Let me be specific: If you didn\u2019t like reading about A.I.G. brokers getting millions in bonuses after their company \u201d\u201d 80 percent of which is owned by U.S. taxpayers \u201d\u201d racked up the biggest quarterly loss in the history of the Milky Way Galaxy, you\u2019re really not going to like the bank bailout plan to be rolled out soon by the Obama team. That plan will begin by using up the $250 billion or so left in TARP funds to start removing the toxic assets from the banks. But ultimately, to get the scale of bank repair we need, it will likely require some $750 billion more.<\/p>\n
The plan makes sense, and, if done right, it might even make profits for U.S. taxpayers. But in this climate of anger, it will take every bit of political capital in Barack Obama\u2019s piggy bank \u201d\u201d as well as Michelle\u2019s, Sasha\u2019s and Malia\u2019s \u201d\u201d to sell it to Congress and the public.<\/p>\n
The job can\u2019t be his alone. Everyone who has a stake in stabilizing and reforming the system is going to have to suck it up. And that starts with the brokers at A.I.G. who got the $165 million in bonuses. They need to voluntarily return them. Everyone today is taking a haircut of some kind or another, and A.I.G. brokers surely can be no exception. We do not want the U.S. government abrogating contracts \u201d\u201d the rule of law is why everyone around the world wants to invest in our economy. But taxpayers should not sit quietly as bonuses are paid to people who were running an insurance scheme that would have made Bernie Madoff smile. The best way out is for the A.I.G. bankers to take one for the country and give up their bonuses.<\/p>\n
I live in Montgomery County, Md. The schoolteachers here, who make on average $67,000 a year, recently voted to voluntarily give up their 5 percent pay raise that was contractually agreed to for next year, saving our school system $89 million \u201d\u201d so programs and teachers would not have to be terminated. If public schoolteachers can take one for schoolchildren and fellow teachers, A.I.G. brokers can take one for the country.<\/p>\n