Man Sues U.S. Gov't ... For Saving Economy

In further signs that the business world has completely evacuated its sense of both responsibility and sanity, a former AIG executive, Maurice Greenberg now in charge of a company called Starr International Co. is suing the federal government for $25 billion dollars, claiming the U.S. takeover of AIG was unconstitutional: Yahoo News. "The government's actions were ostensibly designed to protect the United States economy and rescue the country's financial system," the complaint said. "Although this might be a laudable goal, as a matter of basic law, the ends could not and did not justify the unlawful means employed."  Um, so we should have let the entire U.S., and by extension global, economy collapse, because ... wait, why?

The United States, it went on, "is not empowered to trample shareholder and property rights even in the midst of a financial emergency." Of course! So although it's nice that the government actually saved the economy on the cusp of its collapse, imminent domain clearly doesn't apply here. The needs of the few and the one clearly outweigh the needs of the many, right? Maybe Greenberg should watch Star Trek II or Casablanca or read some of John Stuart Mills' writings on utilitarianism. Or maybe he should just go jump in a lake ...