I am outraged at the outrage over AIG retention bonuses that were paid or scheduled to be paid. Millions of Americans have rallied in every way to condemn or otherwise threaten the lives of these heinous fat cats who are stealing government money after destroying value and businesses that are so critical to the world economy that the Federal government has to step in.
Methinks their anger is a little misplaced, especially when one considers the bonus paid to a government official whose office was responsible for a nearly 3 billion dollar deficit last year with a projected larger deficit in 2009. This public official predicts that even with a revenue increase of nearly 5% as a result from a planned hike in service fees that his department will still lose more than 3 Billion this year. This official's lack of leadership is astounding, yet the Congress and the President have not expressed their outrage as done to AIG by calling for investigations and ousters such as GM's chief executive yesterday. Instead, this public official received direct compensation of $263, 575, an additional 381,496 dollars in deferred pension contributions... and a staggering 135,041 in incentives.
Yes folks, the public official who has soaked the nation and apparently is going to continue to do so is your US Post Master General, John Potter. Maybe you should complain to the President and the Congress that you are tired of Gov't employees destroying value and dragging this country down too, but alas, you voted the fox into the henhouse, now didn't you. Your chickens are coming home to roost.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
AIG
Someone asked me if I could defend the AIG bonuses that were given out. You know... the ones that have been causing all the furor in the press and the halls of Congress lately...?
The bonuses that were paid out were contractually agreed upon terms of employment for AIG's Financial Products division as a benefit for staying on long enough to close their respective portion of the sector of AIG that was losing tens of billions of dollars.
Public outrage that a company, which received tax payer bail out funds on multiple occasions and should not be paying out large sums of "bonus' money is sorely misplaced. The bonuses are actually a final payoff to people who were told that if they stayed around long enough to retired the book of assets they were managing, they would be given this 'bonus' as a form of severance. Congress and the public (ginned up by congress and the media) have issued death to your bonus tax legislation and people have been making death threats to people who work or worked for AIG.
WHether you like the amount of bonus given or disagree with someone making more than you, it is important to note that the contracts underlying the payment of these options were legally done, legally reviewed by numerous members of congress, the New York Federal Reserve board, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Congressional Leadership and by the President's own staff as well. The very people who are not trying to tax the death out of compensational bonuses are the very same people who received as much as 500,000.00 from AIG to push their own agenda.
It seems to me that the outrage is misplaced and we are dangerously close to mob rule in this country.
The bonuses that were paid out were contractually agreed upon terms of employment for AIG's Financial Products division as a benefit for staying on long enough to close their respective portion of the sector of AIG that was losing tens of billions of dollars.
Public outrage that a company, which received tax payer bail out funds on multiple occasions and should not be paying out large sums of "bonus' money is sorely misplaced. The bonuses are actually a final payoff to people who were told that if they stayed around long enough to retired the book of assets they were managing, they would be given this 'bonus' as a form of severance. Congress and the public (ginned up by congress and the media) have issued death to your bonus tax legislation and people have been making death threats to people who work or worked for AIG.
WHether you like the amount of bonus given or disagree with someone making more than you, it is important to note that the contracts underlying the payment of these options were legally done, legally reviewed by numerous members of congress, the New York Federal Reserve board, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Congressional Leadership and by the President's own staff as well. The very people who are not trying to tax the death out of compensational bonuses are the very same people who received as much as 500,000.00 from AIG to push their own agenda.
It seems to me that the outrage is misplaced and we are dangerously close to mob rule in this country.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
The ICE Queen Cometh
The Democrats are at it again! The Speaker of the House told a group of Illegal Aliens in San Francisco that the raids on suspected illegal aliens in homes and the work place need to be stopped. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) was expressing a sentiment designed to appeal to Hispanic citizens and prospective new Democratic Party voters, hoping to wrangle them like the other cattle her party currently drives to the polls. The method for eliciting the applause from the crowd was fear. She used it effectively to paint a government she is a significant leader in as a bunch of jackboot thugs, interested in only ripping children from the arms of their illegal immigrant parents. She heavily focused on the "middle of the night" raids as her example.
The truth of the matter is that most immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) raids are in work places, not homes. There has already been significant pressure by Pelosi and Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano to curb worksite enforcement of immigration rules through intimidation and other threatening actions. Their actions have effectively paralyzed enforcement of existing immigration law. It is tantamount to telling illegals they don't have to worry about the current laws which make it a deportable misdemeanor to enter or remain in this country without a valid visa. The current and exploited loophole in the 14th amendment to the Constitution allows those people born here to remain here as birthright, natural born citizens. The amendment was written to give former slaves the same legal standing as whites after the civil war, and was not applied to immigration law. The concept of restricted immigration was not something the amendment's framers considered, as there were no formal restrictions on the number of immigrants allowed in the US at the time. The concept of immigration law in the US really didn't start until 1875 when the Supreme Court ruled that immigration policies were the purview of the US Federal Government. This was codified in 1891 when the Federal government assumed the task processing EVERY immigrant seeking to enter the US. It therefore holds that any restrictions later placed on the flow of immigrants to this country (particularly at the end of the 19th century and after WWII), would potentially run afoul of the natural born citizen language in the amendment.
ICE agents are enforcing the laws that Congress passed and the President signed into law. Immigration must be done in an orderly and legal fashion. Poverty and desperation in another country are not justifiable reasons to choose not to adhere to the rules. Millions of immigrants have come to this country using the rules. Pelosi's rhetoric panders to the passions and fears of people (illegal immigrants) who should not be here. If we need additional workers, let's create a guest worker program that rewards people who come through the gate, not through the fence. Let us also create a constitutional amendment which defines US citizenship as those born in this country of US citizens, those born in this country of legal US immigrants and those born in foreign countries of legal US citizens. The founders may have foreseen a country that would be a beacon to all other nations, but they certainly did not comprehend that the government they bled and died for would take the rule of law and turn in on its head, just to garner a few votes. Perhaps its time to put the Speaker's rhetoric on ICE.
The truth of the matter is that most immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) raids are in work places, not homes. There has already been significant pressure by Pelosi and Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano to curb worksite enforcement of immigration rules through intimidation and other threatening actions. Their actions have effectively paralyzed enforcement of existing immigration law. It is tantamount to telling illegals they don't have to worry about the current laws which make it a deportable misdemeanor to enter or remain in this country without a valid visa. The current and exploited loophole in the 14th amendment to the Constitution allows those people born here to remain here as birthright, natural born citizens. The amendment was written to give former slaves the same legal standing as whites after the civil war, and was not applied to immigration law. The concept of restricted immigration was not something the amendment's framers considered, as there were no formal restrictions on the number of immigrants allowed in the US at the time. The concept of immigration law in the US really didn't start until 1875 when the Supreme Court ruled that immigration policies were the purview of the US Federal Government. This was codified in 1891 when the Federal government assumed the task processing EVERY immigrant seeking to enter the US. It therefore holds that any restrictions later placed on the flow of immigrants to this country (particularly at the end of the 19th century and after WWII), would potentially run afoul of the natural born citizen language in the amendment.
ICE agents are enforcing the laws that Congress passed and the President signed into law. Immigration must be done in an orderly and legal fashion. Poverty and desperation in another country are not justifiable reasons to choose not to adhere to the rules. Millions of immigrants have come to this country using the rules. Pelosi's rhetoric panders to the passions and fears of people (illegal immigrants) who should not be here. If we need additional workers, let's create a guest worker program that rewards people who come through the gate, not through the fence. Let us also create a constitutional amendment which defines US citizenship as those born in this country of US citizens, those born in this country of legal US immigrants and those born in foreign countries of legal US citizens. The founders may have foreseen a country that would be a beacon to all other nations, but they certainly did not comprehend that the government they bled and died for would take the rule of law and turn in on its head, just to garner a few votes. Perhaps its time to put the Speaker's rhetoric on ICE.
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