Interesting People mailing list archives
Re: This is getting out of hand (was: Congress' reaction to AIG bonuses ...)
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sun, 22 Mar 2009 15:48:41 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: Seth Finkelstein <sethf () sethf com> Date: March 22, 2009 3:20:18 PM EDT To: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com> Cc: David Farber <dave () farber net>, Rich Kulawiec <rsk () gsp org>Subject: Re: [IP] This is getting out of hand (was: Congress' reaction to AIG bonuses ...)
[Not for IP] On Sun, Mar 22, 2009 at 11:32:05AM -0700, Lauren Weinstein wrote:
Seth, Perhaps. But the point at the moment is that the money has already been paid,
Doesn't matter if it's an "unjust enrichment". If you murder someone for the insurance money, you don't get to keep that money if you've convicted only after the money was paid out. It's completely legal to be required to pay back money if it's ruled there was something wrong with how it was obtained. Plenty of people have been affected by such rulings without it being a national soul-searching.
and we're seeing "mob rule" rhetoric in response that threatens to do far more damage than the payment of the bonuses.
I'm thoroughly unconvinced. The situation strikes me as a classic "nutpicking" propaganda maneuver, where apologists for power pick some extreme statements and then bash everyone who does not immediately join the chorus about how terrible, terrible, terrible it all is. Frankly, there's too many times in my life I've been told some agreement really didn't mean what it looked like it meant, and if I didn't like that, I could fight some expensive lawyers or lump it. So I can't work up much outrage at the horrible, horrible, horrible thought that some superrich might come out on the short end of the stick and be just a little less richer than "entitled", oh how our society would collapse if that happened, I must condemn it immediately. On the scale of injustice, there's plenty of far more worthy causes. -- Seth Finkelstein Consulting Programmer sethf () sethf com http://sethf.com ------------------------------------------- Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
Current thread:
- This is getting out of hand (was: Congress' reaction to AIG bonuses ...) David Farber (Mar 22)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- Re: This is getting out of hand (was: Congress' reaction to AIG bonuses ...) David Farber (Mar 22)
- Re: This is getting out of hand (was: Congress' reaction to AIG bonuses ...) David Farber (Mar 22)
- Re: This is getting out of hand (was: Congress' reaction to AIG bonuses ...) David Farber (Mar 22)