I'm sure many of you have heard that AIG used TARP funds to pay the downsides of the credit default swaps.

Financial companies that received multibillion-dollar payments owed by A.I.G. include Goldman Sachs ($12.9 billion), Merrill Lynch ($6.8 billion), Bank of America ($5.2 billion), Citigroup ($2.3 billion) and Wachovia ($1.5 billion).

Big foreign banks also received large sums from the rescue, including Société Générale of France and Deutsche Bank of Germany, which each received nearly $12 billion; Barclays of Britain ($8.5 billion); and UBS of Switzerland ($5 billion).

A.I.G. also named the 20 largest states, starting with California, that stood to lose billions last fall because A.I.G. was holding money they had raised with bond sales.

Many of these companies also received billion dollar bailouts from the TARP; outrage was, as expected, heard from prominent members of both parties. Yet herein lies the outrage...it was both parties who had their hands in creating the environment in which the CDS was allowed to flourish.

Big print and fine print always work hand in hand; this is why solutions to our present crisis need to be combed over with a very fine tooth and openly debated. If any period in our history requires more recruiters to enjoin themselves into the political process, I haven't seen it...

I've never been satisfied with SHRM's impact on politics; it seems it's always about reducing paperwork than it has been about impacting GDP.