“Fall on your sword.”
MSNBC reports that while America’s rage over AIG continues to burn with righteous fury, there is at least one vocal senator who wants to step up the punishment. Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa made the following exclamation regarding AIG executives:
Obviously, maybe they ought to be removed. But I would suggest the first thing that would make me feel a little bit better toward them if they’d follow the Japanese example and come before the American people and take that deep bow and say, I’m sorry, and then either do one of two things: resign or go commit suicide.
Who made him Shogun?
Surely AIG is in the wrong. After taking billions in federal cash advance bailout money, they gave $165 million in bonuses to executives. The government wants to tax it. Furthermore, New York Attorney General Mario Cuomo found that “AIG paid 73 employees bonuses of $1 million or more, 11 of whom are no longer there.” And don’t forget the retention bonus scandal, which AIG paid to many employees to keep them from quitting.
But honestly, Mr. Grassley. This isn’t Japan. Ninjas aren’t about to infiltrate the Federal Reserve. President Obama is not gaijin, no matter how much Alan Keyes sounds his barbaric yawp (kiai). AIG executives are on the president’s mind. He knows they are “reckless and greedy.”
Ritual suicide would be too easy for them
Thank you for your input, Mr. Grassley.
Interestingly, Grassley is up for re-election next year. He voted for the TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program), which allocated some money to AIG. Something tells me he won’t be re-elected. If he is, the voters of Iowa should get set to genuflect and work long days in the rice paddy fields for the great lord and his vassals of swift judgment.
Here’s what I think. I believe in public service. Intense public service. If AIG executives refuse to give back the money, whether it be in the form of taxation or a simple handover to taxpayers, AIG executives give up their freedom and begin to work very hard doing the jobs that nobody else wants to do. Put your back into it, Edward Liddy. Or your spleen.
You’ll live in a boarded up storefront off the same food children in destitute Third World countries eat. If we deem it necessary, we’ll tap into your organs as a power source. Keep pedaling that bike, Mr. AIG; power for a taxpayer’s foreclosed home depends upon it. You will be allowed to live.
Say it straight
“This is ridiculous,” exclaimed Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat from Montana. AIG executives “need to understand that the only reason they even have a job is because of the taxpayers.”
I couldn’t have put it better myself. Let’s make Tester shogun!
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I’m sorry, but this is just too funny. Japanese people do set fine examples. I’m serious; I have Japanese blood flowing in my veins, which probably explains why I’m so honorable. LOL. Okay, with all jokes aside, I can understand why he’s upset about the whole AIG situation. I’m sure there are many taxpayers out there who are angry and feel the same way.
The interesting thing about the reference to the way Japanese executives do things is that they usually only get a bonus if they complete a job well done, and the last I checked, running your company into the ground and needing the taxpayers to buy 80% of your company so you can continue to buy ivory back scratchers is NOT included under that definition.
The fact that I am angry with this organization is an understatement.