Federal gov't. takes "moral road" while AIG screws us all in the ass.

Frank Rich wrote an op-ed piece for the New York Times that my friend Stephen Alan Carver featured on his Facebook site (thanks, Stephen). I'm not a Frank Rich fan - he ripped on Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ and I felt that Rich's arguments were hollow and that he was just one more Jewish person with an axe to grind. But I liked this piece in which Rich tackled the AIG fuck-up (cause that's what it is).

There's a video link of CBS's Bob Schieffer interviewing Lawrence Summers, chief economic advisor to President Obama and Director of the White House's National Economic Council. I was struck by a comment Summers made during the interview. What follows is my comment that I made on Stephen's FB site (I edited it somewhat):

"I love how Summers said that AIG CEO Edward Liddy and Treasurer Secr. Tim Geithner met to discuss the most prudent action to get the AIG bonuses back and that Liddy is doing everything within his power - "legally and morally" - to accomplish this.

"Morally"?? As I understand it, the crux of the AIG bonus debacle is that no one wanted to risk breaking any legally-binding contracts that might result in the Federal government facing a lawsuit (Geithner said this). That's why it was agreed that the $170 billion bailout of AIG by the U.S. government (and taxpayers) was OK'ed with the stipulation that the bonuses be paid out as contracted. Problem is this information became public.

Morally? Liddy is doing everything within his "moral power"? What is moral about executives no longer employed by AIG taking bonus money? Or any employee taking bonus money? Can't be for a "job well done". What's moral with AIG borrowing from the government, which is now an 80% owner of AIG (along with taxpayers), then giving away millions of that borrowed money in the form of bonuses? For that matter, what about Bernard "I'll be someone's bitch soon" Madoff or Merrill Lynch or the two guys who ripped off the Iowa Public Employees Pension for millions - you can go on and on. There IS no MORALITY in the world of finance right now, friends. NONE. Greed? Yes. Morality? No.

Why is it that every other American worker is forced to forego vacations, bonuses, raises - or lose their job, but the American government must step on egg shells because of contracts that were entered into by AIG? Why does the American government have to take the "moral road" when these moral-less fuckheads from AIG are handing out bonuses to more moral-less fuckheads from AIG and miscellaneous companies overseas? When any other company goes under or changes ownership, often times all contracts are null and void. I've got a friend whose eye doctor messed up his cataract surgery - blinding him - and my friend's lawsuit has been determined to be "null and void" as the doctor died - the attorney told my friend you can't sue a dead man.

Pussies. Plain and simple. You wanna beat the British in the American Revolutionary War, you hide behind trees and "Indian fight". We lost the Vietnam War because we couldn't adapt to the Vietnamese way of fighting. And we'll lose this battle if we don't toughen up. ADAPT. Our government is turning into a bunch of pussies. And anyone who thinks I'm the only mouthy sonofabitch who thinks that is as dumb as our government is."