The tax bill died in congress and nobody noticed.

Those that kept the money and didn't panic will get to keep it.

BTW:

If these were retention bonuses equal to a years pay like I hear reported in the news, how come the low end was $1000?

__________________
Michael LaFleur

'05 E320 CDI - 86,000 miles
'86 300SDL - 360,000 miles
'85 300SD - 150,000 miles (sold)
'89 190D - 120,000 miles (sold)
'85 300SD - 317,000 miles (sold)
'98 ML320 - 270,000 miles (sold)
'75 300D - 170,000 miles (sold)
'83 Harley Davidson FLTC (Broken again) :-(
'61 Plymouth Valiant - 60k mikes
2004 Papillon (Oliver)
2005 Tzitzu (Griffon)
2009 Welsh Corgi (Buba)

That's my concern -- the language cited in the linked article suggests that the gubmint gets to set performance standards for workers... THAT is scary. Can you imagine the size of the gov't department that would be necessary to determine "performance standards" for all these forms of employment?

__________________
1992 300D 2.5T
1980 Euro 300D (sadly, sold)
1998 Jetta TDI, 132K "Rudy"
1974 Triumph TR6
1999 Saab 9-5 wagon (wife's)

You shouldn't feel confident no matter who manages nationalization. It's never for the good of the free market.

__________________
Michael LaFleur

'05 E320 CDI - 86,000 miles
'86 300SDL - 360,000 miles
'85 300SD - 150,000 miles (sold)
'89 190D - 120,000 miles (sold)
'85 300SD - 317,000 miles (sold)
'98 ML320 - 270,000 miles (sold)
'75 300D - 170,000 miles (sold)
'83 Harley Davidson FLTC (Broken again) :-(
'61 Plymouth Valiant - 60k mikes
2004 Papillon (Oliver)
2005 Tzitzu (Griffon)
2009 Welsh Corgi (Buba)

The govt can't even set and enforce it's own performance standards and they are going to attempt more? It will be like the blind leading the one eyed man.

__________________
01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

I agree. What I meant was that assuming we were to accept nationalization, could we feel confident of the bozos running it?

__________________
01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

That is a bit odd.

The reporting on this has not been good. One part of the story where they really fell down is any discussion of what these bonuses mean to their total yearly salary.

I've read implications here and there that everyone was working for $1 a year just like CEO Liddy but no solid information on that. Somehow I doubt that every last upper exec at AIG was doing the $1 yearly salary bit.

And even if they were, whoa now, a little communal (same root as communism . . . and community ) tightening of the belt would be nice, say a cap of maybe $200K on bonuses, and even that is handsome pay by depression era standards.

__________________
1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

At the minimum I'd guess precedent favors status quo.