A Thought From Several Weeks Ago
Some time ago, I heard a story on NPR that stated that accused/convicted (I don't remember which) terrorists in Yemen who promise to not to any more terrorism in Yemen are released. Apparently promising to not do bad things in Yemen again is sufficient. Needless to say, the U.S. got all up in arms over that, which I suppose is understandable though I found it somewhat hypocritical. Oddly enough, the U.S. accepts promises from accused and convicted corporate entities that they will cease breaking the law next time or will stop stealing/misusing money and then continues to hand said corporate entities more cash.
Not long ago, KBR was fined $400 million dollars for paying illegal bribes to foreign governments. Of course, their government contract (worth $6 BILLION) was not suspended. I'd be willing to bet that the $400 million dollars was deemed a simple expense. A cost of doing business. Will this bad behavior be held against them in future negotiations for government contracts? I doubt it.
This weekend it was announced that AIG will be paying large bonuses to its executives, after having taken a large chunk of change from the bank bailout funds so the company didn't just completely fail. I *love* how I haven't gotten a raise in years and have already been told to not expect one for the next several years, but now I get to foot the bill for executive bonuses through my taxes. I don't know what sort of sense the folks managing the bailout giveaway have, but they clearly got a bad batch of it. How much sense does it make to give EVEN MORE MONEY to companies who have clearly demonstrated poor fiscal management? If these companies spent the last several years spending themselves into a hole, financially, why on earth would we expect them to change their behaviors after handing them a large amount of free cash with no strings attached? Did they honestly believe that the execs would suddenly decide to do the right thing so that it would benefit the rest of us and stop benefiting themselves? They're being rewarded for poor performance. What is the motivation to do hard work and have good performance when you can get a couple million dollars in bonuses for running a major corporation into the ground?
Whatever the heck happened to personal responsibility on the part of both the bailout giveaway managers and the recipients? I wish I had a magic formula I could mix into the food and/or water supply in this country which would instill personal responsibility and a solid work ethic into those who ate/drank it. I wouldn't even want to be paid for the formula. I just want to see and venefit from the end result.
Not long ago, KBR was fined $400 million dollars for paying illegal bribes to foreign governments. Of course, their government contract (worth $6 BILLION) was not suspended. I'd be willing to bet that the $400 million dollars was deemed a simple expense. A cost of doing business. Will this bad behavior be held against them in future negotiations for government contracts? I doubt it.
This weekend it was announced that AIG will be paying large bonuses to its executives, after having taken a large chunk of change from the bank bailout funds so the company didn't just completely fail. I *love* how I haven't gotten a raise in years and have already been told to not expect one for the next several years, but now I get to foot the bill for executive bonuses through my taxes. I don't know what sort of sense the folks managing the bailout giveaway have, but they clearly got a bad batch of it. How much sense does it make to give EVEN MORE MONEY to companies who have clearly demonstrated poor fiscal management? If these companies spent the last several years spending themselves into a hole, financially, why on earth would we expect them to change their behaviors after handing them a large amount of free cash with no strings attached? Did they honestly believe that the execs would suddenly decide to do the right thing so that it would benefit the rest of us and stop benefiting themselves? They're being rewarded for poor performance. What is the motivation to do hard work and have good performance when you can get a couple million dollars in bonuses for running a major corporation into the ground?
Whatever the heck happened to personal responsibility on the part of both the bailout giveaway managers and the recipients? I wish I had a magic formula I could mix into the food and/or water supply in this country which would instill personal responsibility and a solid work ethic into those who ate/drank it. I wouldn't even want to be paid for the formula. I just want to see and venefit from the end result.
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