Why Can’t AIG Be Allowed To Fail?

Over and over I keep hearing this mantra about how the American government cannot allow AIG to fail. So, because it cannot be allowed to fail, the government continues to funnel a never ending supply of money into it. But WHY can’t it be allowed to collapse? What horrible thing is going to happen? 

I know this much. Ben Bernanke must be the worst poker player in the entire world. How else can you explain the fact that he keeps telling the world that he will do whatever it takes to keep AIG afloat? 150 billion? No problem. 200 billion? Sure thing. 300 billion? Ben will be really, really mad and slamming his phone down but the check is in the mail. 

Of course the good folks at AIG are spending like drunken sailors. They have an open ended credit card and they know it. Want to spend 100 million on bonuses? Knock yourself out. Want to send billions of dollars to foreign banks so that, essentially, the American people are bailing them out? No sweat. Keep acting like you are mad, Ben. It is working like a charm. 

Up to the plate stomps Barney Gay and Nancy “who stole my eyebrows” Pelosi. Even more and more barking with no action being taken. How is it possible that the Fed AND the government have no control over the situation? Oh, I know. Because they have NEVER had control which is how this whole thing came to be in the first place. Of course, since all of these people belong to the same gene pool, I think it is a little unreasonable to think they will actually punish each other. 

Hey AIG…be very grateful that the US citizens are powerless in such matters. If we weren’t, you would be shut down by the end of the day and you could take your “bonuses” and shove them up your collective a**es. Of course, you would have no bonus to shove because we would have already taken that money back. 

If you can create the FDIC to protect banks, just make up a new acronym to protect insurance companies. Surely, it would be cheaper than just flooding these idiots with money on virtually a daily basis. Better yet, let AIG fail and let their competitors swoop in and pick the bones clean. Then, make the ex-employees work at McDonalds until they save enough money to pay the US taxpayer back. 

In the meantime, Bernanke, Frank, Reid, Pelosi and crew, could you just shut the hell up?!? Either do something to fix the problem or just shut up about it. Acting like a powerless victim is exceedingly annoying. 

And hey, where the hell is Barry while all this is going on? Can’t the POTUS shut this thing down in the blink of an eye? Well? What are you waiting for…a fist bump?

Sarah Palin Travels With Her Children And Looks Good Doing It.

Well, here come the haters…what a surprise. It was announced today that Sarah charged the State of Alaska for her children to travel with her. Also, it was reported that the RNC spent $150,000 on clothes, hair and makeup for the Governor.

Is this really an issue for anyone? Was she just supposed to leave her kids home alone? If she would have hired a babysitter, people would have complained about that as well. I support Sarah for putting her kids first and if the people of Alaska don’t like it, they shouldn’t have elected her. Oh, wait a minute, they aren’t the ones complaining. It is the freakin’ media, as usual.

Also, is it hard to understand that there is a fee for maintaining the ethereal beauty of the future VPILF? Do you think she just rolls out of bed looking gorgeous naturally? Of course not. Just like other 47 year old women, she needs a fair amount of spackle, spray paint, grout and wire to pull her look off. And what about her attire? Christ, her shoes alone probably took up about $100,000.

By the way, not to get off track, but did you see Sarah rocking the knee high boots the other day?

(I need to Photoshop the baby, Trigger, out of the picture for it to have real value).

Where was I? Oh yeah, this woman that is equal parts sunshine and angel perfume, should not be held down by the media elite. She is a maverick and mavericks need to look good. Do you think the Marlboro Man (also a maverick) didn’t have expenses? Of course he did. So, please, leave our girl alone.

Having said all of that, I do have one tiny concern. I saw this picture and I am not sure if Sarah is throwing gang signs or praising Satan.

From the look on her daughter’s face, I am going to guess she is using the “Satan rules” signal. Oh, screw it, who cares? If we have to put up with a little satanic worship and a few Ouija boards to get our gal in office, so be it. 4 years of McCain and then 8 years of President Palin. Woo-Hoo!

(Uh oh, I am getting all tingly in my pants again. Excuse me for a moment).

$700 Billon? Do We Get An IOU?

Am I to understand that each American household is going to “loan” the financial sector $7000? I wouldn’t loan someone $7 let alone $7000. (Yes, I am cheap, get over it). Plus, not only are we giving this loan, we don’t actually know who the money is going to or exactly how we are going to get it back. The coup de grace is we need to pony up this money within a week. Again, why does it feel like Tony Soprano is involved in all of this?

I am not smart enough to understand all of the failings of the financial world but if you already screwed me once, shouldn’t I be slightly concerned that you are going to do it again? Is someone co-signing for this loan? I mean, I know the government has an unblemished record in handling our tax money but it still seems like a pretty big chunk of change to just throw out there.

Beyond the giveaway, there is the other issue of rewarding all of the bad behavior that lead the financial market to where it stands today. I have heard of giving a “mulligan” before but not one worth $700 billion. Where is the incentive for banks and lenders to not do exactly the same thing again with this new influx of money they will have with their debt load now removed? Why would anyone think that these same companies would proceed with any less greed and avarice than they already have?

Oh, because the government is going to be watching them. That makes me feel better. Of course, this is the same government that sat idly by as this whole ridiculous mess came to pass. The same government that fights incessantly over the most trivial items and doesn’t spend 5 minutes a day working on things that matter to me (like what are the odds I will be able to retire before I become McCain’s age?)

It is amazing to me the power that our government arbitrarily imposes over us. New Orleans? Yeah, we will get to fixing it up eventually. The war(s)? Very complicated so we had to move without waiting for the American public to voice their opinion. (Not that the government would give us enough information to make an honest assessment).

I guess that is my biggest problem with this latest proposal. Once again, I have to trust our leaders to protect my interests and do the right thing. They (both the left and right) have shown no interest in doing so in a long, long time. Of course, I don’t actually have to trust anyone because they will do whatever the hell they want to do anyway. This concept of “freedom” and participation is all very silly. We, the American people, have no say in any of this. 

Don’t get me wrong, none of this is new and living in America beats living anywhere else in the world by a mile. It is just this constant abuse that the public has taken recently without so much as an apology or a wilted rose to show remorse. Sure, we get the $1500 tax check to shut us up every once in awhile. (How awesome is it that the government feels it is doing us a favor by giving us our own money back?) But still, I feel abused and abandoned. Maybe Sarah can give to us men what John Edwards and Bill Clinton have been giving to female taxpayers for all of these years. Sure, it probably won’t be worth $7000 but at least she will probably remember our name the next morning.

(Ok…maybe she is worth 7 grand. VPILF indeed.)

EDIT: So, the good news is the vote failed. The bad news is that the common shareholder will continue to get pounded for the foreseeable future. However, the Wall Street high rollers are also taking it from behind and will have to actually work to get things back in order.

While the stock market plunge hurts like hell, I am still convinced that the bailout would have been worse. I feel terrible for those that are retired, or are about to retire, as they are being hit the hardest. Frankly, i hope the FBI investigates every last one of these guys. Plus, those in Congress that enabled this situation should be kicked to the curb. Good to see American say “enough is enough”. Or, as Max Schumacher would say, “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!”

(By the way, does this mean McCain’s campaign is suspended again? It worked pretty good the first time).

Gas Prices

What an absolute crock of sh** gas prices are. They are back over $4.00 a gallon again due to the shutdown of refineries in the gulf. Apparently, they make just barely enough gas each day to keep the US running so when they lose production for even a day or two, prices skyrocket. If that is the case, shouldn’t I be seeing gas lines and stations closed because they are out of gas to sell?

In the 70′s, the fuels crisis was easy to understand. Simply put, there was not enough gas to go around. So, you waited in line at whatever station had fuel to sell. In this crisis, the amount of gas available doesn’t seem to be an issue at all. I have yet to see one gas station closed down. In fact, there is such a glut of oil, that prices are down to roughly $95 a barrel. Wasn’t it about $145 a barrel this summer? So a 35% decrease in oil costs equals record highs in gas prices. That kind of math is even pi**ing off my abacus.

While the chants of “drill, baby, drill” were happening and the argument was on about off-shore drilling, where was the conversation about refineries? Hasn’t that been a huge problem for the last 20 to 30 years? Are any of the oil companies taking their record profits to build new refineries? (That was a rhetorical question). The answer is, “Oh, hell no!”

Let’s just face the facts. We may have the single most inept government in the history of this country. From the President on down…various levels of outrageous stupidity and incompetence. While Freddie, Fannie, Lehman, AIG and others go to hell in a hand basket (a rather large hand basket at that), we should all be chanting, ”burn, baby, burn” because our financial house is burning to the ground. (The only good news is that there is no actual money in the house because we already spent it all).