Pay the Bonuses to AIG Executives

What a refreshing idea. A journalist that actually supports paying the AIG executives and publishes an article on the subject in the New York Times. In a logically written article, Andrew Ross Sorkin presents the case for paying the bonuses promised to AIG executives based on the concept of sanctity of contracts, and he makes sense. Now, before you yell like Nancy Pelossi that auto workers had to renegotiate their contracts, Ross explains that in the case of the UAW the renegotiation was done bilaterally, and not in the unilateral way that is being done with AIG.

I was for letting AIG fail, and I still think that it would have been to logical course to take. I completely disagree with fear mongers who say that this would have brought the whole financial system down. Although AIG was unique in the conglomeration of different varieties of insurance, there are quite a few giants that are salivating at the thought of purchasing sectors of this company at bargain prices.

Now that the taxpayers own 80% of AIG, the bonus fiasco is but a small example of what any enterprise managed by the government will look like. Governments don't go bankrupt, and as such have zero incentive for disciplining themselves. Now AIG has the survivability of the IRS or any other bureaucracy that exists despite the fact that all it does is damage to the country.

Finally, while we are on the subject of AIG, no one is mentioning the role of ex governor Spitzer in bringing down Hank Greenberg, the legendary CEO and builder of this company and majority stockholder. The day that Greenberg left AIG was the day that the hanky panky started. When the history of this crisis is written, Spitzer will be shown to have have screwed not only prostitutes, but the American people.

Will Work for Louis Vuitton Purses

The International Herald Tribune, the global edition of the New York Times, has taken its reporting about the economic crisis to new heights of ridiculousness when it printed an article on the impact of the crisis on prostitution. A report from Prague explains how this city, now a major destination for sex tourism, copes with a diminution in clientele to its brothels.

The article is mostly an analysis of prostitution full of the typical clichés about legalization, prostitutes and Johns. “Everybody needs sex,” explains a person who in the past would have been called a pimp but is now described as a marketing manager who looks like Harry Potter. Profound.

I guess that the article was intended as a serious look into the oldest profession in the midst of a recession, but it is difficult to worry about whores when millions are losing their jobs.

The most hilarious quote of this article has to be when Ester, an eighteen year old prostitute, is quoted saying that “big-spending clients had diminished, but noted that she was still earning nearly €3,000 a month, enough to pay rent and to pay for her favorite Louis Vuitton purses.” Remember when prostitutes had a heart of gold and worked to pay for the education of a kid brother? Now the motivation is Louis Vuitton.

I hope former governor Spitzer doesn't read this blog. Otherwise I can just see him buying a Louis Vuitton purse and a one way ticket to Prague. Do you think Mrs. Spitzer would mind?