rage against the (communist) machine

Rage over the AIG bonuses is all the rage. AIG employees are receiving death threats, but it seems to me that this anger is misplaced. Who specifically included a provision in that allowed huge executive bonuses for companies which were bailed out on the taxpayer dime? Who should be held accountable for the AIG mess? Who keeps tinkering with capitalism and the free market? You know the answer: our Federal government.

Why was AIG deemed "too big to fail"? AIG should have been allowed to fail. I know that if my business were to go under due to management failures, no one would be rescuing me. Where is the outrage against our government paying out our hard-earned money giving billions of our tax dollars to the very people who caused the meltdown? The AIG bonuses have been receiving a lot of attention. A little bonus money is not the issue here. It has been pointed out (ad nauseum) that the $173 million dollars in bonus money paid to AIG executives is only .09 percent of the cash AIG received in the four (yes, four) bailouts the government has poured into the firm.

Washington has demonstrated plenty of phony outrage over the "excessive" bonuses the AIG executives have received. Why? The government explicitly allowed these bonuses. Why don the mask of mock surprise now? What happened to the other 99.9% of the money the taxpayers forked out to AIG? We propped up foreign banks to the tune of 52 billion dollars. Ouch. For those of you that would offer that this was necessary for the global economy, stuff it. Stuff it hard. Stuff it deep. On what planet would British, French or German firms reach into their pockets to bail out America?

Remember the $700 billion dollars we forked out over the last six months? We were told that we had to "act now" to unfreeze the credit markets by buying up troubled assets. What did the government do with our money? They didn't buy up troubled assets and the credit markets are still frozen. Congress acted (after a brief delay Republicans fell right in line) and we forked out the better part of a Trillion dollars so we would avoid a depression. TARP failed. What did we get for our investment? What about the trillion dollars we spent on the "stimulus bill"? What did we get for that investment?

Geithner (the tax avoider running our treasury) now wants "sweeping powers" to run non-banks the way the government has the power to run troubled banks. Geithner wants "speedy action" on these new sweeping powers. If I recall correctly, this was the guy that was billed as the only one who understands TARP.

Let us not forget that Geithner was the one who pulled the original AIG bailout together last year as the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Let us not forget Geithner's tax problems weren't "honest mistakes". He knowingly avoided paying his taxes for four years after receiving extra money from his employer to pay them, then signed a legal document stating that he would use this money to pay these taxes and pocketed the money instead. He paid the $34,000 after his appointment by President Obama and then, without blushing, blamed this fiasco on Turbo Tax!

The US government has no business deciding which of our nation's private firms need to be seized. This is underscored by the decision-making abilities of the administration who put a tax cheat in charge of our nation's financial system. All the government needs now is the ability to seize private businesses. We are being told again that we have to "act now" to avoid further financial meltdown. Are we paying attention? This is the third time we have been fed this line in six months to push legislation through congress.

This is communism. For those of you Che lovers who may be confounded by this concept, please look up the term. When republican Donald Manzullo of Illinois complained, "You're talking about seizing private property." and proceeded to inform Geithner that the concept (at least in the United States) was "radical", Geithner responded, "It's not radical...".

No branch of government or government entity needs additional sweeping powers to "correct the market". Let free enterprise work. If allowed to correct itself, the market will correct itself.

the (real) fairness doctrine : capitalism

Rest In Peace, old media. The Los Angeles Times reported this weekend that Conservative Talk Radio is failing in California as evidenced by the demise of some local talk show radio programs. More responsible reporting from the Times.... not.

All the while rubbing their ink-stained hands with glee, the Times does mention that lack of advertising budget is causing some of these programs to fail... This is not a rejection of conservatism fellas... its the free market working.

Inasmuch as the Times has to accept when it is time to take handouts from foreign nationals to stay afloat, or sell their corporate jet in order to get by, the radio market in California for Conservative talk show hosts has tightened. The weaker programs die off to make way for stronger of the herd.

The Times has declared this as a rejection of Conservatism. Ha. I think not.

To the Times corporation: look to your own. When you have to sell your corporate headquarters and get it leased back to yourself, perhaps it is time to look to your own. People do not go to your publication anymore to get the news about our world. For some real reporting, hear this: your circulation is down (and it can't get up). The LA Times has lost 8% of its circulation in the last six months.

How sad that even in its death throes, the Times cannot stop flailing about. Perhaps if they just reported the news, there wouldn't be a wholesale rejection of your product. I know that's a hard pill to swallow for die hard liberals who were used to making stuff up or reading stuff that was made up. I know. I know. There, there now.

The demise of your paper wasn't orchestrated by anyone but yourselves. For all of you socialists at the Times, this is how it works; you have a shitty product and the free market has rejected your shitty product. The same could be said of the conservative talk shows in California. That is OK. That, (once again) is called capitalism. Let's not pretend that this is a trend of wholesale rejection of conservatism any more than your paper wasting away is a wholesale rejection of your shopworn liberalism.

Rest in peace, old media. Have some dignity and die reporting the news. I guess there is something to be said for dying in a manner in which you lived. I guess there is something to be said for not going quietly into the night.

Dylan Thomas:

Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the
light.