DILLIGAF?

No fluff today. Let's get straight to the point.

What we know...

-The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 authorized the spending of $700 billion dollars.

-The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 authorized the spending of $780 billion dollars.

-AIG has received $170 billion dollars in taxpayer funds.

-AIG is set to receive another $30 billion dollars.

-AIG is paying out $165 million dollars in bonuses.

To put things into perspective...

-$200 billion dollars (the amount going to AIG) is 13.5% of the total $1.48 trillion dollars that the US Government is shelling out.

-Of that $200 billion dollars going to AIG, .08% or $165 million is being paid out in bonuses. That's roughly 1/12th of ONE percent.

-Looking at the bigger picture, $165 million is .01% (1/100th of ONE percent) of the $1.48 trillion dollars being spent.

My thoughts...

-People that are shitting their pants over the AIG bonuses that are being paid out would be much better off if they spent their time asking where the other 99.99% (or 99.92% depending on which example you want to look at) of the money is going.

- What does one TRILLION dollars look like?

-For the vast majority of us, $165 million is a lot more then we will earn or see in a lifetime. If our gripe is over the fact that someone else is getting paid more then us for doing a crappy job, then that is on thing. But for the people who are getting riled up because of the amount? Seriously people, in the large scheme of things, we are taking about pennies here.

-Politicians will be happy to take up this banner and run with it, as it will redirect any criticism from the spending that they support. Take a look at :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Recovery_and_Reinvestment_Act_of_2009

Tell me that once you dig down into those that you aren't going to find numerous "pennies" being thrown around. Why aren't we concerned about those too?

-To use a scaled down example, this is basically what people are shitting their pants over:

After a long week, you decide to do something fun and throw a party. Being the good party host that you are, you decide to spend $148 dollars on booze. Since you have a lot of other things to take care of, you give your friend $17 dollars and ask him to go pick up an 18 pack of Budweiser bottles with it. Being the good friend that he is, he goes to the store for you and returns shortly after with the 18 pack and receipt in hand. Looking at the receipt you see that the total is for $16.99.

What do you do next?

a) Poop your pants because because your friend pocketed the extra penny.
b) Demand that your friend return the penny and spend the next month trying to get that penny back.
c) Ask your friend to go get some red cups for the party, but tell him that you want your penny back before you give him another $3 dollars to go buy the cups. Also, you tell him that if the total comes to $2.99, that he better not try to pocket your penny again.
c) Nothing. You don't give a damn. It's only a penny. In fact, you probably wouldn't even have cared if he came back with a 17 pack of Bud Light instead.

-Obviously, when it comes to money, scale does make a significant difference. Wasting a penny isn't the same as wasting $165 million dollars, even if that $165 million dollars is contractually owed to the people receiving it.

However, when it comes to time and energy, do I really care about the $165 million dollars in bonuses that AIG is paying out? No. I don't. Which begs to ask the question why I am writing this post? Back to work...

-dunkie