AIG ... it just keeps getting better and better ...

I have to start by asking the simple question:
WHAT PLANET ARE THESE GUYS LIVING ON???

I found an article online today that raises the aburdity of the AIG bonuses with the following quotation from AIG Chair Ed Libby who notes:

These things are "bonuses" not salary. Words have meaning, even in law. If they are "retention bonuses" you are only contractually required to pay them if you want the executives to be contractually obligated to stay in your employ.

Jane Hamsher at Firedoglake, notes that what this means is simply this: "Liddy is making the claim that these bonuses are necessary to keep the "best" people."

The BEST PEOPLE???

These jokers lost 61 BILLION dollars in three months ... they were part of the creation of this disaster over MONTHS ... and they have the gall to say they need to keep employing them????

I must be totally out of touch with reality ... in MY world, and that of the people I live and work amongst, if you were responsible for decisions that lost BILLIONS of dollars, there would be no way you would get a BONUS, much less ANOTHER freakin' pay cheque!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe THAT'S the whole problem ... those holding the financial reins are so damned out of touch with reality they have no idea that losing 60 BILLION PLUS dollars is a BAD THING.

But what really blows me away is the article I found over at Commondreams.org, that notes that the UAW have been forced to make significant concessions as conditions for aid to the ailing Automakers:

The United Auto Workers' deal with Detroit's three automakers limits overtime, changes work rules, cuts lump-sum cash bonuses and gets rid of cost-of-living pay raises to help reduce the companies' labor costs, people briefed on the agreement said today.

The UAW announced Tuesday that it reached the tentative agreement with General Motors Corp., Chrysler LLC and Ford Motor Co. over contract concessions, as GM and Chrysler sent plans to the Treasury Department asking for a total of $39 billion in government financing to help them survive.

Concessions with the union are a condition of the $17.4 billion in government loans that the automakers have received so far. (from Associated Press on February 18th 2009)

The author of the article notes quite rightly:

Apparently, the supreme sanctity of employment contracts applies only to some types of employees but not others. Either way, the Obama administration's claim that nothing could be done about the AIG bonuses because AIG has solid, sacred contractual commitments to pay them is, for so many reasons, absurd on its face.

I keep coming back to it ... maybe it's the drum that needs to be thumped loudly ... but IF MY 14 YEAR OLD SON CAN SEE THE ABSOLUTE ABSURDITY IN THIS - WHY OH, WHY, CAN'T OUR LEADERS SEE IT TOO ?????????

or, if they can see it - why are they letting it happen???????

Bring back a little common sense, and let some ordinary folks run some of these companies ... the well heeled elite have had their run and look how it turned out ... time to put some folks who remember what it means to work hard for a dollar to set public policy and direct some of these big corporations ...

Think back ... when the Canadian Government first bailed out the GM plant in Ontario, the executives of the company back-slapped each other as they cranked out the CAMARO ... in an era when green house gases are on the rise, and oil prices were spiking, OUR tax dollars were dumped into the building of a "new generation muscle car"!?!?!?!?

That moment alone tells us how out of touch Executives really are ... we know NOW, what many voices were saying for years - the BIG THREE AUTOMAKERS were churning out cars NO BODY WANTED without a massive advertising campaign to convince the docile masses it was what they needed to be "cool."

I left high school behind a long, long, long time ago ... I never make my decision based on what's cool, hip, or in ... I make my decisions based on common sense in regards to the economic and ecological foot print I leave behind ... from my choice of coffee, to the stores I frequent I weigh each decision by the impact it will have on my wallet, my community and my world ... and I seek to make that impact POSITIVE where possible, and minimize the negative where a positive is unattainable ...

At the end of the day it is all about being educated, enlightened and using COMMON SENSE ... and today I realize that my 14 year old son is way more educated, enlighted and common sensical than the executives guiding our economy ... and he'd work for significantly less than 100 million to boot !!! ... and he's currently looking for work ...