AIG update

Our legislators are so corrupt, I almost feel sorry for them. The moment they step foot in Washington, they encounter a system that thrives off of cronyism and a process that is institutionally broken. Take Barney Frank, for example. Here's a guy who played a MAJOR role in the economic crisis we are now in by rebuffing any attempts at regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the 90's, even saying that calls to regulate the two institutions were unfounded and unnecessary. Just days ago, when the $700B bailout passed, Nancy Pelosi praised Frank for his "leadership." As another example, take Chris Dodd, the Democratic Senator who chairs the Finance Committee and played a prominent role in writing the bailout bill. He has received more political contributions from Fannie and Freddie than any other politician (followed by Barack Obama, who is a close second), yet he was responsible for leading the Democratic effort to pass the $700B bailout and was praised for his efforts by Sen. Harry Reid. These people would be fired, and possibly fined, if they worked in the private sector... yet they are praised in Congress. I really wish I could make this stuff up.

I say all this to make the point that a system that is fundamentally broken and run by corrupt clowns should not be entrusted to manage healthcare or any other program. Look at what Congress did with Social Security. When selling the social security idea to the American people, FDR promised that the funds put away for social security would not be touched. Naturally, today the social security "lockbox" is full of IOU's because Congress has pillaged it in order to fund other programs.

This is a reason I thought the bailout was a bad idea in the first place. Letting government play a major role in "rescuing" our economy, when government intervention was the problem in the first place, was and is a mistake. After bailing out Freddie and Fannie, our generous government spent $85B to bailout AIG, an insurance institution. Yesterday, it was revealed that AIG had sent corporate executives to a California resort. The price tag? Over $440k (source: ABC News).

How did our government respond? Today, the Federal Reserve gave AIG an additional $37.8B (source: CNN). This action defies logic... only a corrupt, centralized government could do such a thing.

So when I hear Barack Obama and other liberals advocate policies that give government more control over ANYTHING, I get nervous because the government rarely does anything well.

More government, more problems.