http://www.spinsucks.com/big-business/the-aig-mess/ The Fight Against Destructive Spin Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:02:05 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 http://www.spinsucks.com/big-business/the-aig-mess/comment-page-1/#comment-1611 Eric Seidel Thu, 19 Mar 2009 14:49:24 +0000 http://www.spinsucks.com/?p=870#comment-1611 Bonuses are a way of life on Wall Street. They are not as easily earned, or even talked about on Main Street. So, whether they are instruments of retention or rewards really doesn't matter. Main Street sees them as rewards, and in this case, rewards for failure. AIG and its Wall Street neighbors should've figured this out months ago. If bonuses are part of the salary structure, then they are using the wrong terminology. But isn't this just one of many examples of the disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street? So, parsing words is another way of splitting hairs. The damage is done, the public's perceptions are already engrained. What's unfortunately being overlooked here is the blatant hypocrisy of Congress, whose members make it a regular practice of sneaking billions of our tax dollars into budget bills (earmarks, their version of rewards), calling AIG and others on the carpet for comparatively similar practices. So, the spin is on both sides of the hearing room table. But who's calling Congress on the carpet and making them accountable? Bonuses are a way of life on Wall Street. They are not as easily earned, or even talked about on Main Street. So, whether they are instruments of retention or rewards really doesn’t matter. Main Street sees them as rewards, and in this case, rewards for failure. AIG and its Wall Street neighbors should’ve figured this out months ago. If bonuses are part of the salary structure, then they are using the wrong terminology. But isn’t this just one of many examples of the disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street? So, parsing words is another way of splitting hairs. The damage is done, the public’s perceptions are already engrained. What’s unfortunately being overlooked here is the blatant hypocrisy of Congress, whose members make it a regular practice of sneaking billions of our tax dollars into budget bills (earmarks, their version of rewards), calling AIG and others on the carpet for comparatively similar practices. So, the spin is on both sides of the hearing room table. But who’s calling Congress on the carpet and making them accountable?

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