Congressional Hubris

The concept of multi-million dollar bonuses being paid to AIG executives, especially those involved with credit default swaps, after a massive federal bailout is rather unpleasant to say the least. Even if one considers the fact that armchair pundits don't understand the compensation structure of such entities, it's still malodorous under the circumstances and certainly a PR nightmare.

But perhaps just as malodorous is this pompous buffoon grandstanding on the issue:

Frank said he was disgusted, asserting that "these bonuses are going to people who screwed this thing up enormously."

"Maybe it's time to fire some people," he said. "We can't keep them from getting bonuses but we can keep them from having their jobs. ... In high school, they wouldn't have gotten retention (bonuses), they would have gotten detention."

Geithner has cautioned bailout recipients to tone down their bonuses but nobody besides Bill O'Reilly seesm interested in challenging Frank and Dodd on their records. What would be enough to trigger the 'firing' of a Congressman?

IT'S AN OUTRAGE! 3/16/09

Tom Maguire is outraged over the outrage over AIG:

Yeah, let's just burn their houses down. I can't even believe I am reading this. And do note the utter lack of outrage over the larger losses in the boring, low glamour securities lending area. People who want to believe we need more regulators are determined to look past that glaring regulatory failure, and people who would rather wring their hands than think are wringing their hands.

Essentially AIG has a contractual obligation to pay these people. But Obama needs to tell us why this is any different than him signing the 400 billion 9000 earmark Omnibus appropriation bill under the guise of "last year's business".