Chris Matthews: "He (Obama) has to turn away the public anger.....". Matthews makes no mention that the anger is being roiled up by the media, focused for days on raising that anger by speaking on things about which they know little or nothing. I am constantly shocked at the Babbitts in the Legislature. Legislators wasted our taxpayer money on a hearing, all morning, BEFORE they heard the testimony of the current, newly appointed AIG CEO, who came in to do the best he could after the disaster not of his making was in full catastrophe. It showed when their minds were closed and where they got their information. Those who claim their constituents are demanding bonuses be returned are as clueless as their constituents because the source of information has been the same erroneous guessing.
People in the Congress who spoke today only made me aware of how obtund most of them are. They flame, rant, and talk threateningly, raising promises of what they will do, while all the time never listening to facts.
AIG was the target today. If the employees had been black two generations ago, they'd have been lynched by now, apologized for later. What our politicians fail to recognize is that not everyone employed at AIGFP in London, or the many other sites ordered to be closed had anything to do with policy decisions. The workers in IT, for example, made a minimal salary and the yearly bonus was, if fact, their real income on which they lived. When one of the Congressmen asked if replacements couldn't easily be found for all the employees, I cringed. Just because Legislators require no particular skill for their job and need little by way of a learning curve to do it, they should not assume that is true in all corporations. There are those who have set up offices, know exactly how everything works and where everything is backed up as required by the FBI, the IRS, and all other governmental noses stuffed in to find out what happened.
Death threats for just doing your job (the few top people who were really responsible for the major problems are long gone) are pretty much undeserved. In the States, employees are having their cars vandalized and are fearful of the mob mentality that the media is helping to escalate. It is laughable that only Rush Limbaugh was sympathetic when, (I was told) he said 'let them have their bonuses; after all, they're out of a job soon') CEO compensation has been out of hand for many years now. Non-profit companies have been indulging their CEOs with huge bonuses for many years. It became a way of life but was at its worst when employees were paid a minimum salary for the job they did, but unlike food service people they got no tips from customers. Instead, just as with food service waiters, waitresses, bartenders, etc., their 'tips' came in the form of a bonus...no doubt an tax advantage to the company or some other devious reason.
During the campaign I complained bout Chris Matthews (MSNBC)asking guests for an answer or opinion and talks over them. I'm surprised anyone wants to appear on his show he is so discourteous. Then there is Pat Buchanan who does the same and even talked over Matthews. Someone needs to stop the rabble-rousing before people are really hurt, or worse, killed. Will the media take their responsibility for firing up rage over such a tempest in a teapot? I sincerely doubt it. They haven't done so in the past that I can recall.
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