AIG bonuses, and the change in the American Way

**This is a post that normally would appear at VASS, my political blog. At this moment VASS is undergoing site renovation and technical issues, so it appears here. This change is temporary.**

Executive pay and bonuses. Everyone is screaming about the $165 million in bonuses that AIG executives were paid. Congress went so far as to break the law to take back the bonuses paid. All of this to avoid noting that about $20 billion dollars of the over $100 billion given to AIG so far, went to overseas banks and companies.

Polispeak is one thing, but this should be an outrage.

Senator Chris Dodd knew that AIG was going to pay bonuses. He in fact made a provision just so they could do so. Treasury Secretary Geithner knew of this, in fact he knew back when he was still working in the Fed. So all the surprise they are feigning is obviously for a different reason.

The public is being distracted from the real problems. That our money went to foreign countries as opposed to helping our own. And it is advancing the ability of the Liberal Democrats to control exactly how much an American citizen makes.

$165 million in bonuses sounds like a lot. And to the average person it is. But then again this was a contractual agreement made by AIG long before the bailouts. Basically, as long as the company has money it must pay the bonus. Every member of Congress and the Obama Administration knew that. President Obama as a former lawyer had to know it as well (they do teach contract law in law school).

So the outrage is misplaced. Especially when key Democrats were involved in ensuring that the contracts were lived up to. So why all the hype?

Because $20 billion dollars is really a big number and an enormous waste. That’s money that could have saved tens of thousands of U.S. jobs (literally), gone from the nation. That is factually the retirements and college tuition of millions of Americans wiped away for years, maybe decades, to come. All because the Democrats were in a rush to pass legislation without the public, or most of Congress, seeing what the legislation entailed. [You do recall the promise of President Obama to have full transparency and allow the public to review legislation 2 days before it is passed into law – which he has violated several times now]

Because in feigning outrage at actions done willfully, they look like they are concerned. Because it looks like someone is trying to do their job. Because the legal battle that will ensue will have more public passion behind it rather than what it really means.

The fact that Congress has passed a tax on the AIG bonuses now means that ANY company and ANY employee or owner can be taxed if the Government decides they want their money. Besides being a retro-active act, which is expressly forbidden (that’s why there are grand-father laws), it is a means in which we move from a capitalist society to a socialist one.

Win a lottery, and the Democrat-led Congress will pass a law saying that you must be taxed even more than you already would be, because the Government can use the money better than you. Build a business, and the Government will put a new tax out so that you can’t gain the reward of your hard work and risk. Because the Government wants to pay for spending on special interest initiatives. Work for a company in a good job, and have a tax to take away the money you worked hard for all year, just because they can.

Yes it sounds wonderful that people will get things from the Government. That is what they want you to have, not necessarily what you need and definitely not what you want. Because the Liberal Democrats know what is fair - for you.

This is a horrendous step by the Government. Yes the idea of paying AIG executives for failure is distasteful. But not so distasteful as removing the ability of contracts to exist. Not when compared to the end of American life as we know it and have enjoyed it.

These kinds of acts are things that socialist nations like Venezuela, China, and the C.I.S. (former Soviet Union) take. People have fled those nations to come to America because we don’t treat people in such a manner. Or we didn’t until now.

People have complained to me about how they thought President Bush destroyed the law of the land. Yet there is not one thing that has been proven to have affected the American people. Lots of allegations, but not a single fact. And the average person lived as free as a decade ago.

Now we have a Democrat-led Government that is actively breaking the laws that built this nation. We are watching as the structure of the nation is being manipulated. And I hear no outcry about this.

Dark days are ahead of us, if this is the path we are being led down. Do we need to shout? Oh, yes. But it’s not the AIG contracts that upset me. It’s Congress and the Obama Administration.

Darfur vs. political poll numbers

When I think of Darfur I am reminded of a quote,

“Man's inhumanity to man is not only perpetrated by the vitriolic actions of those who are bad. It is also perpetrated by the vitiating inaction of those who are good.” – Dr. Martin Luther King.

Back in June I noted that there had not been a single candidate that had spoken about the atrocity in Darfur. Today that genocide in Darfur continues, Congress has not acted, and the Presidential candidates continue to turn a blind eye. Not only that, but the major news media continues to have a blackout of any information on this issue, going so far as to be silent on even the recent Don Cheadle film on this subject.

Yes, there was a film about Darfur that came out in November. Did you hear a single review? Did you read about it in your newspaper? Highly unlikely, just as it’s unlikely that you will hear a single candidate discuss this issue while they argue about who has more experience in international matters.

How can we believe ANY candidate has international experience when they cannot mention and seem to be unaware of a massive, 4 year long genocide? The candidates running for the Presidency can even figure out the national level of concern in that they have not done anything on HR 180 IH. That is the title of the resolution in Congress all year that has received scant attention.

“The point is that the United States government has reacted pitifully in regard to Darfur. So far 3 sessions of Congress have been discussing this and still nothing has been done. And here is the proof. On January 4th Representative Lee introduced HR 180 IH. If you wonder what that means it’s the Darfur Accountability and Divestment Act of 2007 (Introduced in House). So far any attempt at accountability has gone out the window.”

Now some may say I am being unfair. They will note that during a YouTube debate several candidates spoke about Darfur. And they may note that Senators Dodd and Obama also have a resolution. I will counter that empty soundbites and resolutions that sit and do nothing are just the equivalent of eye candy. It’s fluff to look busy and important without the substance of conviction.

“As for Senator Clinton, she got a bit of all the best answers and combined them, mostly. She agreed on the need for sanctions. She agreed on a no-fly zone. But she would not agree to place ANY troops on the ground.

Senators Dodd and Obama (as well as Biden and Clinton) co-sponsored Senate Resolution 559 (introduced on Sept. 7, 2006), which encouraged President Bush to work with NATO and the UN in establishing a no-fly zone.”

Congress has been so busy trying to find ways of taking down President Bush and his administration that they have failed to even notice the murder of hundreds of thousands of people. Presidential candidates are so busy puffing themselves up they can’t even commit to divesting their personal holdings in companies that are supporting the Sudan and the genocide in Darfur.

It is a n international embarrassment that the U.N. has more backbone than our nation on this issue. The fact that the U.N. has committed 26,000 troops to protecting lives in that region is paltry, but at least an attempt at something.

“And politicians can take the simple amount of time it takes to act on HR 180 IH, Darfur Accountability and Divestment Act of 2007, forcing companies to admit if they are supporting the regime that is murdering women and children for no reason beyond the fact they exist. I dare even one politician to provide a reason that is logical that explains why this has not passed yet. To explain why this simple act has yet to be passed after 7 months seems inplausible to me. That only 151 Representaives have backed this is sad. How many lives will it take to move forward and act?”

We are America. We can do better. We can do more. And that action starts and ends with out political leaders. We elect them to do our bidding. They are there to enrich our nation, our world, and the lives of everyone we influence. And the influence of America is virtually inarguably massive.

"It is up to citizens in these early primary states to determine the agenda of the presidential candidates," New York Times journalist, Nick Kristof, said at an event at Drake University in Des Moines [...]. "Iowans, specifically, can use their voice during the caucuses to bring Darfur to the attention of the presidential candidates."

Think of this. If we can turn a blind eye to the suffering and death of millions of people, that we can help end, how long until we turn a blind eye to Robert A. Hawkins, and all the others that commit mass murders in our malls and schools. How long before we accept the suffering of those in our nation that suffer from hurricanes, earthquakes and floods? How long before we become so inhumane as to allow murders of anyone not exactly like us, that us being an individual determination?

And how long will it be before we realize that there is no difference between turning a blind eye to this genocide and committing the murders ourselves?