Seeing Congress getting all worked up over the AIG bonuses shows that our government is closer to the bottom of the toilet bowl than ever. Sure, we all ought to be mad about the bonuses simply because they were given in order to retain the "talent" that ran AIG into the ground, but Congress? What blatant hypocrisy! Congress pisses away billions of dollars in every bill it passes without a second thought, but suddenly becomes incensed that $150 million of the roughly $100 billion it approved got paid out in bonuses--bonuses specifically protected by a clause in the "stimulus" bill Congress just passed! Talk about trying to take the speck out of your brother's eye while ignoring the plank in your own! Maybe if they'd actually read the bill,...

More disturbing than the hypocrisy is the hostile attitude from Congress toward capitalist enterprise in general. Barney Frank, the moron from Massachusetts, said that the government should exercise its "ownership rights" to get the bonuses back. I remember when all this bailout business started that the administration (Bush's at the time) assured us that while the government might be buying stock in financial companies in order to provide capital, they would not interfere with the structure and operation of the companies. At least in Barney Frank's mind, that policy may no longer be valid. If the government is moving from being a capital provider of last resort to being an active manager of the corporations it "saves," then we're doomed.

Yesterday's lynch mob treatment by Congress of the current CEO of AIG, a guy who's working for a dollar a year and had nothing to do with the bonuses, is a clear signal to other CEOs that maybe it is better to just let their businesses fail rather than deal with the hassle of getting involved with the government. It will also tend to scare off any potential competent candidates to assist companies and the government in the process of repairing the financial system. Wouldn't you rather stay home and play golf and avoid the risk of being hauled before Congress to testify before a committee of idiots? The pettiness of the government will be its own downfall as it will eat alive the decent people who step up to help and discourage others from getting involved. That ultimately wouldn't be such a bad thing. The sooner this bloated, unsustainable system collapses under its own weight and allows us to go back to limited, Constitutional government, the better. Until then, the inmates are running the asylum, so prepare accordingly.