Hockey cheers for the economy

I may have mentioned before that several area newspapers published public employee salaries including those of teachers. I'm not exactly sure why but there it is, names and numbers, names and numbers and more, you guessed it, names and numbers.

They had every right to do so. It's taxpayer money, freedom of information laws and all that whatnot.

But all that whatnot gave me an idea. The bailouts are taxpayer money, right? So, doesn't that mean that all the suits at Citigroup, Bank of America and AIG are, wholly or partly, subject to the same rules that make my salary public?

I think it would make for a lot more interesting reading than a bunch of teachers and administrators pulling down $40 to $100K.

Any pissed off guys about to lose their cubes because the Wall Street whizzes upstairs wet the bed want to send me an Excel spreadsheet with names and numbers? We could have some fun.

Yes, I have undifferentiated rage but that might be appropriate when you consider that at the current rate the economy will be a quarter the size it was this time last year. We could be in a rerun of The Waltons within a year or two and as far as I can tell it's because credit got really loose and someone thought it was a good idea to hand out money to Mr. Nojob and Mrs. Badcredit and then call it an investment.

Yeah, I know. Personal Responsibility.

But, seriously, would you have loaned them the money?

Neither would I.

This is when I just give up and start yelling like I'm at a college hockey game.

Hey, AIG, you're not an insurance company, you're a sieve...

...you're not a sieve, you're a funnel...

...you're not a funnel, you're a vacuum!

YOU'RE NOT A VACUUM, YOU'RE A BLACK HOLE!

YOU'RE NOT A BLACK HOLE...

YOU JUST SUCK!

SIEVE! SIEVE! SIEVE! SIEVE!

It's all your fault! It's all your fault! IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!