Okay. I’m pissed. Not just upset or angry or disappointed or disheartened. I am downright, raging, all-out PISSED!!!!!!!

A few months back, a HUGE insurance corporation, A.I.G. (American International Group, Inc.) was about to go belly up.  The reasons for this disaster were unbridled corporate greed, and monumentally horrible business decisions made by the executives and officers of A.I.G.

The government informed us that A.I.G. was “too big to fail.” In other words, if A.I.G. went under, it would have devastating effect on the entire U.S. economy.  Therefore, according to The President at the time, and our senators and congressmen, We, The People had to bail A.I.G. out. And we did, to the tune of $182,000,000,000 of our tax dollars.

Well, guess what? We spent that money, and the U.S. economy STILL tanked!!!!!

So, in other words, we gave our money to this corporation whose executives, through colossally ridiculous business decisions driven by sheer greed, took away a good portion of the American People’s retirement and investment funds!

The population of The United States in 2007 was a little over 301 million people.  If you divide the $182,000,000,000 that we gave (not loaned, but GAVE) to A.I.G., that comes out to over $604,352 for every man, woman and child in this country!  Our kids, grandkids and GREAT grandkids are going to paying for this for their whole lives!

And, NOW we find out that A.I.G. used part of that bail-out money , $165,000,000, to pay 400 these incompetent and conscienceless executives BONUSES!!!!!!

According to Edward Liddy, the C.E.O. of A.I.G., these bonuses were mandated by law!

(I mean, come on folks! You can’t make this stuff up!!!!)

Really? In any business with which I’ve ever been involved, the employees were given raises and bonuses  according the caliber of the their job performance.  I think that taking the business to the brink of bankruptcy wouldn’t fit into my idea of “a job well done!”

400 of these employees got $165,000,000 in bonuses. We’re not talking salaries, here; we’re talking  freaking BONUSES!!!! Payment above and beyond their regular salaries!!!!! $165,000,000 divided by 400 is $412,500 for each inept executive, if the pie was evenly divided.

Imagine that? When’s the last time YOU saw a check for$412,500???

And now, these executives are generously offering to return a portion of that money. How magnanimous of them!!!!! If the fecal matter hadn’t hit the proverbial fan in the media this last week, how many of these benevolent folks do you suppose would be returning this money because of guilty consciences? You and I both know the answer to that!!!!!

Now, the duly-elected members of the Congress of the U.S., the ones who approved the bailout money and also approved the provisions in the bailout agreement that allowed such bonuses, are outraged! NOW??!!! After they all agreed to the whole package?(“ Now that the entire herd of horses has disappeared over the horizon, make sure you shut that barn door good and tight!!!”)

The Congress is voting a bill as I write this that would impose a 90% tax on these bonuses.  That means that out of the $412,000 dollars, $371,250 would be coming back to the government in taxes.  However, that ALSO means that $41,250 would stay in each of  the A.I.G. execs’ pockets!

I don’t know about you, but, to me, $41,000 in extra pay for doing a lousy job is much more than generous!!!!

If you ask me, it’s time to let these criminals know that we will no longer tolerate being raped and pillaged by corporate execs and their partners, the US Congress.

It’s time to put the crooks on public trial and mete out the justice that they deserve.

Nobody in Washington is innocent either. There are Democratic and Republican hands that are so dirty that they will never come clean. (“Out, out,  damned spot!)

In my opinion, it’s time to vote every one of the incumbents and hopefully start over again with a clean slate.

But, what do I know?