Two Sides to a Coin -- or Three?

If AIG wanted to withhold those alleged retention bonuses from employees, it would be done. NO corporation allows its employees to sign air tight contracts that bind the employer to perform anything, anytime, anyway. There is always a "because I say no" clause in a contract as that's just the way the big boys play the game: they own the field, the ball, and the team, so they win. Every time.

If the government wanted to break the alleged contract, it would be a done deal. It is laughable that the federal government wants anyone to believe that they are powerless in this situation. The government could take over AIG and do with it -- and the employees -- what they will, so there is something going on at the highest need-to-know basis that precludes them from doing so. It has nothing to do with contracts, air-tight or cheesecloth, tied to employee retention bonuses.

AIG set these employees up to take the money and run, and will do nothing to stop that process, and, for reasons not yet known, the government is complicit in that action. But there is always a third side to the coin, evidenced by the fact that a two-sided coin can stand on its edge, and that's where the rest of us are these days. We are being lied to and manipulated for reasons that we may never know, reasons that may be tied to international politics and financial practices, and we may be paying the price for relying on outsiders to keep our economy intact, rather than living within our means. Once enough of the US's financial stability rests in the hands of foreign governments, the US no longer calls the shots.

It's a tricky situation, to lend and borrow money with the right people at the right time and for the right reasons, but the US benefited from the economic boom years regardless of who financed them. No one wants to do with less when they can have more, from the lone consumer to the huge corporations to the government itself. Instead of taking action to deal with the flagrant economic practices sanctioned by the government, such as the GAO's reports that showed multiple-millions in cost over-rides, we let it ride. Pay the bills, the Congress said, and pay the bills we did. Once we, the people, saw how the government did business, we began doing the same business within our own lives, living on credit, enjoying deficit spending, laughing at accountability.

How's that working for us now?

AIG saw the loophole and drove a truck through it when the government threw money at them. Had AIG been forced to accept funds with terms and conditions, they would have been fools to do so because there would have been contingencies and oversight attached. But when the government throws billions of dollars at failing businesses and trusts that the money will be well-spent, it's foolish not to create a failing business, take the money, and do with it what you will. Providing the cash to loyal employees in return for their participation in the financial manipulation is simply shrewd, albeit not very ethical, business practice.

The government, most notably Pelosi and Reid, decried the falling financial sky and demanded immediate action, which the media sold to the public, providing the foundation for the financial follies. Pelosi positioned herself as a forceful powerhouse in clear control of what happens in Washington; after all, she is second in line if anything happens to Obama. To every question, she had the same response, repeated so often that she became a parody, but people listened, believed, and reacted.

All I've heard for the past two weeks vis a vis the media outlets is "we should have taken more time to figure this out" before throwing money at a problem that maybe didn't exist and certainly has not responded to the cure. Misdiagnosis is what they call it in the medical profession, but the patient still has to pay for all the tests, all the treatments, and all the hospital stays associated with that failure to find and fix the original problem. The Republicans' call for a go-slow approach was poo-pooed because Pelosi and the Demos needed action NOW to publicly affirm their party's power. They let the tail wag the dog, and now that dog is biting them in the ass.

Lesson learned? Probably not, but maybe, once we get out of this mess, we'll have a few years of prosperity before the next crop of Arrogant, Inept, Greedy corporations get big enough to do it again.