Bonuses paid to executives at AIG

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rep. Barney Frank charged Monday that a decision by financially strapped insurance giant AIG to pay millions in executive bonuses amounts to "rewarding incompetence."

Echoing outrage expressed on both sides of the political aisle in the wake of revelations that American International Group will pay roughly $165 million in bonuses, Frank said he believes it's time to shake up the company.

"These people may have a right to their bonuses. They don't have a right to their jobs forever," said Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat who is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

Boosh's fault? McCain's fault?

I’ve abandoned free market principles to save the free market system.

--George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Dec. 16, 2008

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/12/16/bush-free-market/

That Pogo guy gets more and more vindication every day.

"These people may have a right to their bonuses PERKS. They don't have a right to their jobs forever," said Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat who is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

Barney baby should be talking into a mirror when he said that ....... or directly to and about a bunch of his cohorts in Congress.

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Well Steph do you recall when you and Sam ridiculed me and accused me of distortion when I predicted the big Insurance companies would want a piece of this pie?

If you include those financial derivitives such as credit default swaps, etc. I wouldnt be surprised if "Insurance" end up with more than banking...

Sherm I do remember having a go at it over insurance. This failure is tied to billions and billions of losses AIG suffered as a result of the collapse of the mortgage industry.

They're all coming with their hands out now and I don't see anybod holding a hat in their hands or shuffling either. No, they expect it. The Federal Reserve gave a huge bailout to AIG. The Democratically controlled US Congress bailed out Wall Street, the banks, and automotive industry and a Republican President signed the legislation.

So we have the Federal Reserve, the Legislative and Executive branches and both parties encouraging and rewarding bad behavior. Barney Frank and Timothy Geithner were leaders in these endeavors. As such, it is my opionion (not humble either) that they have a lot of frigging nerve bitching and complaining when AIG hands out bonuses to their incompetent executives or when the banks host lavish parties and trips to luxury resorts. They are responsible.

It's not much different than buying a drink or two for an alcholic and then condemning him when he wrecks his car and kills an innocent bystander. They made this happen. You encouraged and supported their decisions on these matters.

When Jimmy in Ohio County or Aaron in Poca or US Congressman Ron Paul or Joe Scmoe from Idaho has the unmitigated gall to speak out against these "bailouts" and "handouts" and "stimulus packages" you cry foul saying we're against "Old Glory". You frequently call us obstructionists. You tell us we don't care about the "working man" and the "poor".

Now they've got the money they don't care about my mom's 401k. They don't give a rat's arse about my neighbor who can't make his mortgage payments and they don't give a crap that the homeschool group I co-founded now has a majority of families with the sole breadwinner either unemployed or facing an imminent lay-off.

It's all good because happy days are here again. We're getting stimulated to oblivion and the unions will have card check and unemployment will rise but Obama and his liberal cohorts in Congress will raise every tax in existance, and create a few new ones on the minority of people earning a decent living and the tiny minority of people with any wealth to tax. As a matter of fact, I don't think Obama & Co. have ever seen or heard of a tax they didn't love with the exception of the poll tax.

Meanwhile, they will continue to regulate business right out of the USA and into China and India and Iceland and Canada and every other nation on Earth, some friendly and some hostile. It won't matter because Algore will win another prize of some sort or another and Obama will have schools and parks and monuments in his honor from sea to shining sea. Ted Kennedy will have a building and Nancy Pelosi will too, no doubt.

They'll take our children from us at the ripe old age of 3 for preschool (early indoctrination). They'll make sure we're all good little consumers by further limiting our options on where we purchase our food from and further eroding our ability to raise it ourselves. It will all be good though because even though our food will be irradiated and full of steriods and antibiotics and flavorless, and our children's education will be inferior than other industrialized nations and well be struggling to keep the lights on we'll all be struggling and making sacrefices for the common good and it's better if we all suffer together than to let anybody enjoy a little bit of success and the fruits of their own labor and ingenuity. It's better that than we run the risk of alienating or offending anyone or somebody maybe having just a little bit more or less because, by God, this is America and everything has to be equal, damn it.

Well I will take that as a yes.

Stephanie wrote:

THE US Federal Reserve will make an unprecedented $US85 billion ($106 billion) loan to save insurance giant American International Group from bankruptcy amid fears of a catastrophic meltdown on financial markets.

"The secured loan has terms and conditions designed to protect the interests of the US government and taxpayers,'' the statement said.

All of AIG's assets would be pledged to secure the loan while the Fed would retain a nearly 80 per cent stake in the company, the Fed announced.

Well, so much for that phony crapolla.

AIG likely won’t be able to pay taxpayers back
Ties to foreign partners siphoning off some of the $170 billion lent to it

March. 16, 2009
Pressure is mounting on the government to revise its bailout of AIG to ensure that taxpayers are repaid as much as possible of the $170 billion lent to the troubled insurer.

Experts warn we shouldn't expect to get much back.

The problem stems from AIG's obligations to its trading partners. So far, the hobbled insurance giant has honored in full its contracts with U.S. and foreign banks. It's paid out more than $90 billion in taxpayer money to keep some of the biggest names in finance from losing money on bad bets linked to subprime mortgages and other risky assets.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29728732/

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Stephanie wrote:Sherm

It's all good because happy days are here again. We're getting stimulated to oblivion and the unions will have card check and ......

and will get the Lion's share of all of Obama's Stimulus money because it is mandated that the States pay "prevaling Union wages" on any projects they use it for.

And the unemployed average citizens will still be sucking hind tit without any "milk" in it for them.

And Shermmy will be .... ..... in the street.

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And sammy will still be whining because republicans dont win their "fair share" of elections.

I thnk Obama's reaction to the news that AIG was awarding bonuses to their fifty top executives was the correct reaction and I support him in exploring every avenue to keep that from happening. At the same time I imagine he's peeved that the Harvard lawyer who brokered the AIG bailout failed to negotiate a suspension of executive bonuses in the event AIG received any federal government bailout dollars.

What concerns me is awarding an even larger amount to Detroit public schools. Detroit public schools had five superintendents in the last four years, are running a $200 million deficit, and cannot account for millions lost or embezzled. This is not a worthy target of federal tax dollars. This is a money pit. Detroit public schools turned up their noses at an offer of several million dollars to allow charter schools.

http://www.richgibson.com/DPScrisis.htm

Why would Obama's reaction be the correct one, unless it was to curry favor and buy votes from an ignorant public. All the TARP money is, is a reward for pathetic financial management. In other words, it a reward for failure. If Messiahbama was too stupid to comprehend that then he has no room to complain now.

Cato

Well they are saying they have to give them their bonus because they have a contract.

But the autoworkers also had a contract didn't they?

That's right, too. If the UAW has to renege on their contract to insure survival that is the least the fat cats from AIG can do...

HEY, …… Obama et el knew what the hell they were going to inherit from before the day he filed as a Presidential Candidate …….. and he told the public what they were every day of his months and months of campaigning.

So for Obama et els to now be bitching and complaining about “what they inherited” is nothing more than big assed excuses for their dysfunctional inabilities to deliver on his Campaign Promises.




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What if the recession ended in 2009? People are still spending money. What if we spent ourselves out of a recession?

Obama might actually appear as if he knew what he was doing. Another generation of democrats would claim that he spent us into prosperity. It could happen...

Well now, that would be a "miracle" for sure ....... because it would be the first time anyone ever used borrowed money to "spent their way out of debt".

And one shouldn't be confusing the above with "one has to spend money to make money".

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