[classicman]

I agree with you Redux, but there is a need to reflect and understand how and why it happened. Unfortunately there are those who were part of the problem who are still in power. They should, no they must, be dealt with.
Starting with Bush and going to Frank and Dodd and a whole host of politicians who are basically on the take.

Dodd for example:

The Washington Times reported that in a November 2006 e-mail, the head of the troubled Financial Products unit told employees that Dodd was "next in line" to chair the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, where he would "have the opportunity to set the committee's agenda on issues critical to the financial services industry."
Dodd quickly "hit pay dirt," according to the article -- and he later transferred the donations to fund his failed 2008 presidential bid. Between 2003-2008, Dodd collected more than $223,000 from AIG employees, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Former AIG Financial Products CEO Joseph Cassano urged company executives and spouses to donate to U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd as he was in line to take over chairmanship of the critical Senate banking committee in November 2006, a report published today said.
The executives were reportedly asked to write checks for $2,100 from themselves and their spouses, and to send them to Mr. Dodd's campaign. The Times said the executives were, in turn, supposed to pass the message down the line to senior members of their management teams.

Dodd's Strategy on AIG Donation Revelations: Hunker Down and Wait It Out?
The Washington Times took a deep look at AIG's donations to Sen. Chris Dodd, including a 2006 e-mail from Joseph Cassano, AIG Financial Products chief executive, asking employees and their spouses to donate the legal maximum, $2,300, and to let Cassano know when they donated. The effort raised $162,000 in six weeks for Dodd.
Dodd's lack of any detailed comment to the Times in response to the revelations is disappointing, but predictable.

Dodd Mopped Up With AIG Campaign Contributions
The Sen. Christopher Dodd re-election campaign collected $162,100 from AIG employees and their spouses soon after they had received an e-mail pleading for donations to the Connecticut Democrat from Joseph Cassano, AIG Financial Products chief executive, according to a report in the Washington Times.
That Nov. 2006 e-mail touted Dodd as “next in line” to be chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, which oversees the insurance industry.
Dodd recently admitted that at the request of Treasury officials he added a provision into legislation in Feb. 2009 that authorized $218 million in controversial bonuses to selected AIG executives – while the company was receiving billions of dollars in assistance from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).
All told, Dodd has collected $238,418 from AIG employees and their spouses, according to the Center for Responsive Politics and the Washington Times report.


“Let me be clear: I was completely unaware of these AIG bonuses until I learned of them last week,” Dodd explained to CNN recently. “I agreed reluctantly. I was changing the amendment because others were insistent.”
Citigroup Inc $428,294
United Technologies $380,550
Bear Stearns $347,350
American International Group $281,038
Deloitte & Touche $270,220
And that’s just a list of Dodd’s Top 5 lifetime contributors, according to the Centre for Responsive Politics.
The list goes on: Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers.

PUBLIC INFORMATION
Aside from United Technologies, based in Dodd’s home state, his major contributors all have business before the Banking Committee. This is publicly available information, courtesy of CRP’s opensecrets.org Web site.
Which is why lawmakers should publicize their donors. AIG’s largesse didn’t seem to dissuade Dodd from inserting an amendment into the $787 billion fiscal stimulus bill limiting executive compensation at companies receiving money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

On the other hand, one might wonder if Dodd was persuaded to look the other way by large contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. He was the No. 1 recipient of cash from the two government-sponsored (now owned) enterprises, which were trying to fend off regulations that would curb their size, risk and profitability.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congressman Steve King made the following statement today calling for President Barack Obama and Senator Chris Dodd to return campaign contributions received from AIG. Obama and Dodd rank #1 and #2 on the list of 2008 AIG campaign donation recipients, and Senator Dodd is the all-time leader in AIG contributions with $281,038.

“To make up for their mistakes, yesterday Senator Dodd, President Obama and liberals in Congress passed a political bailout for themselves – unconstitutional legislation will regulate and tax the pay of thousands of private citizens. Instead of political bailouts, President Obama and Senator Dodd should put their money where their rhetoric is. Obama and Dodd should immediately return all campaign contributions they have received from AIG.”
Pay to play--gambling with America's future

By Ken Connor

Let's not kid ourselves. The prevailing modus operandi of Washington politicians — Democrats and Republicans alike — is "pay to playSpecial interests invest in political campaigns as a cost of doing business expecting that, if they ride the right horse across the finish line, they will get a return on that investment. Billions of dollars in bailouts, subsidies, tax breaks, immunities from liability, preferential treatment by regulators — the list goes on and on.

The AIG scandal is Exhibit A for the benefits that accrue to those who pay to play. TIME magazine reports, "The company befriended politicians with campaign cash — $9.3 million divided evenly between Democrats and Republicans from 1990 to 2008...." In 2008, AIG doled out more than $630,000 in campaign contributions to Washington's political elites. Recipients of the corporation's largesse included Senator Chris Dodd ($103,100), then-Senator Barack Obama ($101,332), Senator John McCain ($59,499), then-Senator Hillary Clinton ($35,965), and of course many others. While, at first blush, those sums appear hefty, they are trivial when viewed in light of the $180 billion in taxpayer money that AIG received at the hands of those whose palms it greased.

What is particularly galling, however, is that more than $120,000 was donated to the Washington political class after AIG received its first $85 billion in bailout funds. In other words, at that point America's Number One Corporate Miscreant was spending your money, not its own, in order to prime the pump to get more of the same.

And consider this: When the stimulus bill was under consideration in February, an amendment was unanimously approved in the Senate which would have placed tight limits on bonuses over $100,000 for any company that received federal bailout money. During the final negotiations on the bill, an amendment was put forth by Senator Dodd which made sure that the limitation applied only to bonuses issued after the passage of the bill on February 11th.