Note: Mike Kingsbury is an RN and a Grassroots Lobbyist through SEIU's Change That Works campaign. You can read more about the program here.
Mike Kingsbury snapped this photo of AIG CEO Edward Liddy testifying before Congress.
In the packed hearing, I listened as Congressman Barney Frank asked for - and Mr. Liddy declined to provide - names of the AIG executives who received bonuses. When pressed under threat of subpoena, he resisted, suggesting their lives would be threatened by the general public "if only we could get our hands on them."
Mr. Liddy, we are not an angry mob. We want justice, not blood. And, yes, we want the names of those whose million-dollar bonuses we all paid. We don't want to "string them up," we want to ask them what they know about shared sacrifice. The woman waiting in line with me at the hearing told about how, when things got rough, she lived on crackers and cheese and peanut butter. For most Americans, shared sacrifice doesn't mean giving up our European vacation - most of us have never been to Europe.
So, yes, give it back - every last dollar of the bonuses, every last dime of the bailout. But if, at the end of the day, all the money is paid back, all the criminals are prosecuted, AIG is on its feet again, but we still have the same system that caused this to happen - we still bailout banks but let workers lose their homes and their health care - I will still be mad.
I don't expect a million dollar bonus. I want a choice about whether to have a union. I want affordable health care. I just want to live in a country that works for working people.
While I'm glad I saw the beginnings of that in the hearing yesterday, I also saw the possibility that business might try to give us a "sacrificial offering," and hope we are appeased.
I know I won't be.
From our nation's capital,
Mike Kingsbury, RN
