Taxes, AIG bailout and more

I was going to blog about taxes so I started researching the federal budget and looking for an image to post.  

I really wanted to discuss the residential energy-efficient property credit, which was extended through 2016 and which generally covers solar electric, solar water heating, fuel cell property, small wind energy and geothermal heat pump property.  I also wanted to discuss the non-business energy property credit for insulation, exterior windows, exterior doors, furnaces, water heaters and other energy-saving improvements to a main home which was not available in 2008 but returns in 2009.

However, the AIG bonus hysteria got in the way of a deeper discussion on taxes. 

First, I don’t believe anyone is worthy of a multi-million dollar income and lifestyle while we have needy children in our midst.  That is one of my beliefs and values.  I think billionaires are evidence of a flawed system.

While I’m opposed to the whole Wall Street bailout and the more than $9 TRILLION spent on this fiasco to date, what gets me is the missing perspective on the AIG bonuses.

AIG Bonuses = $165,000,000 ($165 million)

Missing Cash in Iraq = $12,000,000,000 ($12 billion – 73x more)

Official cost of Iraq war to date = $656,100,000,000 ($656.1 billion – 3,977x more)

Wall Street bailout to date = $9,400,000,000,000 ($9.4 TRILLION – 56,970x more)

The AIG bonuses amount to 2/1000^th’s of the cost of the bailout!

FYI:  Missing from the "official" cost of the bailout is government guarantee and insurance programs like the FDIC ($1.5 trillion), FHA ($.3 trillion) and the Federal Reserve ($7 trillion).