Where did Morality go?

The whole AIG debacle has been a truly sad story of American Greed. It has highlighted just where America has gone, since the days of World War II, the GI Bill, the Space race, and even the catharsis of the Watergate hearings and Nixon Resignation.

We have gone from a "team" mentality, united behind the flag, to a country of "me first"ers, looking to step on the necks of our neighbors to get a step ahead.

Even in the wake of receiving $180 Billion from the US Government, the AIG executives still had the nerve to hand out bonuses, and then to defend their actions, as if this was somehow a god-given right to receive this money. The defense has been that these bonuses were "contractual obligations", and breaking these contracts put into jeapordy all that we hold sacrosanct. But there is legal and there is sheer right and wrong. And the people receiving these million dollar bonuses ought to know that you don't receive bonuses for losing $60 Billion. People all over the world are cutting back, and are trying to do what's right.

This behavior, along with Merrill Lynch, and others, has shown this crowd to be truly un-American. I don't care what the legal arguments are, I am NOT particularly interested in hearing about which politician's fault it is, or who knew what when. I only know that somewhere between Watergate and today, people's sense of morality, of shame, and of right and wrong got corrupted. And it's time we started to get a sense of morality back.