Why are we so upset about the bonuses??

The public outrage continues to grow over the news that AIG used some of the bailout money to pay retention bonuses. Since everyone seems to be voicing their opinion I figured I’d jump my soapbox as well. First, let me start by saying I have been against the concept of bailing out anyone, banks, automobile industry, etc. I readily admit that I am not an expert and maybe I don’t understand the ramifications of having such large industries fail but it seems to me that there have always been failures and successes in business. One company fails and that enables another company to step up and succeed. The concept that a company is “too big to fail” is very troubling to me. I think we have seen in the past few months that pouring money, our money, into the big, black hole that we call the banking industry, isn’t working out so well. Despite the billions that have been poured into the banks they continue to be reluctant to lend money. Businesses can’t get the loans they need to function, people with good credit ratings struggle to get a mortgage, students cannot get student loans, and yet we continue to pour money into the banks believing that one day everything will be ok. I, like many, am upset that the taxpayer’s money is going to pay bonuses to people to encourage them to stay with a company that they ran into the ground. I understand that AIG is “contractually obligated” to pay these bonuses but if that isn’t being rewarded for bad behavior then I don’t know what is. But what bothers me more than the bonuses is the fact that billions of the bailout money has gone to foreign banks. It irks me to no end that money I pay in taxes is going to bail out foreign banks, it doesn’t seem fair that my family should have to pay for that. If their country is hurting because of the failure of AIG maybe they should pay for their own bailout. In this country the homeless population is rising everyday, we have families living in shelters, living in tents. We have shelters that are filled to capacity and have resorted to having a family of 4 sleep in a tiny tent shelter in the hallway. The rate of homeless children in schools is rising, for some children the only decent meal they will get that day is the school lunch. There are reports of teachers using their own money (and we all know that teachers are woefully underpaid to start with) to purchase food for the homeless children in their classroom because the children are hungry. In a small town near where I live there are people living in the shelter that are working two and three jobs and still can’t afford housing. When I stop and think about these people then the thought that our money, the American taxpayers money, is going to pay bonuses to people that have failed at their job, to foreign countries, to industries that can’t make a product that anyone wants to buy, to huge CEO salaries and company retreats…I’m incensed. And to make matters worse, we will never pay for this bailout, not in our lifetime. Our children and our children’s children will be paying for this. The thought that my 8 month old is already thousands of dollars in debt is scary. When does it stop, when do we as the American public stand up and say enough is enough? Quit taxing us to pay for others mistakes, quit spending our money to pay for other’s extravagant lifestyle. Does this not remind anyone of why we had an American Revolution in the first place? Maybe we need another revolution.


‘til next time…