AIG executives are a sore substitute for real justice...

(A guest piece!)

The persecution of corporations for exorbitant executive compensation (with or without government funds) is shortsighted and may in the long run hurt the movement for economic justice. While I am angry that executives are rewarding themselves for their foolishness, I recognize that retribution plays to my basest instincts. People interested in furthering their economic freedom have a better chance to get a stable economy by channeling their anger into a campaign around regulating financial derivatives and other unsound financial practices.

Indifferent government (yes, we're talking Democrats here too) enabled Chairman Greenspan and financial service and other corporate interest groups to thwart regulation of financial derivatives. Advocates have a prime opportunity to redirect public outrage away from executive compensation to the urgency of clipping the wings of executives greed: unregulated, unsound financial practices.

Corporate apologists who claim that regulation inhibits economic growth need no further shaming than to be shown the previous week's deflation of the asset-price bubble. These corporate apologists confused overcapacity with growth, for whose mistake you and I are taking a hit in the pocketbook. Let your Congressperson know you're mad.

-Matthew H Griffin