Dumb Congress Ruins Perfectly Good Week Of Outrage

Goddammit. We began this week fueled by the fires of righteous indignation that those AIG twats were getting money, any money at all, from the government or anybody else, regardless of when it was awarded or for what purpose, because seriously what a crowd of worthless cocks. But now just several days later, our House of Representatives has gone ahead and "channeled the people's rage" with the dumbest legislation since Terry Schiavo, which has cleverly backed all your liberal bloggers into reassessing this whole KILL THE WEALTHY MEATSTICKS approach.

To recap: Everybody, including your editor, was furious with AIG for thinking its employees could get these "retention-based bonuses" when the very fact that they ruined their company suggested they were not worth retaining. A couple of your favorite Obamatard bloggers, such as Sullivan and Silver, just sort of shrugged and said, "I don't see why there's all this outrage," which just made people madder.

So then the House decides to capitalize on this outpouring of public anger by passing some really insanely punitive legislation that people aren't really sure is constitutional, and instead of being likeYeah right on you stick it to 'emwe have to ask ourselves if this really makes any sense in the slightest.

As our boyfriend Nate Silver points out, essentially eliminating performance-based bonuses for high-income earners at ALL bailed-out companies could seriously disincentivize people who we actually want to hang around. Like, you know, the senior engineers at GM who are working on jet pack research and solar-powered dildos.

So here is a thought: instead of passing legislation designed exclusively to fuck AIG in the ass, come up with a plan that sets broad but reasonable guidelines for setting salaries and bonuses at bailed-out companies, something that rewards good actors and doesn't encourage companies to bury all their compensation in bonuses for tax purposes. Wewillneed to have some rules going forward, because lord knows every fucking bank and car company that got bailout money will need more in the near future, so it's still worth thinking about.

 Throw Out Baby, Bail Out Bathwater [FiveThirtyEight]

 Frankenstein [TPM]