Finally somebody spoke up about AIG but half-heartedly
Monday, March 16, 2009, 10:38 AM | Leave Comment
Bonnie Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat who is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, spoke up against AIG bonuses for top-level executives. The $165 million in bonuses was to be paid to the executives by Sunday March 15, and most are going to AIG Financial Products, the unit that sold credit default swaps, the risky contracts that caused massive losses for the insurer. AIG, which lost $61.7 billion for the fourth quarter of last year – the largest corporate loss in history – has received more than $170 billion in a series of federal rescues.
I have been saying this for sometime now. “These people may have a right to their bonuses. They don’t have a right to their jobs forever,” Frank said on NBC’s “Today” show.
Don’t you feel the scary part in this statement. “These people may have a right to their bonuses.” And, in the same breath, he said on the same TV show, “It does appear to me we are rewarding incompetence,” he added. “Forget about the legal matter here for a second. These bonuses are going to people who screwed this thing up enormously, who made terrible decisions.”
English not being my first language, I heard that you could play upon the words. With one or two statements, you can send signals in different directions. Mr. Frank, don’t play with the people’s money. They have no tongue in their mouth – or is it the other way around? I always get confused. But the American people always have something missing when it comes to their representatives.
Congressman Frank. Your statement “These people may have a right to their bonuses.” does not make sense to me. All our elected officials, may they belong to legislative branch of the government or the executive branch, please be clear and concise in your statements.
Finally, Frank said not enough conditions were put on AIG, and dismissed concerns expressed by other financial institutions about strings attached to government aid.
“My answer is good-bye, please leave quickly and send back the money,” he said.
I think our elected officials ought to be brave in the sense that each one responsible should come out and say and do things in the people’s interest. I commend thee, O Congressman. But you ought to do more than just complain. All we have heard, so far, are complaints, complaints and some more complaints. You guys gave them the money. The American people didn’t.
Moral of the story
And what happened to that Congressional Panel who did nothing but complained and complained some more. The best thing for them is to sit on their butt and do nothing. That’s what they are good at. Nothing. Like Jerry said “It’s a show about nothing.”
The elected officials should do something. It’s your obligation to the American people. They voted you in, didn’t they? It is not your God-given right to be sitting up there. Do something short of hanging them. Oops! It just slipped out. Being from a third world country, I still have that mentality even though I have lived in the States for over 30 years now. I am sorry. I apologize.
Most of the time, I think and talk about nothing. People talk about something especially the elected officials. May be what they should do is talk about nothing for a change. Because at the end of the day, any kind of talk produces nothing, unless you wanna get elected.
What do you think?
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