AIG

Do not get me started, to bail out is insult to injury for the working class like me. Give them our money, Ha ha ha. Oh! I forgot they did. No I am going to turn republician, oh sorry could not for even 10 seconds, because it so boring it was about me, more me, nothing but me, but I tried.

Rolondo, Can we talk about children issues and the inner city schools that really get me fired up.

You have captured the essence of the problem with giving these companies bail out money without any transparency or accountability. If the auto companies can break the contracts with the unions, why can't the contracts for bonuses at AIG be broken? Better yet, tax the bastards 100% if they take the bonuses. This is outrageous!

So it is .......the truth hurts.

OFF-TOPIC FOLLOWS...

Schools desperately need discussed, aae. And not just our inner-city schools but public schools in general. Motivation is everything -- parental, teacher, and especially student motivation. Take that away and nothing but chaos remains.

Money is nothing in comparison. Even poorly financed schools produce first-rate students while top-financed schools produce drop-outs or student thugs. The difference? Motivation. So why penalize the good students [those who want to learn] and reward the bad ones?

I once commented on how certain cartoons and articles with comments remain or are removed seemingly for the content of the replies. That comment was ridiculed here; but the school situation published yesterday was one of those removed, evidently. Saying in effect, "Sorry, no discussion allowed. Not PC." It is not cowardice, as Binder claimed, that stops these discussions in our public media.

OK, so this cartoon is perfect!

This whole bailout of Wall Street has been like giving money to a panhandler, all the time knowing he's just going to spend it on liquor.

The folks at AIG are so brazen that they drink WHILE they're panhandling.

Yeah, they're drunk all right... Drunk with greed!

This is a tough act to follow! What do you think this fellow might have been singing: "...hundred bottles of beer on the wall" (for his money)? He and his kind are leaving all of us in a real stuper.

When an individual or a family gets into bankruptcy because their jobs have been cut, no government (local, state or federal) comes to help. Families have to sell their homes and belongings and start living in poverty. When huge companies with executives earning millions and owning fancy cars and beach mansions get into bankruptcy because of speculation and mismanagement, government comes to rescue so they can continue keeping their high salaries, private planes and luxurious vacations. It is disgusting.

What we need is the Tobin tax, which means taxing with 0,01 % all Wall Street speculative transactions, and benefit the poor with those taxes.

I know that no one likes these bailouts, but the general idea behind them is that if we didn't do it, the financial system of the entire world would collapse. Especially in A.I.G.'s case since they underwrote most of these bad securities. The time to talk about standards for this money was back before we ever gave them any in the first place. So I don't get everyone's outrage about a business doing business ,with money given to them to do business with, now.

That aside, their is an old British expression, Alfonso, that illustrates why they get treated differently from the average joe, it goes: "If you owe your bank a thousand pounds, you've got a problem; if you owe your bank a million pounds, they've got a problem"

Boy, champ- you really know how to discourage a lynch mob.

Of course, you're right. Any regulatory oversight should have been a imposed along with the initial economic assistance. You're also right about AIG in particular. Their collapse would have truly been cataclysmic.

All that being said, any expenditures, by any of the bailout recipients, that seems the least bit lavish or opportunist, clearly demonstrates that these institutions understand public relations about as well as they seem to understand economics.

Rolando, you betcha, the HCDE has an army of highly paid full time image control staff to control what is published about them. I have sent messages to local journalist about glossing and hardly mentioning the other side.

The HCDE director of image, is a 6 figure salary person that keeps the HCDE version to control 9 of 10 paragraphs of any article. The other perspective is glossed over and rarely mentioned. Even seasoned journalist follow the lead of the HCDE image control people. In the local coverage, at times the aricles should have been paid advertisement for Dr. Scales, because only the systems perspective was fully presented. It is clear that there is a concerted effort to protect HCDE regardless of their actions.

I'm so angry I don't think I can write a coherent comment.

You're right about that toon'. I think that they underestimated just how much people resent them at the core for having so much more than everyone else. To follow it up with a big bonus when others are hurting just makes matters worse.

On a personal note, let me say that I think that it is a waste of time to be either angry or envious of what others have. I really don't believe that I'm all that smart a guy, but the one thing that I sorta inherited was this insatiable appetite to learn. When most people are shooting down a person for their success, I'm usually trying to figure out how they did it. I couldn't care less about them having more than me. It's the only way to keep your sanity my friend. That's my opinion anyway...of course, that and four quarters will get you a dollar.

Loving the Kool-Aid!

I'm not angry because they are MUCH richer than I am. I'm angry at the deceit and greed.

To think that Liddy wants to keep the "most skillful" at their jobs is ridiculous. The "most skillful" didn't have sense enough to realize the dam was broken...back in 2008, if not before!

Clara, you like most people are late to this party. The problem actually started years ago, and really began to do irreparable damage in 2005. There were people all over saying that it was going to be really bad, but let me make this clear: NOBODY THAT MATTERED WAS LISTENING AND NOBODY THAT MATTERED CARED, BECAUSE THEIR WAS TOO MUCH MONEY BEING MADE TO STOP SOMETHING THAT HAD A 50/50 CHANCE OF WORKING OUT.

All of this complaining and finger pointing is the equivalent of "Monday morning quarterbacking". If interest rates had stayed low, allowing most sub-prime borrowers to refinance, these same guys would now be hailed as geniuses today instead of villains. The fact is almost no one out there (myself included) knows how to trade these assets, but the "jerks", taking these bonuses. It's like a spoiled sports star: they can get away with more than you and I because people will pay to see them. Because they are the best at what they do. No one's going to pay money to watch recreational league athletes at Madison Square Garden. Like it or not, these guys are the best in the world at TRADING these assets. They did not make the call to accept these assets for the corporation; that was done by the board. Give them some breathing room and let them work. It'll get straightened out.

And oh yeah, wareagleash, the first time hating on the rich makes you a dime, you let me know buddy.

Congress wants to pass a law to confiscate AIG employee salaries.

Will they now start confiscating salaries of employees of other companies, particularity those that didn't donate campaign money to them?

Maybe the Obamacrats should pass a law saying that no federal employee should be paid a salary higher than that paid the President of the U.S.($400,000/year).

Champ1: I'm not hating on the rich - I'm an AIG stockholder (and no I didn't buy in cheap) - My shot was geared for the posts above -