from slate.com: Obama's Change-o-meter is at... drum roll please ... 0. That's zero. As in Z-E-R-O. Not as in no change in the number, as in no change in politics.
If it wasn't so sad, it'd be funny.
Meanwhile Obama is blasting away at AIG for handing out bonuses that may have been required by contract. Here's a thought, if we hadn't bailed them out, this wouldn't be an issue. At the very least, government oversight has (once again) failed the American people.
And if we hadn't bailed them out, where would we be, exactly? Bad economy, check. High unemployment, check. Bank sector in the toilet, check. AIG in the dump, check.
Keep in mind, the bailouts were supposed to give AIG time to sell off assets to allow for payback of the bailout. Assets sold to date: 0. Again, zero.
I'm not defending the bonuses, which many would say should also number zero. You can certainly find fault, and many, many will. But isn't it slightly more egregious that our four or so "bailouts" later we still have a bum economy, no asset sales and no indication that an asset sale is on the horizon.
Bankruptcy, while it would have been a shock to the industry, wouldn't have shocked it much more than the Dow at 12 year lows and it would have resulted in a forced, and managed and manageable break up and sale.
No comments:
Post a Comment