The Bonus Rationales

THE CENTURION CHRONICLE
Special Issue – Mar 2009

THE BONUS RATIONALES
(a case of anal-retentive fears)

The rationales given for the AIG big bucks bonuses appear to be the result of anal-retentive fears that, without these, there would be no way to retain the hotshot “financial artistes” they need to clean up its messes.

Mule muffins, as we say in Missouri! The problem with that kind of excuse, of course, is that these are the same “artistes” who created the messes in the first place!
Rewarding these like this, now, for their prior flim-flam successes, is not only a gross perversion of the merit-pay concept….it smells of political favoritism besides.

Apparently AIG’s federal overseers are operating by the old adage of using a thief to catch a thief. That is, in this instance, using thieves to unravel the “complexities” of their previous multifarious financial excesses and dealings. Such an approach does nothing to make any of us believe in, or have confidence in, any of our Treasury or Federal Reserve experts’ abilities to look out for our taxpayers’ 80% equity our tax dollars now have in that enterprise.

If they’re so uncertain of their ability to do so, perhaps it’s time for Congress to consider having the G.A.O. (the General Accounting Office) take over, instead. At least it has both the expertise and the reputation for being able to conduct proper forensic auditing, to sort things out, and keep things on the straight and narrow. And, despite being an arm of Congress, the G.A.O. is one of the few government entities still relatively unsullied, or compromised, by either incompetence or political shenanigans.

So, rather than continuing wasting those few budget dollars still available in useless and politically self-serving hearings about this matter, our “honorable” members would be doing us all a great big favor by using those dollars to give the G.A.O. a broad oversight mandate, and turning it loose, to get to the bottom of it all.

Anyone who has ever experienced a G.A.O. audit, or two, or more, will appreciate the idea. It makes the I.R.S. seem like amateurs. In fact, we should strongly push for and demand that it be given the task of overseeing and auditing any recipients of bailout or stimulus funding. At least then, we taxpayers, would have a greater assurance that such funding was being effectively and properly applied….to help get us all back onto a solid economic track. Meanwhile, we could relegate the Federal Reserve to doing what it does best….tinkering with and manipulating interest rates. As for the Treasury it, also, would be sent back to doing what it does best….running printing presses to produce tons of Monopoly money.

As for Congress, well, what can one say? About the only way it might somewhat redeem itself would be if, in a rare moment of leadership-by-example, it voted itself a 10% pay cut for the duration, in support of the Obama Administration’s calls for belt tightening and sacrifice, just like the rest of us.

Hypocritical roars of outrage….and political posturing….just won’t do it.

CENTURION