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| This Week's Commentary: | Volume VIII, Number 11 |
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Taxing AIG Bonuses is the Right Thing to Do -- The House of Representatives, in a fit of righteous indignation, last week passed legislation taxing the bonuses paid to AIG executives. The House believed that these bonuses were unmerited and that they were paid out using money given to the troubled insurer by US taxpayers. Since the bonuses should never have been paid, it is only right, reasoned the House, that the taxpayers get the money back. The legislation taxes these bonuses at a 90% rate. Objections to the move are silly and ill-founded, and the only thing that is really wrong is letting the recipients keep 10%.
Hungary's PM Resigns with Honor -- The incredible silence one heard in Budapest on Saturday was sparked by the surprise resignation of the Prime Minister, Ferenc Gyurcsany, of the ruling Socialists. At the party's annual congress, he announced he was quitting to fulfill a pledge he made in January 2008. He vowed to change the leadership of the party if the party's popularity didn't improve. It hasn't, and he kept his word. Mr. Gyurscany is a hero. Treasury Unveils Toxic Asset Plan -- The toxic assets that have kept banks from lending to one another and to the rest of the world may finally be cleaned up. Earlier today, the US Treasury Department announced a “Public-Private Investment Program” intended to buy up as much as $500 billion in bad assets initially, although Secretary Timothy Geithner says it could reach $1 trillion. The idea is simply a gigantic vulture fund, and the odds are Uncle Sam will eventually turn a profit doing this. Toulouse-Latrec Exhibit at the Clark is Brilliant -- When one thinks of art meccas, one thinks of Paris, London, New York and so on. Rural Massachusetts probably doesn't even make the top 300. Nevertheless, the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts, has an exhibition, “Toulouse-Lautrec and Paris,” that more than justifies a trip. It closes April 26, and is free to the public, so plan accordingly. © Copyright 2009 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.
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