Those bonuses were set and promised _after_ AIG got into so much trouble, to get those people to stay, and to maximize recovery for the taxpayer.

So what? AIG could make any promises they wanted to, just like GM was free to promise better benefits when they negotiated with the unions.

The difference is that the government made renegotiation a condition that GM had to satisfy to get help, but the government did not put any similar conditions on help to AIG. Why not?

So what is Obama's response? He will grow the national debt not by the $4.1 trillion that Bush did but by $9.3 trillion over the next ten years.

I agree that this sucks, but you haven't suggested any practical alternatives. What is your plan for patching the huge crater that our financial industry made in our economy?

We saw what the availability of easy loan money did to home prices: They went through the roof. Has anyone considered the possibility that our system of having most medical bills paid by insurance has done the same thing to the price of medical care?

My point is that I think we need more than just a new way to pay for medical care. I think we need a new way to deliver medical care that doesn't focus on consuming every available penny of medical insurance claim payment money.

I find it a little disingenuous to hear that we had to bail out the major financial institutions when all it took was a change in the accounting rules and now the banks are posting huge profits.

You're the first person I've encountered who has claimed that banks are doing OK now. I don't think they're OK, and neither do investors. You might want to look at the latest article in How The World Works.

What are the reasons that healthcare costs so much more here versus France and other countries?

I'll take a shot at an answer: The U.S. medical industry knows there's a huge pot of available insurance money, and they're determined to get as much of it as possible.

I worked in the medical billing industry in the 1980's. Even back then, companies were running seminars for doctors to teach them how to extract the maximum insurance payments for their services. The stuff that was taught wasn't just how to do the paperwork properly so as to get paid reasonable compensation. A lot of the seminar material involved performing extra services that were unlikely to be challenged by the insurance carriers (otherwise known as "padding the bill"). I know about this because some of my employer's customers asked us to add features to our software to "remind" them to bill the extra services when the appropriate circumstances existed.

I am thinking about the future. What will prevent this from happening again if people who did it in the past are not punished?

Let's have big companies put lots of money into a prize fund.

I think that's already been done. I'll bet all of the contractors (such as Halliburton) that made tons of money on no-bid contracts in Iraq contribute to a kickback pool that is used to pay assclowns like Kristol for helping to start the war.

In other words, he's got nothing to refute the documentary evidence that I.F. Stone was paid by the KGB.

You're using the shoddy trick of challenging someone to prove a negative. You'd be more convincing if you supported your argument with some facts about what Izzy Stone supposedly did for the Soviets. Did he steal military secrets? Did he commit acts of sabotage? What exactly is he supposed to have done that was bad?

Yes, but is everyone on the same page?

I work for a large company, and I often encounter situations where people at lower levels have priorities that tempt them to act in contradiction to company policy. People whose responsibilities include maintaining proper unit strength might be tempted to bend the health requirements to meet their more immediate objectives.

... there are plenty of Americans who are ignorant enough to think that Barton scored.

Perhaps the biggest thing liberals would be surprised to learn is that we are tolerant.

Well, you've done an excellent job of concealing it.

I have to think that although Cheney and others implicated in approving torture are playing a bold game and remain defiant, that they are running scared and probably not sleeping well, taking tranquilisers and antidepressants etc.

I think they're shitting bricks^w blocks suitable for pyramid construction. Note that their good friends in Israel are still pursuing nazi criminals who did this kind of stuff.

Just go back to the Clinton administration, where they destroyed Glass Steagal.

Why do you name the Clinton adminstration, but ignore the sponsors of the bill itself? In case you forgot, they were: Sen Phil Gramm (Republican of Texas), Rep. Jim Leach (R-Iowa) and Rep. Thomas J. Bliley, Jr. (R-Virginia).

Phil Gramm went on to become a lobbyist for UBS after his constituents voted him out of office. BTW, that's the same UBS that just paid a honking big fine for deliberately soliciting the business of U.S. tax evaders.

Mr. Gramm's other contribtions to his country include creation of the infamous "Enron Loophole" that allowed Enron to screw the people of California by gaming the electric transmission system, and making Credit Default Swaps exempt from all regulation.

...I can live with that if it means the rest of the country becomes free to routinely elect presidents who can read at the eighth grade level.

There's an added benefit: With Texas's schoolbook purchasing power out of the picture, "eight grade level" will likely become a much higher standard.