AIG and the Partisan Illusion

The stuff that has been going on with AIG is unbelievable.


What I’m referring to is NOT the fact that AIG took billions of dollars in government bailout funds and then had the audacity to give 165 million dollars to its corporate executives as bonuses. I’m also not referring to the now seemingly endless parade of politicians who are lining up to bash AIG for this action.
What I’m referring to is that anyone is actually shocked or surprised by this.
I can’t believe that anyone at this point would be surprised to learn the depth of greed that runs in the corporate mentality. These are the people that bled the American economy right into the mess that it is already in and then came back for more.


And I can’t believe that anyone would actually fall for this tiresome act staged by our elected officials. The government sponsored AIG with money that belonged to the American people. I’ll venture a wild guess and say that no one in congress ran out and loaded their portfolios up with AIG stock the day after the bailout. These people now have the audacity to claim that they didn’t know AIG would do this with taxpayer funds. True enough; maybe they didn’t. That’s not the point. The point is that they also didn’t CARE enough to make sure it didn’t or couldn’t happen.
The nonsense that these bills are so big that there is no way that they can know every last line of detail that is involved in them is just that. Nonsense. First, it is their job to know. Second, they sure didn’t think it was too big a job to make sure their earmarks made it into the final draft. Third, the government sure doesn’t think it is too big a job to check all the millions of pieces paperwork involved each year when it comes time for Joe Average to file his taxes. It’s too big a job for the government to make sure some corporation that already drove itself into the ground with greed doesn’t take 165 million of our dollars and snarf that up too. But it’s not too big a job for them to make sure you have the receipt from that $75 donation you made to “Save the Squirrels” last year.


Remember when President Bush wanted to go to war with Iraq? Remember when congress voted to let him? Remember when all the Dems then claimed that they were duped? Well, it was their job not to be duped. Same goes here, only the other way around.
But now of course, the next step is going to be the usual partisan finger pointing with all the adherents to the respective sides lining up to take part. Lefties will point at the right, and righties will point at the left.


When are American’s going to learn that their dollars are not partisan? The war in Iraq cost billions of dollars. They didn’t cost Republican dollars. They didn’t cost Democrat dollars. They cost YOUR dollars regardless of what party you belong to. Likewise, the money that AIG execs got came out of your pockets regardless of which lever you pulled last November, and they got it courtesy of all the people (who by the way, are also getting paid a pretty hefty sum) you thought were looking out for your best interest.


Partisanship is a wonderful illusion perpetuated by our politicians. It is the illusion that keeps the taxpayers from seeing that all politicians work for the same organization. And they have an incentive to keep the illusion going.
What is really unbelievable is that more people have not figured out the trick yet.


A few more thoughts:
The same government that gave AIG your money so they could pass it on to their already wealthy execs is the same government that wants to manage your health care system.


Both Obama and McCain received campaign contributions from AIG. I’ve been hard pressed to come up with exact figures (I’ve read anything from 50 to 100k), but I don’t think it matters. Neither Obama nor McCain have been heard expressing outrage that this company would donate to their election campaigns and then look for a taxpayer bailout.


When you got a guaranteed student loan or a home mortgage loan, did the government just hand you the money and let you do anything with it, or did they give the proceeds DIRECTLY to the company who was owed money? Why didn’t they do the same thing with the companies they bailed out?