One sometimes can't be amazed at our federal legislators, and the recent bailout is no exception. As if spending $700 billion wasn't enough, lawmakers had to pad the package with an extra $150 billion in pork to apparently make the deal more palatable. Then, they colletively engaged in a group hug, celebrating a massive forking over of our money.
Meanwhile, the folks over at American International Group Inc. did their own kind of celebrating. The Associated Press reported earlier this week that AIG -- days after it received an $85 billion loan from the government to fend off bankruptcy -- spent $400,000 on a getaway for its high-ups. Not long after some folks with the company lost their jobs -- never mind the financial struggles of our nation and the rest of the world -- executives were reportedly enjoying such pleasures as spa treatments, banquets and golf outings.
If executives wanted to celebrate (and last we checked, the prevailing economic conditions weren't worthy of any kind of jubilation), couldn't they have simply grabbed a cold one at a nearby watering hole?
Seriously, these are some of your tax dollars at work, folks. And, while it's clear that something needed to be done in Washington to stop the bleeding, it also seems apparent that the stock market's continued nosedive since the bailout's approval isn't quite it. Maybe the general public will have a tad more faith in making investments if there was a little accountability.
