Good Money After Bad
Another $37.5 billion for AIG. You know, the relaxed, if troubled insurance giant. via Fox.
This is on top of the $85 billion loan offer, $61 billion of which reportedly has been drawn. AP fails to mention whether the big retreat was known or considered by feds administering the public largesse. You know, the $440,000 St. Regis resort vacay that helped execs shed their worries after the big bailout.
Reportedly there was an exchange on the O’Reilly Factor tonight where it was explained to O’Reilly that these guys did nothing illegal and can’t be punished for their high-priced relaxation, and he said he didn’t care whether it was illegal or not, because it was outrageous. He’s got a point. At a certain point gall, whether criminal or not, deserves special attention. There’s actually a time-honored American tradition for dealing with public outrages, specifically when the local populace is taken advantage of by scam artists, or otherwise ill-used in a manner not satisfactorily addressed by the law. It involved tar and feathers. Here’s Boston Commissioner of Customs getting it in 1774, and some bemused contemporary commentary:
Mr. Urban [the editor of Gentlemen’s Magazine, circa 1775],
As tarring and feathering has been of late much used by way of punishment amongst the inhabitants of North-America, it may not, perhaps, be unacceptable to some of your readers to inform them what gave rise to that custom ; as I believe a great many are ignorant of its original [origins?] and think it a new mode of chastisement.
King Richard the first [1189-1199], called from his great courage Cœur de Lion, or Lion’s Heart, not only kept strict discipline amongst his troops, but in his navy also : and, having made a vow to fight against the Sacarcens for the recovery of the Holy Land, in the year 1190, sailed over with his army into France, and had an interview with Philip, King of France, and entered into an alliance with him for that purpose ; and the two armies, of France and England joined at Vezali, according to agreement. King Richard, during his stay in France, at Chinon, a small town in the government of Orleanois, and province of Tourain, standing on the river Vienne, made the following very remarkable orders for preserving the peace in the navy during his expedition to the Holy Lad, viz,
First, If any one killed a man in a ship, he was to be bound to the dead man and flung into the sea.
Second, If any one was convicted to have drawn his dagger, or knife, to hurt another, or fetch blood, he was to lose his hand.Third, If any one struck another with
his open hand, without effusion of blood, he was to be ducked thrice over head and ears in the sea.Fourth, If any one gave his companion opprobrious language, so often as he did it, he was to give him so many ounces of silver.
Fifth, If any man stole any thing, his head was to be shaved, and boiling pitch poured upon it, and feathers stuck therein, that so he might be known ; and the first of land the ship touched at, he was to be set on shore.
This I take to be the original form whence tarring and feathering arose, the former being substituted instead of pitch ; the custom being disused for so many centuries, is now again revived amongst Americans.
Tar and feathering is a barbaric, violent act, as is dunking, cutting off of hands, and binding one to his sinking victim. I wouldn’t advocate any of those things. Tomatoes might do, though.
Topics: crime, history, punishment
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 11:40 pm on Wednesday, October 8, 2008
One Response to “Good Money After Bad”
Leave a Reply
Trackback URLYou must be logged in to post a comment.
October 9th, 2008 at 12:28 am
Sorry, Jules, both you and O’Reilly are off base about the party. It was for sales contest winners., not executive officers. If AIG wants to stay in business and pay the government back, it will need its salesmen — particularly its top producers. Not giving them the prize they worked for would be foolish.
“Congress Grills Former AIG Chiefs: Lawmakers Ask Whether Executives Glossed Over Warnings About Risks Insurer Faced”
By LIAM PLEVEN and SUSANNE CRAIG — Wall Street Journal — OCTOBER 8, 2008. p. A3:
Lawmakers bored in on company expenditures, too, noting that it had spent more than $440,000 for a gathering at a posh California resort — including $200,000 for rooms and $23,000 for spa treatments — a week after the government stepped in.
An AIG spokesman said that meeting was held as a way to reward high-performing insurance agents who had been major producers of business for one of AIG’s life-insurance subsidiaries. Top AIG corporate executives didn’t attend.
online.wsj.com/article/SB122342739746113715.htm