Capitol Hill at its finest today

Interesting day today for all of you folks that have been paying attention to this AIG 'bonus' scandal that has CEO Edward Liddy on the hotseat today in front of our fearless idealogues in Congress. Having been in the car for most of the day, I have been tuned into the interogation, and I have come away with a few thoughts and opinions that may differ greatly from that of the general public...which is par for the course my friends.

For one, it appears that Tim Geithner, our esteemed Secretary of the Treasury, knew in advance about the decision to offer and pay out these bonuses to the AIG team. In fact, Geithner was the head of the NY Federal Reserve Bank prior to being nominated and confirmed (unfortunately) to the current post. The NY Fed was the central overseer in the AIG bailout process, and according to Liddy they were intimately involved in all decision making activities. So, the same man who now renounces AIG for their bonus payouts was not only privy to this info months ago but could have actually prevented it in the first place. But what else would you expect from a guy who cheats on his taxes and now heads up the IRS? One word comes to mind, and its incompetence. But then again, that is not correct either. He is likely very competent. A better word would be arrogance, maybe elitist, definitely hypocrite, etc. So let's scratch that one-word attempt, as there are too many labels that fit this guy.

Another thing I love ('love' actually meaning despise, for those of you who don't catch my sarcasm so easily in written terms) is the arrogance of our Congressional leaders to sit up there and grandstand before the cameras and pontificate to AIG and the American public about how to run their business. Let's see, our national debt is what?... 9 trillion, give or take a few zeros. And what else... oh, right, our Congress got us into this mess as much as any company did by pushing legislation that interfered with free market principles (Community Reinvestment Act ring a bell?). Barney Frank et al sit there and ridicule Liddy while taking no responsibility for the vast impact they had in creating this mess in the first place. Frank went so far as to demand a list of names of all employees who received these bonuses to ensure that they get paid back! Is he going to pay back all of us taxpayers for the pork he has redistributed to his constituents? Not likely. And its the same concept. Taking money from the American taxpayers and giving it to someone else. Hell, if Frank can do it, why can't AIG? Nothing in the contract with the NY Fed said they couldn't pay these bonuses. I'd venture a wild guess to say that AIG has done a better job of cleaning itself up the past eight months than any pork spending project Frank has taken. Its utter hypocrisy at the grandest level, and its events like this charade that continually convince me that we need a wave of new representatives at all levels that work for the people rather than for themselves.