Its the time of year when major news outlets begin publishing their lists of who passed away during the year and for the most part, the lists tend to be a mix and match of the following names:

Bea Arthur
David Carradine
Walter Cronkite
Dom DeLuise
Farrah Fawcett
Adam Goldstein (DJAM)
John Hughes
Michael Jackson
Billy Mays
Ed McMahon
Steve McNair
Ricardo Montalban
Natasha Richardson
Patrick Swayze

But some things died in 2009 that aren’t necessarily celebrities, including:

AIG – Yeah, AIG was DOA in 2008 but when it was revealed in March 2009 that the company was planning to pay out $165 million in executive retention bonuses and additional compensation, let’s just say that everyone on both sides of the aisle went crazy. AIG employees got the full fury of all caps lock hate mail, death threats and awesome quotes from politicians including these classics:

“I would suggest the first thing that would make me feel a little bit better toward them if they’d follow the Japanese example and come before the American people and take that deep bow and say, I’m sorry, and then either do one of two things: resign or go commit suicide.” – Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)

“It’s hard to understand how derivative traders at AIG warranted any bonuses, much less $165 million in extra pay. How do they justify this outrage to the taxpayers who are keeping the company afloat?”
- Pres. Barack Obama

Even Ben Bernanke jumped into the mosh pit:

“It makes me angry. I slammed the phone more than a few times on discussing AIG.”

Car Brands Owned by GM – See below
Hummer (now owned by STHIMC)
Pontiac 1926 – 4/27/2009
Saab (maybe, sale to Koenigsegg group collapsed in late November)
Saturn 1990 – 2009

Christopher Dodd’s credibility - 2009 was not the best year for the Connecticut senator. Throughout the year he was dogged by allegations of a favorable loan from credit crisis darling Countrywide (a Senate ethics panel later found no evidence his loan was ‘preferential’). In addition he was dogged by allegations related to Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac and had to explain a lot about a little Irish cottage.

Dubai – Sure, everyone associated with the emirate wants you to believe that everything is going to be fine and that the recent financial disclosure won’t affect everyday business. However Abu Dhabi is now beginning to overtake the city as the world’s new exotic, over the top destination for wealthy unskilled workers and impoverished skilled workers.

Sen. John Ensign’s political career – 2009 was not a good year to be married to a Republican politician. Ensign had an affair and when confronted about it, he decided to do everything possible to keep it secret. He gave his mistress’ husband a lucrative job at a political consulting firm and his family made a payment of 96k. But that wasn’t enough and Ensign publicly admitted to having an affair after Hampton’s intermediaries claimed to have asked for exorbitant cash and compensation. Later on it was revealed that Oklahoma senator Tom Coburn attempted to broker a settlement to keep it secret but that it never materialized.

David Letterman’s image – Sure it wasn’t like he had much of an image outside of his show but after admitting he had encounters with multiple staffers, its hard to look at him the same way. Not to mention the fact that he took a beating from the conservative blogosphere who had been angered earlier in the year by a joke regarding knocking up a member of Palin’s family.

Market Value of Top Athletes – First Michael Phelps got in trouble in early 2009 following the publication of a photo showing him taking a bong hit. I don’t care what he does in his personal time but Kellogg’s disagreed and didn’t renew their contract. Then of course Tiger Wood’s is the man no advertiser wants to touch right now and has already been dropped from Gillette and Accenture.

Recession - Only on a political level. Americans are still reeling from job losses, evaporating wealth and a lack of credit.

Gov. Mark Sanford’s political career - From June 18 to June 24, no one knew where Mark Sanford was. Apparently he was on a hike in the Appalachian mountains but it was later discovered that he had flown to Argentina to see his mistress (and didn’t even call home for Father’s Day). Rather than resign, Sanford decided to stay in office and ruin the credibility of South Carolina’s political system.