Bigger than Bailouts: A Nation at Risk

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Today you will see a farcical mockery in the US Congress when the pot calls the kettle black in front of a national audience. Our liberal elitist government has taken it upon itself to interfere and intervene on behalf of bureaucracy (not on behalf of the American taxpayers), and it has bitten them in the rear. AIG should have gone bankrupt, and the organization still may with a few hundred billion dollars of taxpayer money going down with the ship. Today we have a weak Congress, that lacks any clear leadership or principles. They rule by public opinions polls, and now they have the audacity to come before the American people and ridicule the AIG CEO for wasting millions on bonuses with money that THEY VOTED TO GIVE AIG!

If AIG had gone bankrupt, then those bonuses would not be paid. The government has effectively purchased a lemon, and there's nothing they can do about it at this point. Contracts are legally binding, but some Congressmen are proposing some pretty asinine legislation. One proposal calls for taxing bonuses to AIG executives at 100%. Unfortunately for the morons in Congress who propose such legislation there's a little document called the Constitution (I wonder how many of them really even know anything about the Constitution other than to say that things they agree with are 'Contitutional' and things they disagree with aren't?). Article 1 Section 9 -- No ex post facto laws. Simply put, you can't make a new law and hold past actions accountable to the new standard. Article 1 Section 10, no laws against contracts (among other things). Congress does not have the authority to alter the AIG contracts with legislation, nor can it simply decide to tax 100% of any private compensation, whether or not it was earned. Congress and the President got itself into this mess, and they are now willing to further tear the Constitution to save face.

If you don't like AIG, then don't do business with the coporation or any of its partners. That's a simple solution, and a free-market one at that. Bankruptcy is a legal procedure, and it's one that happens all the times for individuals and corporations. "I told you so" is a weak response to any situation, because it requires looking back rather than forward. Still, we have to have a good short-term and long-term memory as Americans when looking at this situation. Reagan had it right; FDR had it wrong. The current administration has chosen to take the path that demonstrated no ability to actually solve an economic crisis, preferring to get a bureaucratic chokehold on our personal and economic freedoms through government programs, incessant omnibus bills, and bailouts.

After careful consideration, I can come to no other logical conclusion: Congress thinks you're stupid. If you are more concerned about the next American Idol than upholding our Constitution, they can sneak things in, little by little, until you are dependent...co-dependent might be a little more accurate.

Pay attention, and remember the arrogant way in which Congressmen like Barney Frank snub their noses at free markets, and then deny any responsibility for the failings of government interventionism. Their tune will change next year, as the mid-terms approach, so just remember this false indignity we see from Congress next November. Sphere: Related Content