IN DEFENSE OF AIG BONUSES

“This country is planted thick with laws. Man’s laws; not God’s. And if you
cut down every tree to get at the devil where would you hide, the laws all being
flat, when he turned on you? I would give the Devil the benefit of the Law
for my own safety’s sake”

I knew we were in trouble when the reader on Fox Morning News said, “I don’t care about contracts”. The young man, I believe his name is Clayton, should be flogged.

Has everyone forgotten about Fletcher v Peck? I asked 4 lawyers if it had been secretly repealed. If it were the trail would have led straight to Cheney. It sounds like something he would do. I was relieved to find out that it is still on the books.

There exists a number of contracts between AIG and certain of its employees. Both parties entered into these voluntarily.

AIG has received one hundred and seventy three billion dollars from the taxpayers of the United States. That’s $173,000,000,000. At least 50 billion dollars has gone to foreign banks. That’s $50,000,000,000. These were payments that it was contractually obligated to make. AIG paid bonuses totaling one hundred and sixty five million dollar. That’s $165,000,000. That was the amount that they had agreed to and contractually obligated to pay.

Gary Peters [D – Michigan] is a typical Democratic dunderhead on the subject. He has the advantage of not being ethically challenged by previous actions with AIG. Not so Senator Christopher Dodd [D – Ct] Apparently the only corruption he has avoided is any involvement with Tammany Hall and Boss Tweed. He just nosed out Senator Barack H. Obama for contributions from AIG in 2006. He has proposed a tax of 98% on the bonus money received. At least it wasn’t 105%.

In a town filled with Constitutional scholars – Editor of the Harvard Law Review, teacher of Constitutional Law at the University of Chicago Law School, things like that – I guess everybody has forgotten that Bills of Attainders were specifically forbidden by the Constitution? For those who didn’t go to Harvard or teach at the University of Chicago there are two things to know about them. #1 – Congress cannot pass a bill to punish an individual. Only courts can do that. The 5th, the 6th, and the 14th apply here. Due process is impossibility in a legislature. #2 – Don’t believe me. Look it up. Article 1, Section 9, Clause 3. James Madison put it in there on purpose.

The fact is that everything in there was put there on purpose.

The Constitution tells us what our government can do and how it can do it.

The Bill of Rights and other Constitutional proscriptions tells us what government cannot do.

I would give the devil the benefit of the Law
for my own safety’s sake.

We pursue these people at our peril.