BONUSES - I SAY WHY NOT ?

This is just a short Saturday take on the recent uproar coming in from almost every quarter on the reclaim of bonuses from AIG. 
Its difficult for me to understand as to why we suddenly seem to wake up and complain about equity, moral deprivation and greed all tossed together like salad over a kitchen bar. Perhaps , now spice of morality is being added to the bring the zing back to the water cooler conversations on financial quagmire, which by the way, seems to be serving as the ready explanation for all inefficiencies around us .  

Much as we may dislike the thought, the world has always been like this -a place of haves and have nots. From the archaic ages where people haggled for food and protection, to the medieval power struggle on land, the current era is all about gathering financial might . The empires still remain - only the underlying form has changed .Earlier they came in forms of Romans , Mughals , English and now they are better known as the AIGs, GEs, Arcelor Mittals , Tatas, Reliances etc. But we must respect that time abound ,they have been the best in doing what they set out to.

To reiterate, there has never been an equal and / or fair distribution of anything -and that includes money. 

For all who feel bonuses should not have been given out , and with no pretence of being a myth breaker , i thought i would offer a slight paradigm shift : AIG has been the carrying heavy troubled assets . Currently out of$ 2.7 trillion in toxic assets , the troubled & bailed out corporation has been able to trim down to $1.6 trillion and this would not have been possible without the contribution of its employees . And they need to work further to bring it under acceptable levels . Maintaining competitiveness through human resource comes with a price tag. perhaps equivalent to an exclusive category this time. 

While we all are pots of selfishness many times brimming with greed, we never hesitate to opine when few seem to do better than others. It is also a fact that we will always have reasons to feel belittled and wronged. Its just a reinforcement for human and social behavior. Nothing more.

Rahul

PS : This gives an opportunity to table a long standing thought . Since the time subprime became a house hold scare across the world, and all the packages offered by governments across the world in terms of fiscal as well as monetary , i have been thinking that that there has been no direct measure to attack and focus on the root cause of trouble - the so called toxic assets -they are still existent in their initial form. The risk perceived around such securities needs to plummet . It is only now that the fed has offered to purchase these ( of $1 trillion )and hold . This to me is the first direct attempt to resolve the situation. The previous ones have been centered around on bail out of organizations and restoring the credit flow  ( deployed to  ease the tight credit situation and restore confidence ) .This one is the first to hit the bull's eye.