AIG - How Do We Feel? How Do We Change?

AIG is a hotbutton company these days. Whether you agree or disagree with fixing the economy through stimulization with government LOANS, AIG is going to be at the center of that discussion now. Have we given them too much? Have we required too little? Do we need to act on the anger created by bonus payouts to undeserving executives?

That's a lot to talk about, so let's start with my progressive view. I am a huge fan of the TARP and stimulus packages. I am a fan of government spending on loans and social programs, including welfare, but not of direct payments to individuals. I don't think our kids will need to pay this back if we get people out of poverty, but that is a BIG discussion in and of itself.

We can all agree that government spending has historically been at best inefficient and at worst corrupt, but it is time to give a new administration a chance. And AIG has been a huge recipient of that new spending. And now we hear that some executives received bonuses though they may have been directly responsible for the fall. We are all angry. We don't think it's fair. But should our governement start writing laws to get the money back from a few people through taxation?

No. The Conservatives are right when they speak about keeping government out of direct management of private organizations. Too bad, as usual, they cannot back up their words with action. (See new tax law backed by Republicans) We need to make sure we don't start down a path to writing laws against people we don't like.

We're all mad, we want life to be fair. It isn't. But it's not the job of the government to tell us how companies should be run. It is their job to make sure they are not going to squander our LOANS to them, but they need to do it before they give out the money. Did Geithner fail there? Yes, he probably did. Should he be fired? Simply, no.