RE: AIG

3/19/2009

Dear Congress, Federal Reserve, and Mr. President:

I hate to say "I told you so."

But really... what do you expect a business (who obviously doesn't know how to manager their assets) to do with "free money" you've printed up and given to them.

I personally don't think you have any right to hand out money to businesses in the first place- but why are you suddenly surprised to find out that they are lining their own pockets with our wealth?

That's what they've been doing all along.

It doesn't take a lot of intuition to realize that they're going to continue to do so until someone lets them suffer the consequences of mismanaged funds. You should have let them FAIL put that money back in the hands of the people who actually need it. Or better yet, used it to pay down our national debt. What sort of message are you sending businesses and families when you don't even know how to balance your own budget.

Thanks for listening (even though you never do).
Kindest Regards,

Nathan

Keith Milsark

3/20/2009 06:14:53

What gets me is the "outrage" when previously contracted bonuses were specifically allowed under the "stimulus" bill. I agree that it was pretty dumb of AIG to pay these bonuses at this time; it would've been smarter to wait. But they abided by their contracts with their employees, contracts that the Fed and Treasury knew existed. For Congress to try to enact a 90% tax retroactively specifically to get back at one company is reprehensible. And where's the outrage when Congressmen shuffle billions of dollars to pet projects in their districts, to benefit their political donors? Isn't that just as bad?

Nathan link

3/20/2009 12:22:50

I agree.

And I am really scared of what might happen if Congress sets the precedent that THEY get to decide how a business uses their resources.

It's totally a different thing, of course, when they are the ones borrowing the money to businesses- but I still don't like the idea of government butting in and saying "you can't do this or that with your money." It's setting us up for nationalization if we're not careful.

Keith Milsark

3/20/2009 19:13:29

Not just nationalization, but wholesale unstoppable interference from the federal government into business and the private lives of citizens. Will they decide how much airline pilots can be paid? Taxi drivers? Newspaper editors? One of the reasons communism collapsed was that there's no incentive in the system--no reason to improve yourself, or to work harder, because workers made the same regardless. With the "punish the achievers" mentality now sweeping through Washington, we may be heading in the same direction.

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Don't Panic

RE: AIG

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