Look beyond the bogus bonus smokescreen
My syndicated column today tallies up all the craptacular spending that’s been going on while the AIG-bashing hypocrites on the Hill crow about $165 million in corporate bonuses none of them bothered to stop before they rushed to fork over billions to AIG in the first place. I mention the little-noticed $6 billion GIVE Act, which just passed the House — and which looks like the very kind of Soros Slush Fund I warned about last summer. Also note the rising cost of the $2 trillion cap-and-trade scheme, which vigilant GOP Sen. James Inhofe has been red-flagging.
Bonus issue = Kabuki theater of mass distraction. Keep your eye on the ball.
(And this just in, via HA Headlines: “U.S. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad said on Thursday he expects federal deficit spending will be about $1.6 trillion greater over the next ten years than President Barack Obama’s budget plan forecasts. Obama submitted his budget outline to Congress last month which forecast almost $7 trillion in deficits through 2019, however a worsening economic picture is expected to make the budget outlook darker. Conrad told reporters that the additional $1.6 trillion over the next decade was based on projections of the Democratic majority’s budget committee staff.”
***
Look beyond the bogus bonus smokescreen
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2009
“We will hunt you down!” thundered Colorado Democrat Rep. Jared Polis during the AIG bonus demagogue-a-thon on the House floor Thursday. “If they’re not going to give [the bonuses] back, we’re going to take them back!” growled Alabama Dem. Artur Davis, who vowed to recover the taxpayers’ “ill-gotten gains” from rogue corporate executives. House Republicans pressed the Democrats on who knew what and when regarding the AIG bonus protections included in Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd’s now-infamous amendment to the stimulus bill. Rep. Barney Frank shrieked about the Bush administration’s culpability. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi smugly patted Democrats on the back for “protecting the national interest.”
I ask you now to turn away from the bogus bonus smokescreen over $165 million in taxpayer-backed compensation packages for AIG employees. It is a pittance compared to the gargantuan spending spree happening right under our noses. The AIG bonus price tag amounts to one-tenth of one percent of the total AIG giveaway ($85 billion in September, $37.8 billion in October; $40 billion in November; $30 billion in early March, which took place with the assent of a Republican administration, a Democrat administration, and the congressional leadership of both parties.
Taxpayers might be less skeptical of the born-again guardians of fiscal responsibility if these evangelists were actually practicing what they preached. While the Obama administration now issues impassioned calls to stop rewarding failure, they moved Thursday to dump another $5 billion into the failing auto industry. That’s on top of the Thursday announcement by the Federal Reserve to print up $1 trillion to buy up Treasury bonds and mortgage securities sold by the government — that no one else wants to buy.
Financial blogger Barry Ritholtz tallied up $8.5 trillion in bailout costs by December 2008 between the Federal Reserve, FDIC, Treasury, and Federal Housing Administration rescues (not including the $5.2 trillion in Fannie/Freddie portfolios that the US taxpayer is now also explicitly responsible for.) Then there’s the (at least) $50 billion proposed by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner in February to bail out home owners and lenders who made bad home loan decisions, which would be just a small sliver of the $2.5 trillion he wants to spend on the next big banking bailout, which would draw on the second $350 billion of the TARP package over which an increasing number of Chicken Little lawmakers are having buyer’s remorse.
Phew. We’re not done yet. Also on Thursday: As AIG-bashing lawmakers inveighed against wasted taxpayer funds and lamented the lack of accountability and rush to judgment that led to passage of the porkulus bill that mysteriously protected the bonuses, the Senate quietly passed a $10 billion lands bill stuffed with earmarks and immunized from amendments. GOP Sen. Tom Coburn, fiscal conservative loner, pointed out that none of the provisions for special-interest pork projects — including $3.5 million in spending for a birthday bash celebrating the city of St. Augustine, Florida — were subject to public hearings. That’s on top of the pork-stuffed $410 billion spending bill passed two weeks ago.
Oh, and did I mention that the House passed a $6 billion volunteerism bill (the “GIVE Act”) on Wednesday to provide yet another pipeline to left-wing advocacy groups under the guise of encouraging national service? Also coming down the pike: The Obama administration’s “cap-and-trade” global warming plan, which Hill staffers learned this week could cost close to $2 trillion (nearly three times the White House’s initial estimate.) and the administration’s universal health care scheme, which health policy experts reported this week could cost about $1.5 trillion over the next decade.
It is no wonder that when earlier this week Vice President Joe Biden told local officials in Washington this week that he was “serious, absolutely serious” about policing wasteful porkulus spending in Washington (price tag: $800 billion not including interest), he was met with the only rational response his audience could muster:
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Categories: AIG,fiscal stimulus,Pork
Pundit & Pundette
» Obama's war on conscience, cont'dRedstate
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» Santorum’s Turn
On the one hand, these windbags were insisting on inserting language to specifically protect these bonuses (behind the scenes) because reneging on them would trigger law suits. Now they pass a blatant bill of retainder guaranteeing a landmark lawsuit. That’s our entrenched criminal class of windbags in full glory.
look for this slight of hand…
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/18/business/fed.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i502YtKiw0
It is just sickening.
We need to march on DC with simple signs that say
Good God! What will happen to us?
The more I read about what this congress does, the more I realize that the people who elected them need to pay attention. As the old saying goes, you can take crap out of the neighborhood, but no matter where you put it, it’ll always be just crap. This congress is overloaded with it, it’s now time to flush the toilet before the crap seeps out of dc.
And yet there are people out there who believe the government should be put in charge of making sure corporations do not spend money frivolously. Congress has not shown itself to be anywhere close to trustworthy on fiscal matters, and indeed, has earned my contempt in such matters. And given a Marxist Chicago corruptocrat president to rubber stamp anything Congress passes, this country is really in trouble.
I would add a clueless, spineless GOP to the rubber stamping crew. What we have is a one party system, I call it the United Establishment Party and voters are the opposition.
Congress: thy name is pork
The only way they can save face, is if they all commit “Seppuku”, then they will have redeemed themselves, in my eyes. Until then, “More cheese Gromit!” (munching popcorn).
M2, you illustrate perfectly why you matter, and why the MSM is useless. They’re focusing all their attention on the smokescreen, and ignoring the fire.
Thank you Michelle! We need to start scrutinizing and hammering on these bloviating windbags in D.C. about all the crap they’re shoving down our throats. The bonuses, while they raise an eyebrow, are a TOTAL smokescreen. What about the $$BILLIONS$$ they stole from us to give away to their cronies?We have to turn up the pressure a lot more because they are starting to crack! Look at all those weasels pointing fingers at each other! It’s hilarious. Next up: TAR, FEATHERS, RAILS – sounds like fun.
What concerns me is that I have a feeling the government programs they’re slipping under the rug through the earmarks associated with these bailouts will be neverending. Congress skillfully used an economic crisis against us unwittingly to expand it’s span of control, thus inching one step closer toward socialism. American tax dollars are funding the enemy of America, which is communism. How ironic is that?
The Kid Thinks Its About Him.
He has told us what he intends to do and is doing it.
The Time to act is Now! So how do we start? Is there still any chance at all for we the people at the ballot box? Somehow, I rather doubt it!
Let’s face facts. Congress has been out of control for many years and this is the perfect storm, much needed storm, to cleanse Washington of the filth. We need the Big O because he will finally embolden the people to stand up and say enough is enough. He will give the left and the spendocrats what they want and not what the people want; there isn’t enough money to buy all the people they need for their agenda. The storm will cleanse the Big O and the career leftist down the toilet. Be angry, voice your opposition, and remember this is going to be a long battle in a war we must win for America.
If you can get your concealed weapons permit, do so! If you can stash some cash, do so. It will be a battle of individual will, and we must prevail or the next generation will not stand a chance. In my mind it is already too late but in my heart we must fight this fight with passion, reason, and logic. We will be the last ones standing.
God bless….. We will prevail….
It looks pretty bleak, WarTip when the majority of “we the people” are the type that support this current administration.
I find myself getting outrageously outraged over the outrageous outrage over bonuses, and the outrageous lack of outrage over pouring $200 billion into a failed company.
AIG is not too big to fail, it is epic fail already. The CEO himself said yesterday the AIG brand is so tarnished, there is no hope it will ever be restored. History, dead meat, flushed, crushed and mushed.
Government solution: Mo money.
Mo maalox please.
If Washington honestly expects to fix anything, they should start by looking inward, not outward.
Watching Congress at work these days is a lot like watching “Ocean’s Eleven” pull off the heist of the century…but right out in the open, and with Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid portraying what Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt would look and sound like if they spend the next few years on crystal meth and Obamunism 101.
I am sick to death of this story. Who cares! First, we should not have bailed them out. But since we did we should allow them to run the business the way they see fit. If we do not like the way they run the business then we should replace management. But if managment thinks lighting a bonfire of $100 bills will fix the company’s problems who are we to say “no, you have to do it our way.” Especially when the principal complainers are the very idiots that spend similar sums of money on ideas like “why pig shit smells!!!”
Said another way, our government has been working on a trillion dollar effort to rescue the US economy. They’ve been focusing on other things than million dollar bonuses.
Where were all you born again bookkeepers when billions of dollars in cash simply went missing in Iraq? You were calling any critic of Bush mismanagement disloyal “hope American fails” traitors. What a difference elections make in your worldview.
I think that is why the Founding Fathers were so quick to adapt Jefferson’s Bill of Rights since Madison and Adams conveniently dismissed them. However, I am afraid there really is very little real hope for the future of our nation as it currently stands. So what do we do? Where do we begin and how do we unite?
michelle, thanks for keeping the focus on the ball. why don’t you pitch a show to fox where you investigate our msm along the lines of 60 minutes. tell us who the people are who give us their views in the guise of news. recent events show it is a nest of mess, the philly anchors, the florida anchor etc. besides, we could see your smiling face each week at a regular time.
Salient point!
The Democrats would much rather have us focus on the safe issue of AIG’s wasteful spending – one where they can grandstand and express fiscal morality against the previous administration – rather than leave us to ruminate over the fact they just spent three TRILLION dollars and counting of our tax money (according to the CBO, which claims to have just uncovered an additional trillion dollars of previously unaccounted spending in Obama-Pelosi-Reid’s spending plan), and w/ little if any of it dedicated to actual job creation.
WarTip said (#13):
You could start with the Pentagon. Talk to Bill Ayers to find out how its done.
Disclaimer: this post is sarcasm. Neither lgm nor (hopefully!) MM advocates violence against the Pentagon or any other US government facility.
Note to emjem24 and other members of the special right wing debate team: the point of the sarcasm is that you want to execute Bill Ayers but happily tolerate the same violence from the right.
I have to take exception to getting a concealed carry permit. This is giving them a name and address of someone that owns a gun. If I’m going to have to fight with guns, I think it best that my enemy not know in advance that I have one.
That’s why I don’t buy guns through a licensed dealer either, only private individuals. No background check.
NOW can we question their patriotism?? These traitors to our Constitution need to be in jail…now!
“We will hunt you down!” works both ways. Haw can we get term limits on each and every last one of these bastards?!?!? Oh, and get them retroactively so if ANYONE has served longer than two terms they are out of work tomorrow and we have emergency elections, not appointments by governors?
LOL LGM, I think that is actually the first time you have made me laugh … and yes I can see the sarcasm. But thank you for the laugh!
However …
I would say there is a major difference between a radical activist bombing government institutions and elected and supposedly “representative” government officials willfully undermining the Constitution and the very principles of government that this nation was founded upon … all while striving diligently to “relieve us” of our rights that the Constitution specifically prohibits them from messing with! Throw in the fact that they have all taken an oath to uphold and defend that Constitution and it makes it even more different.
Add to that the little caveat that our Founding Fathers did put into our Declaration of Independence specifically stating that we have a Patriotic obligation to insure that our government does not do what they are doing … and I must say that it does seem as if the actions are apples and oranges and truly incomparable.
Finally. Thank you for showing some perspective of the bigger picture. Much bigger.
1. What about the 4th and 14th Amendments though: 1) For the government to pry into a business’s inner workings to see who received bonuses and who did not: is this not an “unreasonable search”? I don’t recall any judges giving Congress any warrants. What crime has AIG committed? 2) Do we now consider this due process of law in order to deprive people of property? This is, in effect, what the government is doing, regardless of whether they are calling it a new tax or not.
2. If the government can change the deal after the fact with a company you may not like, how then will you feel if it were with a company you do like? Or with a company you own? Or with yourself as an individual.
WarTip, you’re wasting your breath. The instant you mentioned the word “Constitution”, lgm’s eyes started glazing over. It’s just a guideline held to scrutiny as far as he’s concerned.
Having spent a quarter century in the military, I can tell you with certainty that when dollars or equipment go missing, they really are not missing as much as they are improperly documented. The assets ended up where they needed to be, however they are unrecorded.
The difference here is that our tax dollars that went to this scheme are not “missing.” We know exactly how they were misused. As stated in earlier posts, had we allowed AIG to go Chapter 11, $58 BILLION would have not gone to foreign banks. The bonuses would have had to have been approved by the bankruptcy process.
The free market does work. However, as Rahm Emmanuel said, “Never fail to take advantage of a crisis.” They haven’t.
And subject to interpretation according to its correlations (or lack thereof) with international law according to our Scotus … siiiiiiiiigh!
So sad
I’m not so sure there won’t be a time when Odumbo becomes such a toxic liability to the dems that even congress will want him gone!
He could never have gotten where he is today without their complacency and worse … their help. I am afraid that the Senate and the Executive branch that were supposed to protect us from the Legislature (The House) have been turned against us as well.
I have an idea. If the Constitution is a “living, breating document that should be constantly changing and evolving”, let’s re-write it to include a provision for tarring and feathering traitors in Congress. Then let’s do it. That is change I can believe in!
Isn’t it true that many of these bonuses were sent to people overseas? Therefore, said bonuses are taxed by country of residence and exempt from our taxes? I know I heard this factoid somewhere, but with the Kabuki Theatrics distracting the ignorant masses we may never know the full scope of the; “AIG Foreign Overseas Banks Money Laundering Scheme ala Obama/Democraps”! Even though the morons have decided to retro-actively tax AIG bonuses, will it be reported that most of the bonuses can’t be taxed?
walterc:
The purpose of the concealed weapons permit is so you can be armed away from home. Most Americans, except cities that outlawed them, have guns at home but how many have them on themselves legally?
I do not care if they know I have a gun or guns, I do care that I have it available away from home.
Otherwise, all they have to do is wait for someone like you to go to work, gotcha not armed.
My view on concealed weapon is the opposite of liberals. My belief…
Everyone who chooses to give up their right to carry a gun should have to purchase a permit to do so. You should not have to get a permit to exercise your constitutional right but get a permit to give it up.
Therefore, if the liberals put their money where their mouth is they would all go buy a permit and give up there right and flush the system with cash for doing so. They would have their name on a list giving up their rights not those who choose to exercise them.
i know i heard a t.v. talking head show last year where these aig bonusses were discussed. the consensus was they were necessary to keep these people in order to hopefully pay the money back. people with lexus nexus should look for that conversation. for some reason i think it may have been paulson speaking.
Outstanding thought. But, an ammendment to the constitution requires a 2/3 vote from the tar and featheree’s. Sigh.
Congress knew Dec 16, 2008
http://www.house.gov/list/press/md07_cummings/20081216aighearing.shtml
Sigh indeed! We may have to do it “unconstitutionally”. You know, like they are doing to us!
What violence from the “right,” moron? Ayers made bombs, planted bombs, and encouraged/assisted others to build bombs which exploded, killing police officers, innocents, and his own cronies. Have you seen anything on the news about bombings committed by the “right” on the news recently? I didn’t think so.
Hope is not a plan; not all change is good. The resistance is here; the resistance is now. RESIST!!!!!
ECS
The AIG bonus folks won’t be the only people Reich Fuhrer Jared Polis, Barney Frank, Dodd, Shumer hunt down. This Revolution In Place will consume and destroy and turn on it’s self–they always do. With no effective resistance from the Republican Party-indeed open collaboration- there is nothing to even slow it down.
Can we stop it in 2010? I don’t know, will we have an honest election in 2010, 2012? Will ACORN, the Justice Department, the Federal Election Commission and MSM ALLOW a fair election? Not if they can help it. And William Ayres dreams of his Night of the Long Knives. Reich Fuhrer Jared Polis is as much prophet as fool.
Good Bye America-you will be missed.
—
Keep the change-I’ll keep my guns
Oh well there is some good news:
MSNBC next
We shall hope–leg/thrill and such.
A) Who says the economy needs rescuing? Rescuing from who? Rescuing from what?
B) They (congress) have been focusing on what? Last I checked, almost every congressperson spent the entire week finding any open microphone they could to talk about deferred compensation. Didn’t look like much focus on anything other than so called “bonuses”.
I marvel at your faith in elected officials to do what is right and what is best.
Do you not see that most are at best self serving crooks through and through? Why do you place your faith in them?
I would argue they should have known long before Dec 16, 2008.
I think almost every company has “retention bonus” compensation of some sort. For almost every employee as a matter of fact. When you start working for a company you get 2 weeks of paid vacation. After being there some number of years, you get 3 weeks. Paid time off is in fact compensation. The additional weeks are a “bonus” for staying longer. Is congress going to start claiming that any additional weeks of vacation are bonus payments subject to the 90% tax rate?
Happyscrapper, Better yet, add an earmark to the Economic Recovery Act:
$6 billion for research into using a mixture of tar and poultry pluckings to cover divots in the “road to recovery”, i.e. congressmen. They’ll never even read it. Aye!
Excellent suggestion! I love it! Now, my grandson just arrived and I have to sign off for a while. The computer is in “his” room and he is going down for a nap.
You know, you don’t have to write out the whole disclaimer. All you need is a /lgm tag at the bottom.
The web comic xkcd (which BTW I think is very good) has even made a comic on this.
Keep your eye on the ball indeed.
OT another two people were killed by another illegal alien in hannibal mo. the wet had 3 restraining orders taken out against him and ticketted and arrested several times, but gee, no one knew he was illegal because he had a ss card and spoke english. didn’t i read somewhere that you could check on ss numbers through something like e-verify. but i guess our police are too busy ticketting speeders and collecting revenue for the city to do that e verify thing.
I am not supporting what happened, but when I hooked up E-Verify for one of the Airline groups in Northern Nevada when it first came out, it was very restricted and limited and only available for companies, not for local law enforcement. That was a long time ago so it may have changed by now, but with our government so he!!bent on amnesty, I rather doubt it.
It does make me wonder how so many illegals still seem to be employed at airports and other “secure” facilities though.
Obamas budget not expected to increase the defict by 9.3 TRILLION dollars. That puts the defict over 20 trillion.
The only question is how much borrowed and how much printed. National bankruptcy is here, hyperinflation is coming.
yep read my post (#2)
China sells off our debt that they own, further decreasing the value of the dollar. The dollar ceases to be a viable trading commodity. Russia moving troops into Cuba and Venezuela. Politicians openly defying the Constitution. And the list goes on.
It’s a Pretty Picture! Pretty ugly, pretty messed up and pretty apt to get a lot worse before it gets better … if it ever does … Awful pretty huh?
cheapseat–I’m in MO too, and I think the po-po are too busy making sure that you’re wearing your seatbelt.
How long before us troops are forced to come home due to budget problems.
Our economy needs saving from Congress.
Your point that they should have known about the bonuses-Yes, they should have.
I can’t believe no on asked about employee contracts before making a deal to give them billion$ in cash. I can’t believe it and I don’t believe it. This is all, as MM says, Kabuki theater. Their constituents are calling them and they realize they need tcover.
Put no faith in any politician of any stripe. Watch their actions to judge whether they do right for their country.
All this anger is driving Democratic policy less than a month after the President’s first speech to Congress where he said this:
This is just another example of the “politics of the moment” overriding the wisdom of the First Teleprompter.
Oh, it’s just another day in the land of the democrats.
How hard would these members of AIG (that’s A-holes In Government) try to get this $165 million of the taxpayers’ money back if they had to actually give it back to the taxpayers instead of keeping it under their control and spending it on one of their other boondoggles next week?
Please, congressional a-holes, spare me the righteous indignation. I’d much rather the people at AIG (the insurance company) have the money than you.
They may spend it on fancy cars, boats, jewelry, lavish vacations, and pricey meals at five-star restaurants, things I’ve never had, never will, and can live just fine without. Better that than you lying crapweasels pissing it away on a global warming conference or some other such socialist nonsense.
HEAR HEAR! AMEN!
x’s 2
Good point sims – I was responding though to lgm’s that congress was busy working to save the economy.
Thats why President Lamech wants a Civilian “Security” Force!
What I worry abt is those overseas, in all capacities, and in the case of PCSes to extra-CONUS bases, their families.
I can easily visualize this PUZToTUS stranding them there…
For the people w/their families, I admit depending on where they’re stationed, they might be better off.
finally!
hearing it from this guy has restored some of my sanity.
now.. if this point could just be hammered home with a sledgehammer, there may – just may – be a chance for this country.
i would like to begin with Congress, then the Executive branch, and finally move swiftly to the Federal Reserve.
personally… i want justice.
i have lost everything but what i own outright.
i may never get my house back or my job back but knowing these bastards are in jail will help me sleep better at night in my cardboard box.
S&P 500 down 1.98% thanks to these demagogues.
What no one is saying is that the ones who received a bonus actually deserved one. Only 4 people at AIG caused the financial destruction of the company.
Those that have received a bonus have been doing a good job and are needed by the company to recover. The bonus is to keep them there.
Again, the real enemy is our politicians on both sides of the political spectrum.
And most of the Republicans were somehow dragged around like ducks on a string, feet flapping down with each turn of the wheel, silent on importance but loud on faux-rage.
What have you become, Washington DC?
Socialist Congressman Pete Stark (D-CA) is a Hypocritical Tax Cheat.
Did I mention he’s also an atheist?
So you people support giving tax dollars to incompetent folks in the form of bonuses?
I thought you “tea party’ types would have a problem with wasteful spending?
So much for principles.
The government has no right to eliminate the bonuses of these employees. In fact, I hope they all sue Uncle Sam for violating their contracts.
Our current Congress is ruling the nation as a mob. The are basically violating all of the laws in our Constitution while playing to the mob to cover up their incompetence.
I wonder how many of you would like Nancy Pelosi to come to your employer and eliminate your job contract in the name of Uncle Sam.
The very bedrock of the Country is Private Property rights and Contract Law. What you are seeing on a daily basis is the Barry Soetoro adminstration systematically eliminating our Constitutional Republic.
Suppose the bonuses totalled $165 billion and went to the fools who ran AIG into the ground.
According to Barry O, so what?
Remember, it didn’t matter how much wasteful spending was in Shamulus.
“Spending is stimulus.”
How does that petard feel, D’ohbama?
Is it time yet?
Let me know….cause I’m ready to go.
I just don’t get it. I understand the alensky chaos so they can grab money and power. however, is this the typical overreach that hungry liberals always do?
They clearly overspent , which is not surprising. Nobody even wrote the damm bills before they were voted on and no one had the time before they were signed. What else is in these bills?
Now caught in an obvious lie as demonstrated by the overacting Elmer Fudd and his soul mate in the Senate. It seems the industry they are trashing are fighting back. I saw lots of reaction of banking and financial employees both overseas and here going where they are loved just a little bit more. How in the world are they going to get us out of this mess if the people who do the work are pissed. Seems to be Government clearly don’t know what they’re doing.
I don’t think I have ever seen our government be so damm mean and down right happy to download on private citizens and punish them by putting their families at risk.
Absolutely shameful.
David its time to put the brass down and check the edge on the KA BAR.
Great read. The government has gone insane.
Absolutely not! That’s why we want these bastard congressmen thrown in jail!
…oh. you meant the AIG execs?
Do you even read the comments on this blog? Or do you just catch the headline on your way to kos and then swoop in and drop a big fat steamy one for everyone to ignore? It’s for people like you that the phrase “libtard” was coined.
/respond to trolls = “off”
They’re just very serious about a chance to permanently shut conservatives out via “compassion” “friendly” “green” we-care-about-you programs. No rocket science — and it could work under a desperate populace.
James Greenidge
Queens, NY
It is sad to see that so many Republican legislators jumped on this punish AIG bandwagon. This is stupid as well as unconstitutional legislation, and it is a PR stunt to deflect attention away from Democrat corruption and outright incompetence. Why any Republican would join this bandwagon is beyond me – especially considering they did such a good job in staying together against the stimulus and other pork projects.
The Republican legislators better get the message that staying away from stupid legislation and Democrat idiocy is a good idea.
I am against government using my money to bail out these companies period!
I am against government that wrote amendments into the pork pack to make it illegal for AIG not to pay the bonuses.
I am against government that violates private contracts entered into and agreed upon by private citizens.
I am against the nationalization of the banking and other financial institutions … or any private business for that matter.
I am against tens of billions of dollars being sent overseas to support financial institutions there.
I am against government agencies attempting to compete with the private sector. (Fannie and Freddy come to mind)
I am against government bills that require financial institutions to provide high risk loans to people who do not have the means to pay them back, thus causing this “crisis” and having the same government that created the problem come in telling me they are spending trillions of dollars of taxpayer money to fix a problem we never would have had if they had simply kept their nose out of private industry in the first place.
I am against government
spendinggiving away billions of dollars of taxpayer money to protect the borders of other nations while they refuse to secure our borders.I could go on all day, but perhaps by now, you can understand that maybe AIG (And all these other “bailout” recipients) should have just been allowed to die a natural death. Other companies would have come in and picked up the pieces and life would have gone on while we saved trillions of dollars.
That government which is best, is that which governs least!
Thanks WarTip! A most welcome post.
No, that would be YOU folks Ilovemycountry . It was Barney and friends who gave tax money to AIG and it was YOU folks who wrote the legislation guaranteeing the bonuses. It was YOU folks Ilovemycountry who screamed and wailed that the country would collapse in 24 hours if the legislation was not passed NOW!!!!
Now neither you, I, Michelle Malkin, Barney Frank, Chris Dodd or Chuck Schumer know which AIG employees and contractors getting the bonuses made or lost money or whose policies and actions did what–you are lying.
What we DO know is those bonuses were protected in the legislation the DEMOCRATS wrote, the DEMOCRATS passed and the DEMOCRAT President Obama signed. Again, you are lying-you have no way of knowing who was and was not incompetent.
Contracts? Just words? So much for the principles of the Left.
Good Bye America-you will be missed.
—
Keep the change-I’ll keep my guns
Ilovemycountry,
Do you not see the dangers in ex post facto laws?
Do you not see the danger in ignoring constitutionality when making the laws?
Do you not see the danger in 90% tax rates?
Do you not see the danger in government taxing people on the basis that “taxpayers ought to have that money”?
Do you not see the danger in government taxing people because the mob is angry at them?
I do think we ought not to have bailed out AIG in the first place, but the above points scare me more. And Ilovemycountry, did you get the detail that these execs may have helped the company? What is your opinion on that detail, if you still have time after addressing the above?
Ilovemycountry, I think the Country You Love is not the one I served for 28 years & the one that Democrats are working full time to Destroy.
Try Cuba. No one gets bonuses, universal health care for all & the rest of the Socialist Values that you embrace.
I will work to save the Country I love and prevent folks like you from ruining it.
This is a Truth.
I take no joy in the fact that the “little people”, the Everyman who is helping OB, such as those trolls here, will have a place in line ahead of me, because the ease with which he was misled and the mecurial nature of his ability to justify any position — no matter how loathsome — makes him more dangerous to the State than a Principled Man who holds opposing Principles. All it takes is a slightly more charismatic puppet, and off they go!
[no sarc, etc...:]
I feel terribly sad for people like ilmc…
The Democratic Socialist Communists have turned the “War on Terror” into the “War on Capitalism”.
An interesting difference of opinion. This is actually one of the very few consolations I have. Knowing that while true patriots may still be fighting, those that have brought such a horrific plague upon our society will no longer be around to create the same mess again.
I can only pray that it does not come to that. Although, between my love for politics and my belief in the Bible, I have little room to believe that it will not. Still, I do pray that I am wrong. The cost to our children would be great indeed, and not just financially.
Then again, I have no intention of being in the line. What were the words of Leonidas? “Come and take them!”
Polis can bite me.
tool
fool
Note to lgm: when you can’t defend left-wing, anti-military extremists like your hero Ayres, don’t use me as a prop when you’re challenged and your words ring hollow. Where was your love of the troops? Ever? Do any in your family serve? Of course not, because they (and you) would actually have to give a crap about the country and less about yourselves to do so.
As I said before, you and your notions of humor and sarcasm are lame and misplaced. There was plenty of criticism coming from different quarters (and not just left-wing bootlickers like yourself). That’s why an audit was done by the federal government on contracts within the DOD and overseas.
No, no, don’t let your weak debating skills get in the way of a good “it’s Bush’s fault,” “it’s the Iraq War’s fault,” “or it’s that we spend too much on the military” diatribe.
It must really hurt your pathetically small sense of self to be challenged while there are thousands overseas defending your right to live in ignorance. Go ahead and feed another grape to Nerobama, slave boy. You’re just another slave to ideology that only benefits you, not the country at large.
Well said, em.
WarTip:
The line was metaphorical, I won’t stand in line, either.
Can’t remember that ref. off hand, but a real “ah ha” moment for me in Old Testament study was when I read that Heavenly Father is unhappy at the punishment & death of sinners. He would much rather they learn Righteousness.
Long ago that started me thinking that it is wrong to be angry with these Mindless Ones. It isn’t our place to feel hate or anger towards these wayward brothers & sisters… And, in the Book of Mormon, (which, note, is a collection of political conficts and wars between Unrighteous peoples and Righteous ones), the Righteous Actors don’t hate those they’re fighting, because those too were created by God. It *also* didn’t slow them down defending themselves, either.
And it shouldn’t slow us, either.
One time, after a big battle, the Unrighteous craved quarter, after refusing it to the Righteous. The Righteous Leader (Moroni) simply asked the Evil Leader to sware he’d forever leave them alone. If the Evil Leader refused, Moroni said he wouldn’t extend quarter. When the Evil Leader DID refuse, Moroni and his men slew them mercilessly… but sad that they had to do it.
There’s a lesson there: if these people continue to steal our Liberty, we must stop them. God gave us our Liberty, only He can take it w/o a fight.
Exodus, where the Egyptians who wished were allowed to leave with the Israelites, on through Isaiah and Daniel and touched upon in the books of the Minor Prophets. My references for that would be mostly in the New Testament or Greek and Aramaic Scriptures, including (But not limited to) 1st Timothy and Ecclesiastes mostly.
You are correct, but to truly forgive someone, you must forget that which is to be forgiven. My hope therefore lays in the fact that we are trapped in a world of sin so that we may all be judged equally. In the meantime, I pray that God will forgive me for my humanity but still, it is difficult to forget what they have done when our families and children will also suffer the consequences. There is also a passage in there about a Man who does not provide for his family being worse than an unbeliever. It does make for some interesting quandaries and I would love to have the discussion with you, though it is likely this is not the proper place for such a discussion.
Still, some truly excellent points and a great reminder that at least, maybe I will not smirk or sneer as they are lined up against the wall. Still, I will continue to pray that it does not come to that.
Re-election, my friend. They put up their finger to see which way the wind blows, and vote accordingly. Their true purpose is not to help the country, it’s to be re-elected back into office; from the first day they sit in the seat. Money is the important item. Got to get money from the lobbyists to fund a new campaign. This is true both for the democrats and republicans.
Which is why lobbyists, PACs, SIGs and other political “contributors” need to be banned from any financial involvement with the elected officials … more specifically, the entire process needs to be taken out of play altogether. It is supposed to be of the people, by the people and for the people but our illustrious bloated bureaucrats have forgotten and ignored us so now, it is time to make a stand to remind them that we are here. (Hear us roar? dare I say it?)
I’m in complete agreement with that, WarTip.
These Corporate titans, many of which funded duh1′s candidacy, better start fighting back….for ALL our sakes.
The top 1% pay the lions share of taxes and if the DemocRATS have their way the rest of us will have to pay waaaaay more to finance the welfare state.
Meanwhile, GO GALT!
I think these are the versed you are looking for:
it is sunday morning, and the dear leader has just announced another 1 trillion dollar bailout for the banking and mortgage industry. we the taxpayers will buy the “toxic” assets on the books of the mortgage lending/banking industry so they can get back to lending more money to deadbeats creating more toxic assets. as we speak, dear leader has put several trillions into the reserve accounts of the banks, but they can’t or won’t lend it out because they can’t find borrowers. the term is pushing on a rope. ropes can only be pulled if they are to be effective. but dear leader seems to believe that putting trillions into the reserve accounts of these banks, and removing their dead assets, that that will get them to loan more. and this from a harvard man!