Its AIG's Fault!

Americans have been outraged at the issuance of 160 million dollars in bonuses to AIG executives. It is sad that the American people are spending so much time,energy, and emotion on the 160 million dollars that tax payer money financed. I guess the fact that our government bailed out this institution with 160 billion dollars and no strings attached doesn't deserve the same time,energy, and emotion. Not that I agree with the irresponsible and unsound decision of AIG to issue these bonuses, but these bonuses were in a contract and the money had no strings attached. What is even more sad is the fact that Congress even had the dignity to issue an unconstitutional tax on the holders of these bonuses. What does this say about equality and trust in America? Where does it say in the Constitution that Congress can disregard contracts and issue specialized taxes whenever they want and on whoever they choose? The government claims that AIG employees don't deserve any bonus at all because they didn't do their job. Well for one that is a very broad statement. How do they know that each AIG employee that received a bonus didn't do their job? Secondly, if you feel that they should be taxed 90% on these bonuses because they didn't do their job, well than I suggest that each Congressman should take a pay cut as well. Bottom line is that all of this could have been avoided if we just let the market handle the situation. If we didn't bail out this institution with over 100 billion dollars of tax payer money, there would be no arguement on any of these issues because AIG would go bankrupt and they would get what they deserve. Imagine the money,time,energy, and emotion saved if we let the free market regulate. If you want to be outraged at anyone, you should be outraged at our government. It was our government and the Federal Reserve who created this entire mess and now we want to blame it on everyone else but them.

Government is the Problem, Not the Solution

Why don't we ever learn from history? It is clear that Obama has dreams of becoming the next FDR by issuing a similar stimulus package as the New Deal but on a bigger scale. What critics seem to not understand is the New Deal had no positive impact on the Great Depression. It had no impact on unemployment what so ever. As a matter of fact, the New Deal prolonged the Great Depression and added unnecessary debt on the backs of taxpayers. One could assume that the US would have never experienced a depression if we let the market cleanse the bad debt after the stock bubble burst in 1929. It was the Fed that created the bubble and it was the government that believed they could avoid the consequences of this policy by more intervention. I find it ridiculous that the Federal Reserve was created on the belief that they would prevent severe economic contractions. Sixteen years later, our country experienced a depression. Letting the market handle the situation would have ensured a recession instead of a depression. When are we going to learn that government is the problem, not the solution? I guess its going to take trillions of dollars of debt, a devalued currency, loss of liberties, bigger government, and high unemployment for us to wake up and realize that the New Deal was a failure and so was Obama's stimulus package.