Perspective Sucks

"Luke, you're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."

-Obi Wan Kenobi

Would that we had Ben here to help us out with the economy. AIG is about to give out $165M in bonuses after receiving $173B in government bailout (taxpayer) money. Am I outraged?

Nope.

I did the math:

165,000,000 / 173,000,000,000 = 0.00095 = 0.095%

In other words the bonuses are less than one tenth of one percent of the bailout money. That's like spending 25 cents on a candy bar on the way home with your $300 Christmas bonus.

So the bonuses, which are paid according to employment contracts established before AIG received bailout money, are not the travesty. The travesty is that candy bars cost way more than 25 cents.

Atlas Shrugged - Part II

According to the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights sales of Ms. Rand's 1957 novel Atlas Shrugged set record sales in 2008. And thus far in 2009 sales have tripled over 2008 numbers for the same period. It seems people are finding Ms. Rand's vision of a socialist America interesting, if not a little frightening. Frighteningly real.

I recently placed my "Who is John Galt" sticker on my car window. I've received a few inquiries, but for the most part it's just my way of letting others of like mind know I am one of them.

What to do, what to do?

Tea party?

Go Galt?

I can't really afford to drop out. Or at least I haven't thought of a way just yet. So that leaves organizing or participating in a tea party. Yes, I think that is what I will do.