And what exactly does the following tell us?

From Josh Marshall:

 

Like you, I've been watching this AIG bonus story unfold over the weekend. And though I did not see it at first, I think it may prove to be a turning point, both for AIG and the government.

   Secretary Geithner found out about the bonuses. He told AIG CEO Edward Liddy it wouldn't fly. And Liddy, in a curiously imperial letter, tells Geithner that much as he is pained by the situation -- to blow it out his ass. Which he apparently proceeded to do.

   We're collectively taking our country's future in our hands, spending vast sums of money to keep these companies from suffering the consequences of their own folly and (in many cases) criminality. And in return we're receiving cavalier dictates about pay-outs and bonuses from executives who by any reasonable measure work for us -- dictates we promptly accede to

   The whole enterprise is not what it seems, not what we've been told, that in addition to picking up the tab we're being played for fools.

It tells us what we have known for years but never wanted to believe. It is the truth that America is not governed by its elected leaders but rather by the CEO's of the world's largest corporations who are running not only the U.S. but all the first world nations. The verity is that it is money, not love, that makes the world go round. And it has been the millions and millions of dollars that these corporations have poured into the coffers of every major political party and politician purse that has secured their control over these governments.

And that is why the CEO of AIG can feel secure in telling the United States Secretary of the Treasury to fuck himself. The real terrorists who threaten the existence of our world are not the al Qaeda nor the various and sundry offspring it has spawned. Osama bin Linden in his wildest fantasies could never imagine having as total control over western civilization as these companies already hold.