by Richard Watkins

Created on: April 28, 2009

On March 16, 2009 the big news story that had many Americans upset was that AIG, who had just received the biggest bailout of all, announced that on that day it was going to pay out 165 million dollars in executive bonuses, to its Financial Products unit. These were the same people at AIG that had screwed things up to the point of needing a government bailout, in order to stay afloat! When Americans get this upset about how their tax dollars are being spent, Congress tries to look busy getting to the bottom of something. Often times, there is a person brought before a House Subcommittee who is bawled out, or questioned, about something a corporation did, by a bunch of the strangest looking people in America; also known as members of congress. This can be uncomfortable to watch and sometimes comical to watch, since people are not corporations, for one thing; and our congressional delegates are so funny looking, especially when they try to feign ignorance, or shock and awe in matters they either know nothing at all about or know too much about. On March 18th, 2009 the House Financial Services Committee held a hearing where they questioned the NEW AIG CEO Edward Liddy, who had nothing to do with the contracts that awarded these losers so much in bonus awards even for a job so poorly done.

After putting up with these congressional creatures cawing at him about something he really had nothing to do with, for about an hour, he pointed out to them, the obvious. He said, "Hey! These contracts were all put together before I was at AIG. I would NOT have done these contracts this way, and this whole arrangement would have looked (eyes narrow) if it existed (eyes widen to normal size), would have looked a whole lot different! I really do, I take offense sir!" This prompted Congress to ask for names. Names of those who received bonuses from AIG, if Mr. Liddy wouldn't hand over those names; one congressman with spiked eyebrows told him they would subpoena those names. Mr. Liddy then went on to say he wanted to comply and give Congress the names but first he wanted to share his concern. He read two lines out of an email: "All the executives and their families should be executed with piano wire wrapped around their necks." This quieted the room down for a few minutes anyway, as the house committee pointed out that this was not normal thinking and apologized for that American's remarks, then requested that they move on. They still needed a person to put this mess on, and since

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