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Not to beat a dead horse but...

This is a great representation of where the AIG bailout money went. It's interesting to see the uproar over the measly 160 million in bonuses paid out when tens of billions of dollars were handed out to US AND foreign companies that would probably receive close to nothing if we let the company fail.

Courtesy of http://nicolasrapp.com/

When you buy insurance from a company the onus should be put on you to make sure they can repay you if needed. I'm not sure why the American taxpayer is on the hook to repay the insurance liabilities...

AIG Bonus Uproar Continued

This story is getting more press than i expected and it should! The government is running around making irrational decisions like a chicken with it's head cut off. What person in their right mind, buys a company (the US owns 80 percent of AIG) and then creates a situation where all of the qualified people want to leave (take away their bonuses they were promised). Well, our elected congressman and congresswoman did just that.

Here's a pretty interesting NYT article explaining the mess and the problems associated with taxing away the bonuses.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/21/business/21nocera.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

My buddy Scott made some great comments last night. "The US threatens its status as the leader of the free world, ie. where legal contracts mean something. Obama better veto this mess."

I couldn't agree more.

He went on to say, "the next law should outlaw words like million and billion (or trillion), it loses its effect. 165,000,000 (AIG bonuses) or 1,400,000,000,000 (nations debt). (the) Nations debt looks a lot worse like that."

Again Scott, I couldn't agree more.

Bonus takeaway?

I think the bonuses handed out at some of these failing companies like Fannie, Freddie and AIG was in poor taste but i don't think the government should pass legislation that specifically goes after the bonuses with a 90 percent tax (don't worry, state and local taxes should recoup the other 10 percent). It seems like it's setting a dangerous precedent. It says to me that if the government doesn't like how much someone gets paid they can specifically go after the person. This isn't a tax on all people who got a bonus. No no, it is a tax on some of the companies that received bailout money and some of them that paid out large bonuses.

I don't like this whole "do-over" mentality we are seeing from the government. They should be forced to deal with the repercussions of their hastily put together bailouts, regulations and laws. While it's completely unrelated i see a small connection with the Patriot Act which was unanimously passed after 9/11.

email

Gmail just released a new feature that allows you to "unsend" an email. Granted, you need to make the decision within 5 seconds of sending it; but it's a start.

You should be allowed to retract an email from anyone at any time as long as the person hasn't opened it. Microsoft outlook has a feature similar but i'm pretty sure it leaves the email in the recipients inbox and just tells them that you wanted to remove it. This isn't much help. Who could resist opening an email, especially if it tells you not to open it!

This would solve a lot of problems. I'm usually way to quick on the send button and i have even been known to accidentally hit send keyboard shortcut in the middle of an email.

Finally A Good Idea From the Auto Industry but Still Playing Catch Up

While it's much easier to ask the government for money it isn't going to get people buying cars again. Fear of losing a job is one of the major reasons people drastically reduce spending. This is especially true for big ticket items like houses and cars. In order to combat this, Hyundai, a Korean car company introduced the "Hyundai Assurance" program. You have probably seen their commercials. This is from their website,

"Finance or lease any new Hyundai, and if in the next year you lose your income*, we'll let you return it. That's the Hyundai Assurance.

At Hyundai we think it's easier to find a job when you've got a car. That's why, for a limited time, we expanded Hyundai Assurance, and we've added...something extra. A plus, as in Hyundai Assurance Plus. If you lose your income, we'll make your payments for 3 months while you get back on your feet, and if that's not enough time to work things out, you can return the car with no impact on your credit."

And guess what...Hyundai was one of three car manufacturers to increase sales last month and. Trust me, GM and Chrysler weren't the other two.

Today, AutoNation announced a similar plan. They are calling it the "Payment Protection" program and it will take affect at their 300 car dealerships. I would like to see more "outside the box" thinking like this instead of the all too common plan of just throwing up your hands and cutting costs (ie. jobs).