The Freedom Bulletin

I am not as outraged over the AIG bonus scandal as most people seem to be. Generally I’m opposed to government bailouts, so I don’t think it was a good idea for the government to give AIG bailout money to begin with. However, I’m also opposed to the government telling companies what to do. AIG is a private company, so doesn’t it have the right to decide how much to pay its employees? I mean, maybe giving large bonuses to executives who messed up (if that’s what they did, I don’t know the details) isn’t the best business decision, but the compensation decisions of a company are really none of the public’s or the government’s business.

The way I see it, giving companies taxpayer money is kind of socialist, and government regulation of companies is kind of socialist. Isn’t it better for the government to do only one socialist thing instead of two?

And then there’s the Democrats’ idea to tax the bonuses at 90%. In addition to being mean-spirited, this would also be unconstitutional, since the Constitution forbids taxes that target a specific group of people.

In conclusion, there are far better things to be outraged about than the AIG bonuses, including the fact that the government spent so much money on the bailouts and the stimulus in the first place.

President Obama signed a $410 billion spending bill today to keep the government funded until the end of the fiscal year. Although on the campaign trail he talked about reducing earmarks and waste, if this bill is any indication, it sure doesn’t seem like he meant it! According to Fox News, the omnibus spending bill contains an estimated $7.7 billion in earmarks, in addition to a 14% increase in aid for poor women and babies and a 10% increase in housing vouchers for the poor.

After the porkulus bill that they just passed, this is the last thing the government should be doing. Obama should have vetoed all earmarks and increases in funding for social programs. The number one priority when it comes to federal spending should be to make sure that expenses are less than or equal to revenues. With a national debt of over $10 trillion and a gaping budget deficit, there should be no increases in government funding for anything, period.