Trickle Down

Eight hundred, fifty billion dollars.

That's a lot of cash. I mean, it actually sounds like a lot, doesn't it? Billions. With a "B". $850 Billion must bail out a lot of crap, huh? You spread eight hundred and fifty Billion dollars around, you must be handing out a lotta Bandaids, right? That's the kinda moolah that shores up dozens of companies. I mean, it must, if it's supposed to keep our financial institutions solvent, and all. Right?

Weeeeeeelllll....

In point of fact, it's not really all that much money at all, when you're talking the kind of scale as the problem it's supposed to be solving. Oh, sure, it'd probably bail out every single idjit who bought a house he couldn't afford or bought several to "flip" or who neglected to read the fine print, or even those people who just didn't understand the documents they were signing and were so gullible they thought they could trust their agent, lender, and mortgage dealer. I'm willing to bet $850 Billion would more than bailout every person who sincerely needs bailing out in the housing market today. Which would pretty much shore up the whole damn crisis, since it has to do with all those little pieces of paper that don't mean crap on accounta how the people responsible for paying them don't actually have the money to pay them. So theoretically, if you paid the tab on all those little pieces of paper, the problem would be solved, or at least manageable to the point the government wouldn't have to go around buying up banks and investment bankers...though why the hell my tax dollars are being spent on shoring up investment bankers is way the frick beyond me, but I digress.

Let's put that $850 Billion in perspective, shall we? Because I mean, it sounds like a lot of money. It IS a lot of money. Unfortunately, it's nowhere near enough money. And here's a prime example why. Said example also happens to demonstrate how this bailout was really for the fatasses on Wall Street and the jerks in Washington who were about to watch their investments and cush, post-government jobs as board members, company presidents, and CEO's go up in smoke, NOT for the American citizens. Just in case you were laboring under the misconception that it was. For us.

About 2 weeks ago, the Treasury gave AIG a line of credit of up to $85 billion, which AIG has already burned through, and today demanded another $37 Billion. AFTER it spent half a million last week on a retreat for its top executives which included golf, mani-pedis, and facials at the St. Regis Resort in Monarch Beach (aka Dana Point), California.

$85 Billion. That's over a tenth of the total bailout. On one company. And that company has not bothered to curtail spending in the slightest and is now demanding another $37 Billion of the bailout money on top of what it has already squandered.

How far do you think that $850 Billion is going to go, now?

Two things spring to mind with this little news story.

1. I want my frigging money back, you AIG sonsabitches.
2. Save your money, kids. Stick it in your mattress or buy a small safe. It's going to get ugly. And it's going stay that way for a long, long time.

Peace out,
Katie

p.s. to all you corporate fat cats: this is the kind of behavior that pisses people off enough to break into your houses, jack you out of bed at pitchfork point, hang you from the lampposts, and burn your houses to the ground. you might want to think about that. no estate grounds in the world are going to keep you assholes safe from the proles if you continue to shovel crap down our throats while you eat caviar you bought with our money. your time is coming. i'm not advocating violence. i'm just sayin'.