AIG bonus outrage

It’s been a while since my last post, so I have quite a few options for this one, all of which are related to the perpetual joke that has become of the Obama presidency. I guess I could go on about the AIG thing and take the typical populist approach that we are all hearing on the TV. But I see it a little different, probably because most people don’t know what I and other conservatives know.

They don’t know that the bonuses were on the books long before any money was paid out. Therefore, we knew (or should have known) about them before the so-called “scandal” broke this week. Paulson knew. Geithner knew. Yet, Timmy Turbo Tax suddenly acts appalled and Obama is outraged for the cameras, so much that he is going to tell Jay Leno all about it. That’s bull. However, the Leno thing is a nice touch don’t you think? Maybe we can get Obama to do “Dancing with the Stars” next.

The fact is Timmy didn’t do his job, and neither did Paulson. If it were such a problem then why didn’t they mandate no executive bonuses as a stipulation of the bailout? Probably because in their minds it isn’t a problem until the public finds out about it, and then the administration suddenly scrambles to be on the right side of a populist backlash, claiming ignorance of the whole thing. Yes folks, this is change we can believe in, or to be more accurate change we’re told to believe in.

We’re also not told that the bonuses were protected by an amendment written by Senator Chris Dodd. Yes, the same guy who acted to protect Fannie and Freddie while Bush sought reform of those organizations apparently wrote an amendment that protected these corporate bonuses. Of course, he claims ignorance and wants to know where this amendment actually came from. We are all supposed to believe that he’s innocent, that is those of us who know about this since the MSM is completely silent on it. No one has asked Gibbs this question at the White House press briefing. So much for boatrocking.

We’re also not told that Dodd received more campaign contributions from AIG than any other Senator, and that Obama was ranked second on that list with over 100K in money from AIG. I’m waiting for the government to try to recover that.

And I find it interesting that Obama and Congress are outraged over these bonuses – an expenditure that could be called “wasteful”. Yes, our Washington politicians are hammering AIG executives for wasteful spending. Kinda like a prostitute calling someone a slut. Hypocrisy is clearly not a sin in our nation’s capital.

Schumer tells us that we Americans don’t care about earmarks. Obama signs a bill containing 9,000 earmarks and rationalizes it by saying that it is less than 1% of the bill. AIG received over $150 billion in taxpayer dollars and now Obama is outraged over $150 million in executive bonuses. If my math is correct that would be about one-tenth of one percent of the money paid to AIG. So what is Obama complaining about?

If it’s okay to pork 1% of a budget, then why is it not okay to bonus out one-tenth of one percent? Especially when Geithner knew about the bonuses and Dodd protected them? The reason is simple. It’s okay in Obama’s mind for the government to do whatever it wants but not okay for corporations to do the same.

And no one in Washington wants to say the obvious – that bailouts are bad. The easy answer is that if you don’t want corporations wasting taxpayer dollars then just don’t give them taxpayer dollars. But to do such a thing would mean drawing a clear line between government and business, and Obama would NEVER do something like that. It conflicts with his ideology.

It’s simple. All Congress has to do is vote on a bill that outlaws government money for private industry. Period. Yet, that isn’t happening. Hmmm. I wonder why.

If Obama were truly on the side of the people he would issue an executive order to the Treasury Secretary freezing all payments to bailout companies and recommend Congress pass a law banning such bailouts. Then he would fire Geithner. That’s what a man of the people would do. Don’t hold your breath.