Please forgive me for this rant, as it really does not have much to do with Martial Arts. Although, in a way, it does and I will explain how once I get this off my chest. I am talking about the disgrace that has become of this AIG executive bonus issue. And it is not the AIG executives who are the disgraceful ones that I speak of my friends. The real disgrace lies in our elected representatives. It is absolutely insulting to listen to Chris Dodd, the banking queen Barney Frank, the tax cheating Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner and even the Messiah Barak Obama express outrage that AIG paid $165 million in retention bonuses to certain employees. Each of them knew of these bonuses well in advance of their distribution. Chris Dodd actually wrote the language in the pork-ulus bill that allowed AIG to pay these bonuses. Dodd tried to deny it when first called upon, but them came clean the following day with his back against the wall, saying that he was pressured by the Obama Administration, in an attempt to absolve himself of responsibility. Check this out:
Geithner is on record responding to questions about these very bonuses on 3/3/09, well before the distribution of the $165 million:
Can you believe this? This video of him defending the bonuses is out there and he expresses his outrage as if he knew nothing of them. Is he an idiot in addition to a tax cheat?
Obama jammed the pork-ulous bill down all of our throats, with Frank and Dodd two of its biggest proponents. In that 1,100 page bill that nobody read prior to its passing, was language that allowed AIG to pay these bonuses to its employees. After getting the green light, AIG goes and pays the bonuses according to the legal retention agreements that it had with its employees. How is AIG the bad guy in this scenario? Yet these hacks are all pointing the finger at AIG as being the big bad corporation who took the taxpayer dollars and rewarded their employees for failure. Talk about throwing someone under the bus! But that was not enough… the hacks then convened and came up with a new tax on bonuses paid out from bailout money at a rate of 91%. Does this sound like a democracy to you???
Another point… I find it interesting that Chris Dodd and Barak Obama are the top two recipients of AIG campaign contributions… is this why that language got in there???
OK, so what does this have to do with Martial Arts? Well, on the surface, nothing at all. However, remember that martial arts is all about building strong moral character and conducting one’s self with good moral behaviour in all aspects of life. The way these hacks conduct themselves, they offer martial arts instructors a great opportunity to give their students perfect examples of the opposite of how they should be. I think that I just might take this approach in class.
Again, I apologize for the rant. This is not a political blog, but I saw an obvious moral issue in this matter and like I stated above, lessons in moral conduct are a very big part of Martial Arts.
Until next time, keep up the good fight!
2 Comments
March 20, 2009 at 11:27 pm
Billy i agree it makes me sick i watch what is going on everyday and that was a killer.
March 23, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Bill,
Great post…I think the info does relate to martial arts. Only the strong will survive and believe me these politicians are extremely weak. This is the reason why a person with a strong morals and values does not throw his/her hat in the political ring. Martial arts is also about teamwork whereas people like Dodd and Obama are only concerned about one thing – themselves. I enjoy reading your blog and all I can say is that better days are ahead. It may take another 4 years but things will get better!
Thanks –
B.A.