Obama Stunned By Bonuses??

[MA-Caver]

Is anyone else surprised besides the President about the AIG bonuses thing? You mean he didn't think they would do that? How long ago did we find bankers misappropriating the bail out funds they were given? Are insurance companies different somehow than bankers? Morally, ethically? Remember we're talking insurance companies... the ones who try to sell us insurance for us to pay on for the rest of our natural born lives and then subtract amounts from death benefits because it was borrowed upon.

Obama tells Leno he was stunned by AIG bonuses


By MARK S. SMITH, Associated Press Writer Mark S. Smith, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 1 min ago
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/obama_lenoBURBANK, Calif. – President Barack Obama told Jay Leno on Thurday that he was stunned when he learned of the bonuses that bailed-out insurance giant AIG was paying its employees.
Obama told "The Tonight Show" host the payments raise moral and ethical problems — and vowed again to try to recoup the cash for taxpayers.
"We're going to do everything we can to get these bonuses back", he declared.

Tell me Mr. President; how do you propose to do that? Garnish their wages?

If he really REALLY wants to bail out somebody then bail US out... the little guys the people of the U.S. from whom the money comes from in the first place. How many people would love to have the money in a lump sum to pay off their mortgages? Wouldn't being able to pay off the mortgages likewise "bail-out" the mortgages companies? Oh, yeah right... they'd lose thousands.. excuse me millions in interest rates. Well... :idunno: umm, maybe the next batch of people can line your already lined coffers.
How many credit card debts can be wiped out with a simple bail out to the people?
Dunno why the concept of owning your own business to the point that you can't take care of it long enough to stay afloat in hard times is so hard that you'd need millions/billions to help you when you look into your own private accounts and the money to keep the business afloat is RIGHT there but no, it means having to downgrade your plush lifestyle and posh living.
Well hey cousin... Pffffftttttt!!

Too many in Washington are trying to figure out who to blame for things — when they should be focused on fixing them, Obama said.

We do need to get out of the sibling habit of blaming and get into the parental habit of finding a solution to the problems facing us... one of them I think is to stop giving money to the ones who blew it in the first place.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Who is to blame?

Every last one of them who voted for the gods damned thing without reading it, without checking it, without making sure that it really was the best possible option, and had all of the required safeguards it needed.

After all, it was over 400 fracking pages!!!!!!!

Surely, there was room for the words "not to be used to pay bonuses, raises or other such" in between the lines "$10 million for arrow fletchers in Nevada" and "$50 million for Rum".

 

[Bill Mattocks]

The White House, as it will eventually come out, insisted on the bonuses. Oh yeah! Dodd is a fall guy. I'm not sure why he's being made to fall on his sword, but he is. Geithner is a goner too.

http://www.factcheck.org/politics/blame_dodd_attacks_ignore_facts.html

As was widely reported at the time, Dodd's language was much tougher than the White House wanted. No such language appeared in the version passed by the House. When the two versions went to a Senate-House conference to work out a final compromise, Dodd's strict ban was rewritten. Most important, the final bill said the prohibition on bonus payments (page 404) ...

H.R. 1, Final version: ... shall not be construed to prohibit any bonus payment required to be paid pursuant to a written employment contract executed on or before February 11, 2009, as such valid employment contracts are determined by the Secretary or the designee of the Secretary.
​

In simple language, Dodd's ban would have applied to AIG and any institution that had yet to repay TARP funds, regardless of whether existing employment contracts called for the bonuses. The bill that emerged from the House-Senate conference committee, and was signed into law by President Obama, only applies to bonus agreements made after Feb. 11.

 

[Gordon Nore]

Oh yeah! Dodd is a fall guy. I'm not sure why he's being made to fall on his sword, but he is. Geithner is a goner too.

If Dodd doesn't get re-elected to his seat, I'm sure there will be a parachute. Geithner is now on the radar -- I don't think he'll last.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

If Dodd doesn't get re-elected to his seat, I'm sure there will be a parachute. Geithner is now on the radar -- I don't think he'll last.

Obama expressed his 'full faith and confidence' in Geithner, that's the Mafia kiss of death. Echoes of "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job." Too bad, Geithner seemed to be a bit of a wiz-kid, even if he has a basic contempt for paying taxes.

 

[Hand Sword]

From what I heard, If AIG's donation background is checked Dodd and.........Obama are numbers 1 and 2 for funds received by them. No wonder it went through, with Dodd admitting he's the reason (after lying about not knowing) it did. Surprise? Hardly! They are all guilty of using the situation to get their ideas through. Dodd, Barney Frank, etc.. It's only beginning.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

*cough* traitors *cough*

 

[Hand Sword]

Can our congress people be fired? (if they had any sense of honor they'd quit!)

 

[Bill Mattocks]

From what I heard, If AIG's donation background is checked Dodd and.........Obama are numbers 1 and 2 for funds received by them. No wonder it went through, with Dodd admitting he's the reason (after lying about not knowing) it did. Surprise? Hardly! They are all guilty of using the situation to get their ideas through. Dodd, Barney Frank, etc.. It's only beginning.

I don't think it was the donations. McCain was #3 on the list. And it was donations by AIG employees, not AIG.

http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/did_aig_give_100000_to_obama.html

During the 2008 election, presidential candidate Barack Obama received more than any other federal candidate, a total of $104,332, according to CRP's tabulation. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, a Democrat, received the second-highest amount, $103,900. And Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, received the third highest amount, $59,499. (These are donations from individual employees of the company or its political action committee, not donations from the company itself.)

 

[Hand Sword]

I get that, but from a personal view..I'm tired of the splitting of hairs that both parties use. "It's not the company...just those who work for it" or "It's political action committee?" To me it's all the same. The workers for the company are the company IMHO. Those who are linked are linked and they are linked to the company they are linked to.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

I get that, but from a personal view..I'm tired of the splitting of hairs that both parties use. "It's not the company...just those who work for it" or "It's political action committee?" To me it's all the same. The workers for the company are the company IMHO. Those who are linked are linked and they are linked to the company they are linked to.

Not unless you want to call me a company toady too. I work for a big company. I make political donations. I'm nobody's butt-kisser, nor has anyone ever suggested that I donate to this or that cause in order to make things better for my boss. I suspect most people are just like me - we have jobs, we work, but our political beliefs are our own.

 

[Hand Sword]

I'm not calling anyone anything. If I did- I would to yours or anybody elses face. All I'm saying, when things are this big, with few individuals making up the board of trustees for MANY corporations, some that the average person would even see a link too, there is cause for suspicion. Politicians don't fight so hard for them when the voting pop. is pissed or try and sneak things through (admittedly) without a connection I've alluded too.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Can our congress people be fired? (if they had any sense of honor they'd quit!)

Yes, every November We The People get a chance to fire them.
We keep rewarding them because we don't take the time to consider other than the Dem/Reps.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Yes, every November We The People get a chance to fire them.
We keep rewarding them because we don't take the time to consider other than the Dem/Reps.

Watch AIG's payouts, not the bonuses, Spitzer says

• Story Highlights
• Eliot Spitzer's first TV interview since resignation is with CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS"
• Ex-New York governor says AIG is at the center of financial system meltdown
• Spitzer: Almost all of $80 billion-plus in initial bailout went to AIG's counterparties
• "Why did we need to pay 100 cents on the dollar on those transactions?" he asks

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/19/aig.spitzer/index.html

House passes bill taxing Wall Street bonuses

• Story Highlights
• NEW: House passes measure to recoup bonuses with a vote of 328-93
• Bill would tax bonuses of people in firms that received at least $5 billion in bailout
• People with incomes over $250,000 who received bonuses would be taxed at 90%
• A similar Senate bill aims to recoup bonuses by taxing individuals and companies

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/19/bonus.bill/index.html

One screwup to fix another, to fix another, to fix another.




I just shredded my copy of the US Constitution. We don't need it anymore it seems.

 

[crushing]

I agree with Spitzer, follow the money! The retention bonuses are such a tiny part of the bailout and the manufactured outrage is likely to serve as a distraction for what is really going on. Why did so much of US taxpayer money that AIG recieved end up going to help European banks that were even more leveraged and made even worse decisions than many of the US financial institutions?

Also, despite what ignorant politicians and talking heads are saying, it is not uncommon for a company that may be at the end of it's life to give bonuses to keep the experienced people in critical positions on until the end. That is not a performance bonus, it is a retention bonus.

 

[arnisador]

Can you recall Congressmen in every state or only some?

The 90% tax seems like a Bill of Attainder--not literally, of course, but it still rankles. The recipients of those bonuses are doing something unseemly, but not illegal. Targeting their salaries and other remuneration by law is the wrong solution. That having been said, I think an honourable person would have declined, or at least deferred, such a bonus.

By all I've read, AIG was contractually obligated to pay these bonuses and could've been sued for 2x the bonus + damages if they didn't. That could've cost the taxpayers more (and been a court order so Congress would find it harder to mess with it)...and driven anyone actually talented out of AIG out of it.

Well, if John McCain had been elected he and Sarah Palin were going to maverick on down to Wall Street and root this kind of thing out...I say, they're honouring their contracts. Let's judge them moving forward.

 

[JadeDragon3]

Who is to blame?

Obama is to blame, thats who. It's because of his inexperience that he didn't read the whole damn bailout plan.

It's his inexperience when he decided to bill vets for combat related injuries and then when he saw the outrage by the American Legion and others he decided against it. If he were experienced he would have realized that the people would never stand for that one.

I think that the blinders are slowly starting to come off all those who voted for the "Messiah" (Barack Hussein Obama). Thank God.

The sooner he's out of office the better we'll all be.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Obama was -1- of 50 Senators.

How the Senate voted Wednesday on the financial bailout bill (S. Amdt. 5685 to H.R. 1424):
Akaka (D-HI), Yea
Alexander (R-TN), Yea
Allard (R-CO), Nay
Barrasso (R-WY), Nay
Baucus (D-MT), Yea
Bayh (D-IN), Yea
Bennett (R-UT), Yea
Biden (D-DE), Yea
Bingaman (D-NM), Yea
Bond (R-MO), Yea
Boxer (D-CA), Yea
Brown (D-OH), Yea
Brownback (R-KS), Nay
Bunning (R-KY), Nay
Burr (R-NC), Yea
Byrd (D-WV), Yea
Cantwell (D-WA), Nay
Cardin (D-MD), Yea
Carper (D-DE), Yea
Casey (D-PA), Yea
Chambliss (R-GA), Yea
Clinton (D-NY), Yea
Coburn (R-OK), Yea
Cochran (R-MS), Nay
Coleman (R-MN), Yea
Collins (R-ME), Yea
Conrad (D-ND), Yea
Corker (R-TN), Yea
Cornyn (R-TX), Yea
Craig (R-ID), Yea
Crapo (R-ID), Nay
DeMint (R-SC), Nay
Dodd (D-CT), Yea
Dole (R-NC), Nay
Domenici (R-NM), Yea
Dorgan (D-ND), Nay
Durbin (D-IL), Yea
Ensign (R-NV), Yea
Enzi (R-WY), Nay
Feingold (D-WI), Nay
Feinstein (D-CA), Yea
Graham (R-SC), Yea
Grassley (R-IA), Yea
Gregg (R-NH), Yea
Hagel (R-NE), Yea
Harkin (D-IA), Yea
Hatch (R-UT), Yea
Hutchison (R-TX), Yea
Inhofe (R-OK), Nay
Inouye (D-HI), Yea
Isakson (R-GA), Yea
Johnson (D-SD), Nay
Kennedy (D-MA), Not Voting
Kerry (D-MA), Yea
Klobuchar (D-MN), Yea
Kohl (D-WI), Yea
Kyl (R-AZ), Yea
Landrieu (D-LA), Nay
Lautenberg (D-NJ), Yea
Leahy (D-VT), Yea
Levin (D-MI), Yea
Lieberman (ID-CT), Yea
Lincoln (D-AR), Yea
Lugar (R-IN), Yea
Martinez (R-FL), Yea
McCain (R-AZ), Yea
McCaskill (D-MO), Yea
McConnell (R-KY), Yea
Menendez (D-NJ), Yea
Mikulski (D-MD), Yea
Murkowski (R-AK), Yea
Murray (D-WA), Yea
Nelson (D-FL), Nay
Nelson (D-NE), Yea
Obama (D-IL), Yea
Pryor (D-AR), Yea
Reed (D-RI), Yea
Reid (D-NV), Yea
Roberts (R-KS), Nay
Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea
Salazar (D-CO), Yea
Sanders (I-VT), Nay
Schumer (D-NY), Yea
Sessions (R-AL), Nay
Shelby (R-AL), Nay
Smith (R-OR), Yea
Snowe (R-ME), Yea
Specter (R-PA), Yea
Stabenow (D-MI), Nay
Stevens (R-AK), Yea
Sununu (R-NH), Yea
Tester (D-MT), Nay
Thune (R-SD), Yea
Vitter (R-LA), Nay
Voinovich (R-OH), Yea
Warner (R-VA), Yea
Webb (D-VA), Yea
Whitehouse (D-RI), Yea
Wicker (R-MS), Nay
Wyden (D-OR), Nay


Anyone with a Yea by their name is responsible.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

This is the best take on it I've read so far...

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/20/pm.aig.obama/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

There was no reason for anyone in Washington to be surprised: AIG has been under government control for months and it announced the bonus payouts well in advance.
But President Obama spoke as if they were a sudden shock.
He announced his administration would "pursue every legal avenue" to block the payments.

In fact, the bonuses are written into contracts the administration is reluctant to break. Republicans and Democrats are rushing to suggest ways to get at the money nonetheless.
Attacking AIG is smart populist politics, an easy way to exploit the outrage of ordinary voters. The president also has a much bigger political goal.
Obama isn't through bailing out the U.S. economy or spending billions to do it.
If Americans come to believe that they are being tricked into subsidizing scoundrels, they're not likely to support the president's plans.

 

[shesulsa]

Cantwell (D-WA), Nay
Murray (D-WA), Yea

One has to wonder if they plan it.

Other Western state votes:


Boxer (D-CA), Yea
Feinstein (D-CA), Yea


Smith (R-OR), Yea
Wyden (D-OR), Nay


Craig (R-ID), Yea
Crapo (R-ID), Nay


Ensign (R-NV), Yea
Reid (D-NV), Yea


Kyl (R-AZ), Yea
McCain (R-AZ), Yea


Baucus (D-MT), Yea
Tester (D-MT), Nay


Allard (R-CO), Nay
Salazar (D-CO), Yea