AIG Bonuses - Opinion

Yesterday, Congress passed a bill to tax 90% of the AIG bonuses that were given out last week.

This is the same Congress that passed the Stimulus Bill with the amendment specifically allowing those bonuses a few weeks earlier.

Senator Dodd (D-Conn.) is taking fire for putting the amendment in the bill. Senator Dodd is saying that the Administration and Treasury Department told him to put the bonus language in the amendment. C-SPAN video shows that both Congress and Treasury knew about the bonus amounts by March 3rd.

So, the people responsible for allowing the bonuses are the ones yelling the loudest about them, and now they have passed a law that sets precedent for future laws taxing particular people or industries just because Congress doesn't like how they are acting. That's hypocrisy (and not good leadership).

By the way, regardless of how you feel about the AIG bonuses, the stirring up of a mob mentality (complete with death threats) and Congressmen wanting to release the names of people who received bonuses so people could go to their houses and "protest" is just plain dangerous.