A whole lotta B.S.

After being gone for three weeks and two weeks back in the country, I watched the Sunday talking heads series on ABC/CBS/NBC. Various government officials are being questioned mostly about the on-going economic/financial crisis. And, did I learn anything new? No! I heard just a whole lot of hot air, excuses, insinuations, pretense, politicking. Well, what did I expect?

One thing that sticks out in my mind is this issue of the so-called bonuses paid out to various financial institutions executives. My government dished a whole lotta dough in our name to these institutions and we are getting a whole lotta B.S. back.

We ask how come execs are personally getting millions from our money for running those businesses into the ground. We are told, you know, it's all these contracts and such which need to be honored; we honor contracts in this country; we are a country of laws.

Well, that may be so, but let me see. A bonus, in my book, is what you get for something you did well! A so-called bonus is not a bonus if it is contractually guaranteed and not being performance related, no?

What am I missing in this picture? For example, I am told that my government owns 80% of AIG on my behalf and is not empowered to force it to behave! Something is really, really rotten in this historic scam.