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Sunday, March 15, 2009

Why are we still giving money to AIG?
Posted by Jill | 7:39 AM
I realize that Tim Geithner hasn't been able to find much staff that will pass muster with Congressional Republicans and the media, but one would think that a Treasury Secretary ought to carry at least some moral authority. But the top brass at AIG is starting to look like Nelson Muntz:



The American International Group, which has received more than $170 billion in taxpayer bailout money from the Treasury and Federal Reserve, plans to pay about $165 million in bonuses by Sunday to executives in the same business unit that brought the company to the brink of collapse last year.

Word of the bonuses last week stirred such deep consternation inside the Obama administration that Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner told the firm they were unacceptable and demanded they be renegotiated, a senior administration official said. But the bonuses will go forward because lawyers said the firm was contractually obligated to pay them.

...and because the firm's executives have decided that Geithner is an ineffectual wuss that they can push around -- not without some justification.

If Geithner can't -- or won't -- get a handle on these extortionists, then he ought to step down so that the President can find someone who can. I don't mind paying taxes. I don't mind even paying higher taxes if they'll help us get out of this mess. But I am right now working 7 days a week on a crunch project, and the thought of paying higher taxes so that Geithner can give more money to the same executives who brought AIG to the brink makes me want to go running to Washington with torches and pitchforks demanding an end to this no-strings-attached handout to greedy corporate bastards.

But I'm on a deadline. Because unlike executives at AIG, I actually have to produce in order to keep MY job.

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8 Comments:
Anonymous Anonymous said...
As Minstrel Boy says, "Paging Citizen Robespierre...Citizen Robespierre to the white courtesy phone..."
3/15/09, 9:56 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Gee, maybe we should force AIG into bankruptcy because then those contracts can be amended the same way business leaders says the auto workers' contracts have to be amended...

PurpleGirl
3/15/09, 11:23 AM  
Blogger lisahgolden said...
The whole thing is maddening. I heard Dana Perino on CSPAN this a.m. talking about how it's unfair to those who played by the rules to help their loser neighbors renegotiate their mortgages, but it's fine to pay off the AIG thugs because if we don't they won't help the company get out of its trouble.

I wanted to scream.
3/15/09, 11:44 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
How would the bonuses be paid if
the company had collasped without
the bailouts? The administration should have told AIG chairman
"NO MO MONEY ! " How do you get
a job where you can make shitty
decisions that bring the entire
world economy to its knees and get
a very fat bonus check?
Someone needs to expose the list of
people getting bonus checks and
the population needs to pickit their homes and or gated entrances
for all the world to see who is
getting the money.
Makes me sick! F__king crooks!
3/15/09, 11:49 AM  
Blogger Ju said...
This is sick. Why in the world are we helping these companies that keep sending millions to people who do not know how to run a company? They cry yet get paid millions on the "average joes" taxes. Furthermore, I fear this is just the tip of the iceberg. Look what Enterprise rent-a-car did to get bailout funds:


http://www.butasforme.com/2009/02/25/alert-enterprise-rent-a-car-may-have-fired-employees-as-fake-evidence-when-lobbing-for-bailout-money/
3/15/09, 12:14 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
so how would they have been able
to pay these bonuses WITHOUT the
bailout? hmmmm...makes you think..
and why reward the people who
made all the bad decisions?

maybe they shouldnt have gotten
the bailout $....maybe....like any
other business, they should sink
or swim on their own merits - use
their portion of the bailout for
things like roads and bridges....
or education, or ...or...
3/15/09, 1:17 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
It would be far cheaper if the US simply took over AIG and guaranteed to pay off all legitimate insurance claims. We easily have controlling interest from the funds we've already "invested". We could then fire the executives -- preferably "for cause", thus depriving them of even unemployment -- and have a complete and honest look at the books. I'm sure we'd find sufficient fraud to put them all away for a long, long time..

Alternatively, I'd tell the execs to "let them sue". Let the greedy bast**ds go on the stand and convince a judge why they are entitled to anything.
3/15/09, 1:20 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
The bonus payout excesses at AIG are just the tip of the iceberg of what is happening with the other Wall Street bailouts including Bank of America. Working productive Americans are bailing out the same crooks that destroyed our economy along with 45% of the wealth in the world and now the American taxpayers and our children will be forced to live a far lower standard of living with reduced prosperity and opportunities due to this but only we pay the price.

Washington has bailed out the banks, Wall Street & their Washington special interests and much of the cost is added to the national debt to by paid by this and future generations while real estate and investments continue to fall. Find out what a growing repudiate the debt movement could mean for treasuries, the dollar, gold and the stock market and how this is a better alternative than Washington’s plans to monetize the debt in future years and tax and destroy our remaining wealth by depreciating the dollar.

The Campaign to Cancel the Washington National Debt By 12/21/2012 Constitutional Amendment is starting now in the U.S. See: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=67594690498&ref=ts
3/16/09, 12:14 PM  
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