Anger

This business with AIG and the bonuses is troubling. People are angry, but people were angry about monster bonuses long before swaps hit the helpless news. I read the initial TARP language.

But I think the question of taxing employees’ bonuses is childishness. And I have to agree with any political entity that seeks to stop the targeted tax. Yes, I believe Krauthammer is correct to bring up Common Law in this (but the same idea should be applied to all contracts, including union contracts). All this is troubling. But the language was there for everyone to see. Congress needs to be smarter.

Plainly, a counterproductive narrative is accumulating and it has nothing to do with what may or may not be real. From the start, politicos have been playing a zero sum game. The Dems want to win and the Reps want to win–there is no real compromise. All or nothing. Future narratives are being written so that candidates can claim wins in their races. “See, I told you the Obama budget was a bad idea or hat the Republican’s have no ideas. All I had to do was oppose it or ignore it and then work behind the scenes to make sure that the other person’s ideas fail.” In my mind, either the cynicism goes, or potential gains and good ideas will get lost. Dodd, as have many politicos, has been trapped in his own vortex.

Meanwhile, the universe keeps expanding.