The AIG bailout is estimated to cost over $170 billion and yet the media is in a frenzy over the $165 million paid in bonuses to AIG executives. This is more than a 1,000 to one ratio.
A perfect analogy for this situation is to imagine you had a wallet filled with ten hundred dollar bills (i.e. $1,000) and one single dollar (i.e. $1). Next imagine the entire $1,001 was stolen from your wallet with one person stealing $1,000 from you and the other person stealing $1 from you.
The way I see it, the government who bailed out AIG is analogous to the person who took $1,000 and the executive bonuses is analogous to the person who took $1. What is happening now is the government (i.e. the $1,000 taker) is directing all attention toward the executive bonuses (i.e. the $1 taker).
It is absurd but people seem to actually believe the government (i.e. the $1,000 taker) when the government says something like the following: "Just look at that greedy person who stole $1 of your hard earned money right from your wallet and is now thumbing their finger at you. You need me, the government, to protect you from greedy people". It is unbelievable that people are actually buying into such a misdirection of outrage.
It is also interesting to point out that $170 billion AIG bailout is literally costing US taxpayers an average of over $1,000 per taxpayer because a $170 billion bailout divided by 150 million taxpayers comes out to $1,133 dollars per taxpayer.
