Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Knocking on Marie Antoinette's Door


I could not resist clicking on this amusing piece that flashed before me today from Reuters:
A small political party angry at bonuses paid to staff of bailed out insurance giant American International Group is organizing a bus tour to the Connecticut homes of several AIG executives.

"We're all mad at AIG," the Connecticut Working Families Party, a small liberal party, said on its Web site, inviting people to sign up for its "Lifestyles of the Rich and Infamous" bus tour and a rally at the company's Wilton, Connecticut, headquarters, on Saturday.
While we pile on and pull knitting needles out of our bags ala Madame DeFarge, I'll also point to Thomas Friedman's op-ed piece from Sunday.  

The blogosphere went atwitter about the oh-so-liberal NYT's finally critiquing President Obama, but I think Friedman's piece was more sober than that:
Had Mr. Obama given A.I.G.’s American brokers a reputation to live up to, a great national mission to join, I’d bet anything we’d have gotten most of our money back voluntarily. Inspiring conduct has so much more of an impact than coercing it. And it would have elevated the president to where he belongs — above the angry gaggle in Congress.
I'm countering the venting agenda of this blog by saying so, but once the venting is done, all of us - Marie Antoinettes, regular folk and everyone in between - must appeal to the "better angels of our nature" to collectively pull out of this Economaggedon.

Can Marie Antoinette be inspired to donate her millions in a fit of public good will?  Now that would be a feat indeed.

photo courtesy of: Connecticut Working Families

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