Stupid, or Evil?

AIG was given a bailout of billions of dollars without having to drastically restructure their company; it was rather given as funds to keep them afloat.

As it turns out, it wasn't just Major League Baseball that made terrible contractual decisions over the last decade (Juan Pierre, Sidney Ponson, Barry Zito, Albert Belle, Kevin Brown, Darren Dreifort, FOX, and I can go on forever...), nor merely homebuyers who got mortgages on houses they couldn't afford. There were also companies that gave executives huge pay packages, most of which was in the form of bonuses, most of which were practically guaranteed bonuses.

But now is the time to get upset that they make so much money. Because they're getting bailed out, damn it. Why should these people make more than the President, after all? Are they more important? Do they do more good for the world?

This is not how things work, though. The market values people for certain reasons. And the fact of the matter is that without a significant market correction, those true values cannot come out. Home prices are crashing because they were too high. The housing market has been a bubble waiting to burst, particularly with incentives towards malinvestment through the tax code. When we shield ourselves from market corrections, we delay the inevitable, and that makes things much worse. After all - the bonuses AIG is paying out amount to something like .1% of the bailout money they received. This is like paying someone who writes grant proposals for a non-profit organization that get it $50,000,000 a year in funding being paid $50,000 per year, except that's for the whole department of grant writing. Those who are disgusted by the executive compensation should be disgusted with their elected officials - they gave in, giving billions of taxpayer dollars to companies despite their poor handling of business. Not despite, BECAUSE OF their poor handling of business. If there is anyone who should be the subject of public outrage, shouldn't it be those in office who would insist on such bailouts without requiring a serious restructuring of the companies?

So enter Senator Chuck Grassley, Republican from Iowa, and his remarks on executive pay:

“The first thing that would make me feel a little bit better towards them if they’d follow the Japanese model and come before the American people and take that deep bow and say I’m sorry, and then either do one of two things — resign, or go commit suicide.”

Go committ suicide.

Go kill yourself.

For a United States Senator, who help to shape policies to create this economic environment as a longtime member of the Senate Finance committee, even serving as Chairman in 2001 and from 2003-2006, to suggest that corporate executives should kill themselves can only be classified as stupid, or evil. Either stupid, because he hasn't the brains to realize the role of government in creating the current economic environment, or evil, for suggesting others must die for something he was complicit in, while demanding to walk away.