AN AMERICAN AND CAPITALISTIC SOLUTION FOR AIG'S BONUSES

     I was telling my friend, Bruce, that I wanted the President to stop calling the situation our country is in, a crisis. Bruce told me that Gail Sheehy, in her book, Passages, refers to those moments of developmental transition as a crisis. So when the eighteen month old realizes that he can now walk and run away from the symbiotic relationship with his parents, it is a moment of crisis, a turning point. So, in that context, perhaps our country is in a crisis.

     HOWEVER! So often, we hear the word crisis in the context of disaster and a state of emergency. What? I don’t think what’s happening is a disaster?  Of course, it is. HOWEVER, it is no surprise. It’s not like a hurricane, wild fire, ice storm, flood, or earthquake. There were, in fact, plenty of warning signs. But, as a country, we chose for the last eight years to go along with the worst of the "richness" of capitalism.

     What is happening today was strategically planned, well thought out, done on purpose, as we say, with full consciousness. The folks who have ripped us off have done so because THEY CAN. That is a hard pill to swallow. But folks who do unconscionable deeds, do so less because they lack a conscience, and more because THEY CAN. I mean how else can you explain "good" people ripping us off left and right (intended pun)?

     Please, Mr. President, don’t convince us that we just woke up one morning, during the presidential campaign, and all this terrible stuff just went down. Don’t lull us away from the facts by calling this a crisis.

     Please, Mr. President, don’t try to convince us that the stock market just goes up and down by some invisible "flukish" power. Powerful and wealthy people make the market go up and down AT WILL. The same way that one day your house had a price tag of 100,000 dollars, and the next day, real estate speculators decided your house can sell for 150,000 or 500,000 dollars. There is no mystery here.

     The price tag on your house has nothing to do with the value of your house.  We like to use those terms interchangeably, but I know the value of my house and the replacement cost did not change because Beneficial Finance told us, in 2006, that our house was now capable of holding a price tag of 450,000 dollars.    

     I am not a good money manager myself, and I too have made plenty of poor decisions in the last eight years. I am a pot, and I will not call the kettle black! HOWEVER, I refuse to act stupid as to how both myself and the kettle got burned!

     So here is an American and capitalistic solution to AIG’s bonuses. Let these folks be real entrepreneurs. Each recipient of a bonus appear on television, live, in front of the American people, and convince us why he or she should receive his or her bonus. Then, like "American Idol," we will call in our vote. If America votes yes, you keep the bonus. If America votes no, you lose.  Hey, it is exactly how the market works.  So put your bonus to the test.  See what the big American market at large thinks about your bonus.  See if we want to BUY your bonus!

Thanks for reading.

     For years, we just assumed we were Irish, and perhaps we are YET!!  However, on the Bradley side, we trace back to Massachusetts to the year 1605 when John Bradley was born.  It seems that John was English.  But how far from Irish can that be?  I mean how big are those British Isles?  And after all, we all go back to a common mother some ten thousand years ago.  Maybe the guy she married was Irish.  I know there is some green  blood in us somewhere!  Lineage seems to suggest that we are related to Princess Di, and names in the family tree suggest that we might also be related to Alexander Graham Bell, and Robert Fulton.  Well, whoever we are related to, let's be one big happy family!  Good Ol' Rodney King said it so well.  "Can't we all just get along?"

     So tomorrow, raise a toast, some Irish soda bread, some Guinness perhaps, some Irish Whiskey, some seven up (it's green, isn't it?), or how about some GREEN TEA!!

     Regardless of the color of your blood (what do you mean, all blood is red?  Or is it blue till the air hits it?), be green for the 17th.

     In honor of St. Patty, rid your life of any snakes, or anything that's snaking around in your life that perhaps would serve you better to let go of it, like Guinness or Irish Whiskey!  Hey, hey.  One minute, you invite us to raise a toast and the next moment you tell us those are snakes in our lives.  Now which is it?  Isn't that how life is, something can be good and bite us all at the same time?

     Don't forget to wear green.  I purposely don't because I hope I get pinched by....well, whoever wants to give me a pinch.  But just a pinch, mind you.  Not a sock or a punch.  Well, maybe a little punch, a little Hawiian Punch with a little green coloring in it in honor of St. Patty's Day, with a little shot of Irish Whiskey to top it off.  No?  Too far?  Oh yea, it's LENT, and us Irish folks are supposed to be given up the brews for farty days (a little brogue)!

     So, let's har it for St. Patty.  And Lurd, save us from all the snakes in our lives.

     I almost forgot.  He's Just Not That Into You  Perhaps a chick flick, but a good movie nevertheless.  Made me squirm a little (a lot!) as it exposed us dogs!  Well worth seeing.  Might even use it for training some day.

     Happy St. Patrick's Day, ye all!