Losers Lose, Defrauders Win

Eliot Spitzer brought up a good point today at Slate magazine. The decision to bail out AIG is simply a second course for the banks that have already received Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) money.

Basically, AIG insured these banks against losses on their bad investments. The investments were complicated slice-and-splice mortgage security scams to basically defraud investors and bleed homeowners (they had to know what they were selling), yet we protect them against losing with our taxes.

The AIG bonuses are unacceptable, but protecting these scumbags against losing anything is intolerable. Why are we the only ones to lose?

The arrogance of Wall Street is palpable. Rick Santelli shouted on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange that ordinary Americans who face losing their homes to foreclosure are just “losers” who don’t deserve any help. AIG head Edward Liddy, although apologetic, made the case that it was impossible not to pay exorbitant bonuses to the company’s executives. And the same investment banks responsible for creating this meltdown walk away with their pockets full of taxpayer money.

The experts appointed by Obama to “fix” the economy are the same people that created this mess in the first place. This is not a liquidity issue. Just because the banks are gonna walk away unharmed doesn’t mean they are going to turn around and lend money. They aren’t gonna wanna take risks, unless they know they will be bailed out. After this whole mess, why would taxpayers want to trust the banks?

Why not give the money to the taxpayers? If TARP money were given instead to the taxpayers, we could have all gotten a fat paycheck. $700 billion/138 million taxpayers = $5,000 for every taxpayer.

How’s that for stimulus? Then these scammers would have had to work for our business, instead of just taking from our pockets. I could use five grand right about now. What about you? If we all got rid of some debt, wouldn’t that go to these banks anyway?