AIG, the Bogeyman, and You

Nothing stirs the soul like a good Bogeyman, and the Obama administration is pressing forward to blame all of the ills of the administration’s ill-conceived rescue packages on AIG. Of course, given that we, the American people, own 80% of the AIG common stock, why would the political class of all parties vilify this straw-man villain? We own this company, folks. It is time for our elected officials to start acting like shareholders rather than the petty, incompetent government bureaucrats they are. Make this company work. Make it make money.

Let’s start with the headlines across all of the networks, including Fox News, highlighting all of the foreign banks that were “rescued” by the American taxpayer from channeled funds through AIG. Get real. AIG is an insurance company that insured all of those toxic assets (see “mark to market” commentary) that are owned worldwide by all sorts of international financial institutions. Of course they are going to pay out claims. That is what they do, and that is precisely why it needed the money. That is why AIG was too big to fail…it insured the world on these derivative instruments. Why are we shocked? Why is Congress shocked? They paid out claims, and stopped a complete world financial meltdown. Good for them.

Now let’s look at the bonus payments. These were first and foremost contractual obligations to company employees, management or otherwise. The company owed the money, so they paid it. The money was owned primarily to foreigners, mostly British, who could give a rip about Barney Frank and his inept cohorts. If Congress did not want the money to be used for payment of contractual obligations, it should have said so when it gave AIG the money. Tim Geithner, Barney Frank, and Chris Dodd were running the show….what did they think the money going to be used for…salaraies and insurance claims. That is what AIG does. If you want the employees of AIG to work for nothing, say so, and watch our investment go down the toilet real fast. If anyone should return part of their salaries or bonuses, it should be the Bozos in Congress running this farce of a show. THEY DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING!!

Here's the deal with these guys. AIG let its bonus plan be known in April of last year. Everybody knew about it. When the first money went to AIG under Bush, Tim Geithner was the architect of the plan. He knew about it then. When Obama gave AIG an additional $30 billion two weeks ago, Geithner knew it then, and Obama most likely knew about it then. In Februrary, Senator Olympia Snow (R - Maine) tried to add an amendment to the Obama stimulus plan to limit these types of bonuses to $100,000.00. It was defeated. Sen Chris Dodd (D-Conn) then added an amendment expressly authorizing these types of bonuses for contracts entered into before February 11, 2009. It passed and was part of the stimulus package that passed Congress. You know, the one nobody read because Speaker Pelosi had to to go to Italy. First Senator Dodd denied he knew what was in the amendment, even though it was known as "the Dodd amendment." Now, he has changed his story and said Treasury (re: Geithner) made him do it. And these are the people you want running our health care system?

The amount of this money, no matter how distasteful to us, represents only about 1/10th of 1% of the money we have invested in AIG. Where is the outrage for the 3/4 trillion dollar stimulus package that nobody read? Where is the outrage for the 9000 earmarks in the omnibus spending bill? This is a classic case of substituting a diversionary bogeyman for the true problems. Those overzealous congressional hypocrites should be ashamed, so should the press, and so should Barack Obama. Me thinks thou dost protest too much.

This is the danger of having the government own substantial portions of what is basically a private business. If the government didn’t want to deal with these kinds of issues, it should have let AIG fail, and the let the chips fall where they may. Same with the TARP funds that banks either voluntarily took, or were forced to take against their will. Politics cannot bleed into the running of any private enterprise, especially financial enterprises. What is good for AIG, more likely than not will not play well in Peoria.

Congress is now grandstanding threatening to tax the bonus money at 90% after the fact. Many of these folks are in Great Britain and don't care. More importantly, that kind of law is expressly forbidden. It is called a Bill of Attainder and is forbidden in Article I, section 9, clause 3 of the Constitution, not that anybody cares. I do. If Congress can do it to these guys, it can do it to you. While it may play well to the television cameras, the fact of the matter is our Congressional leaders, and Obama's Treasury Department blew it.

Whether we like it or not, we all have a stake in AIG. As the case with all shareholders in publicly traded companies, the government should keep a watchful eye on the business. On the other hand, it controls the stock and can change the Board of Directors if it doesn’t like how the day to day business of the company is going, or wishes to change the direction of the Company. Use corporate governance to change it. But for God’s sake, quit bad mouthing our investment for populist political points with the voters and move the operation of the company out of the political arena.

Picture Courtesy Flickr Creative Commons: jdiggans

Here Come The Global Warmers Again

Here come the global warmers again. According to AOL, hundreds of leading scientists reported at a global warming conference in Copenhagen this past week that things are much worse than they thought. They believe that global warming is picking up steam and that the oceans will rise as much as 23 inches by the end of the century. The purpose of the conference was to update 2007 findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which will be reporting to a new effort at an international treaty on climate change. It is imperative we implement immediate and vigorous technological and economic changes to stop greenhouse gas emissions.

Gadzooks!!! Are we in trouble or what? Because this is a rant, I haven’t done any research on the matter to see who’s who in what has become a quasi-religious/political movement which may or may not be based in science. I do know that several days ago, scientists said that the measurements of the melting polar ice caps were faulty by hundreds of thousands of square miles due to a satellite computer glitch. I have also read reports that over the past 10 years, there has been no global warming. In fact, many scientists are returning to the cool down theory as opposed to the heat up theory. I also know that the originators of the global warming theories back in the 1970’s have changed their tune, and have stated that the amounts of carbon as a percentage of the atmosphere are miniscule to start with, and the changes within those amounts are even more miniscule, that there may be some problems with the theory.

I also know that an ocean used to be where Saudi Arabia is now, that glaciers used to cover where I live now, that Niagara Falls has receded 15 miles down the Niagara River and was originally more of a rapid. I know that we have had several ice ages of various lengths, and that Greenland used to be much warmer that it is now, and Europe much colder…and of course let’s not forget the dust bowl in the 1930’s.

I have been watching several programs about the origin of the universe these past few weeks, and how the earth orbits the sun, and the radiation and sunspots that come from the sun and effect everything from weather to television signals, and about the wiggle of the earth’s access causing a shift in the magnetic poles from time to time causing all sorts of issues. I learned how the universe is constantly expanding, and about theories of how to change the orbit of the earth when our sun starts to die and expand. I learned that the exhaust from my lawn mower is like a drop in the ocean when it comes to factors effecting the earth's climate.

All of which leads me to conclude that this global warming stuff is a bunch of political claptrap that some people, like Al Gore, have become so vested in that they are willing to sell the world down the river to prove they are right. It is a disease. Not that I don’t think cleaning up the air is a bad idea. I'm for it. On the other hand, I'm not ready to return to running along an Indian, excuse me…Native American path to get to the Dairy Mart because of the weather.

Enough already!!!!!

Sex, Religion, and Justice

One of my pet peeves is the treatment of men charged with sex crimes. Political correctness has reversed the general rule that one is innocent until proven guilty. If a man is charged with a sex crime, he is named and derided in the press. The assumption is that he is guilty until proven innocent. Meanwhile, the person making the accusation is sheltered from all scrutiny. Taken to the extreme, the result is the Duke University Lacrosse team fiasco. The rape allegations nearly destroyed these young men’s lives, even though the charges were proven to be completely fabricated by a whacko accuser. Another example is the McMartin Pre-School case where an entire family was accused of sexual abuse of minors in their charge, which turned out to be a case of fabricated, mass hysteria.

The former pastor of my church, Dale Giffin, has been charged with 6 counts of “rape” which supposedly occurred 15 years ago. The news media has flown into feeding frenzy mode, with repeated statements made by the assistant prosecutor and Lutheran Synod officials that there were “other incidents” involving other women, and that the complaining victim also experienced “rape” when she was a minor, but the statute of limitations on that crime had passed. To date, The Vindicator has not named the accuser, nor have the names of the other supposed victims been made public, or the nature of their allegations. The blogs on the Vindicator website have run the gambit from ridiculous to just plain over the top.

Zion Lutheran Church has been a stalwart member of the Youngstown faith community, much of it due to the efforts of Pastor Giffin. It has a strong and active congregation with an extremely capable lay leadership and support ministry staff. This has been very painful to many members of the church. But we are a feisty bunch, and will weather the storm. Contrary to the comments I have read in the Vindicator blog about the nature of our church council and ELCA, the Lutheran Synod to which Zion belongs, we are proudly moving forward under very difficult circumstances. Zion is a source of many good works from many good people, directed at various community ministries through which our entire area benefits.

As for Pastor Giffin, he has been an outstanding minister with a fine record of service over his 30 years at Zion. His accomplishments are many, at the church, in various educational forums, in the community, and in the Synod. His talents have made Zion Lutheran Church one of the largest congregations in northeast Ohio.

I don’t know who has made these accusations. Not one shred of proof has been examined by anyone outside of the prosecutor’s office and a grand jury, which would indict a ham sandwich. How do we know that the accuser doesn't have some stability problems, or issues as to his method of running the church, or a whole set of other issues that may be driven by some sort of an agenda? In my law practice, I have seen all sorts of people accuse all sorts of other people of some pretty horrific stuff…made up stuff. As for innuendo about other alleged “victims”, those types of comments are inappropriate coming from the prosecutor’s office, and unbelievable from any other source, including the ELCA Bishop, unless the alleged victims are willing to step forward themselves publicly.

All men, including Pastor Giffin, who find themselves in these types of unfortunate circumstances, should be given the presumption of innocence by the media and the public. Protections for the alleged victim come at a price of basic fairness for the accused. Even if this turns out to be a complete fabrication, the reputation of a fine man will be ruined. Even those young men at Duke University…notwithstanding the obvious lies from the accuser…will be looked at with a jaundice eye for years to come. After all, there must be some truth to it or they wouldn’t have been charged in the first place!!

And of course, there is always the possibility that any sexual intercourse, if it occurred at all, was consensual…given the “position of authority” theory the prosecuting attorney is operating under to somehow reach six “rape” allegations. There is no allegation that he used any physical force against anyone. In which case, minimally what you have is a “he said, she said” situation. Worst case, you have is a minister who got caught cheating on his wife with a parishioner. That is certainly something he shouldn’t have been doing…but rape? Give me a break.

If he is guilty of the charges, there obviously should be consequences. But it is the prosecutor’s job to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt. Until that time, I will stick with the presumption of innocence until the prosecutor shows me otherwise, and give Pastor Giffin a very strong benefit of the doubt.