AIG

So AIG used a fraction of the money to pay bonuses to many upper management employees. I can only blame this on the AIG executives who proposed and signed this agreement a year ago and the Bush administration giving AIG money without stipulating that former agreements can and will be terminated at the appointed executives digression, if that would have even been legally possible. Travis? It appears that this was a hurdle needed to maintain and even encourage the balancing of AIG's books even though Liddy said it was not a performance based pay. Many democrats and some republicans seem to think that this is a matter worthy of causing the collapse of the banking system stating that giving 100+ million in bonuses is a misuse of the American tax dollar and that AIG should forgo fiduciary responsibility and withhold paying the bonuses. Cant do that. Further, I think that it was necessary to prevent the collapse of AIG. Just saying that Liddy should have withheld payment doesnt make that the right choice.

I'm particularly upset AIG was allowed to create a debt greater than the United States deficit. Where was the regulatory mechanism to prevent this?

Correct me if I'm wrong, I havent really had a chance to read up on this and I'd be happy to hear other opinions.

Health Care Thought #2

The government is struggling to maintain the banking system which they and the rest of the united states depend on so much. Tim Geithner's mode of action is, i believe, the best course to take on this matter: use the power of the government not to control the banking system, but to manipulate it, leaving the public to choose how and when to use their services. Likewise, I think the government should not control health care, and look to manipulate it to becoming a better system. Manipulation might come with giving the public more choices for the same outcome, available health care.

The control for these two systems should ultimately stay within the free market. Capitalism is imperfect, but it can be changed according to the public's choice of action.

Health Care Thought #1

Say we get a universal health care system separate from the private sector. Taxes go up. Now we have the upper class paying for both public education and public health care in addition to private education and private health care if they choose this course of action. I personally am grateful for having gone to private school and had private health care my entire life. My parents could not have afforded both and I would have gone to public school. Now I'd have a degree at this point in my life, but no business could afford to hire me because they have to pay too much tax and their customers have less money to buy their products. Middle class expanded, there would be no one to pay taxes on both of these public systems, which would most likely send us into a semi-communist society in order to maintain these two systems. One of the ideas behind public education should be to provide people with the means to provide for their own health care.

Maybe this method of fixing our broken health care system is not the best.