for sure failure is (a) make sure the project is huge b) make sure it has many parts c) Make sure is is very complex d) make sure it is prepared in secrecy e) make sure it is approved in a hurry under a lot of time pressure f) Make sure there isn’t time to read the text, and g) press for a quick vote.
The Democrats succeeded admirably in the AIG Bailout package. It went by script except for the little matter of $156 Million dollars paid AIG people as as bonuses. Now all the finger pointing starts amidst the BamBams. I can see it all coming. A full blown investigation – maybe 6 months or so– followed by a report that says something bad happened but it wasn’t anyone’s fault. End of case.
Personally, I have no support for $40 – 50 million bonuses to anyone for any purpose, any time, any where for any reason. That is wholly inconsistent with any thing as simple as goals and achievements. Culprits should not be rewarded. On the other hand I have no sympathy with the Democrats in congress. They passed the bill blindfolded and now they want to blame others for their own stupidity. We the taxpayers are going to be stuck with the bill either way. But rank hypocricy is suffocating what is left of good government. BamBam’ words have been eloquent. But will he face down his own troops who have screwed up royally? I doubt it. Not even sacking Chris Dodd.