Does everyone remember the holdup for getting the auto manufactureres financial assistance? Of course you do. Some extremely "fair-minded" Republicans wanted to make sure the the workers didn't get paid too much and essentially forced the UAW to renegotiate it's contract and make concessions.
My question is:
Where are these politicians when AIG determines they must abide by their contracts with Senior Executives and pay ridiculous salaries?
When this money was handed out and is being handed out, why aren't the Republicans out in force demanding "concessions" from the executives at AIG for their malfeasence in contributing to the downfall of the company?
Where was the attack fdog like vigilance in making sure that AIG and others like them don't piss waway OUR MONEY on corporate jets and bonuses?
These are all rhetorical questions, of course. The UAW is a union and in the mind of a right wingers the word "union" is equal to "cancer".
Executives? In Republican circles they also have another name, "Big Money Donors".
Now, there are some differences. The UAW renogtiated their contract going forward, while the AIG bonuses are backward-looking. My ire really comes form the thought that they could have forced them to re-write these contracts back when AIG first was destroying the world. Yes, I know...OH NOES!!! the executives won't stand for it. They got the whole country's economy by the short hairs, they believed.
Would they have blackmailed the governemnt and the country? Who knows, the UAW was certainly being blackmailed.
It's just ridiculous all around.
Too big to fail is too big. Period.