Everyone has a reason to be indignant

There has been a great deal of discussion in the media about the AIG bonus scandal. I cannot and will not defend them. I am as bothered by what they have pulled off as anyone. I do however have a different take on the subject.

Here is my issue. For years AIG has run their business (well or poorly) with no public view. Whatever they did, they did, with no public outcry. They screwed up, we bailed them out and now we (and they) have 303,800,000+ Monday morning quarterbacks each with opinions on how they should run their business, not many of the almost 304 million people in this country are in that business but we now all have some advice on how and what they should do. The worlds best corporate executive would have a tough time with that many bosses.

As we struggle through this hard time and we bail out others we are all going to micro-manage companies through the media. We are going to second guess what all of those slimy corporate types are doing with our tax dollars. There will be even more scrutiny for these guys (and girls). We will find ourselves "up in their business" as their new stockholders. We simply will not tolerate their "business as usual" approach.

The dollar amount of the AIG fiasco as I recall was in the 165 million area. We are mad as hell, every form of media and congressional pundants are harrumphing every minute of the great indignity committed. Here is another cause I wish we had a little more concern over; we just dumped 104 billion dollars into our education system as a booster. This money will be spent by a system that prides itself in having to spend all of its budget money this year or they won’t get it next. That system is old, top heavy and bulky. Unlike the corporate world, motivated by the evil "profit" there is no motivation to streamline and make that system fat free. Because it is education we tend to view it as untouchable. Have you ever noticed that the first ones to go in a budget shortfall are the teachers? Have you ever seen a bunch of school administrators on the street protesting because their positions are being eliminated? Nope, just teachers.

I am suggesting we are very critical, intolerant and indignant with the corporate world and their business as usual methods but when it comes to the system that educates our children "business as usual" is just fine, nothing to look at here, just move along.

We are pissing away government administrated money in a manner that would make the corporate slime balls quiver. How about a little equal indignity for wasters in the public sector?