Obama will try to block executive bonuses at AIG

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  • FORD
    ROTH ARMY MODERATOR

    • Jan 2004
    • 59571

    #31
    This shit just keeps getting deeper. Turns out that some of these so-called "retention" bonuses were paid to pieces of shit that don't even work for AIG anymore......

    Seventy-Three AIG-ers Got More Than $1 Million Each In Bonuses
    By Zachary Roth - March 17, 2009, 1:54PM

    We're learning a bit more about the breakdown of those AIG bonuses -- thanks to New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

    In a letter sent to House Financial Services chair Barney Frank, Cuomo, who is probing the awards, wrote that seventy-three members of AIG's financial products unit were paid more than $1 million each.

    And get this: Though the payments were called "retention" bonuses, 11 of those 73 millionaires, including one who got $4.6 million, are no longer even at AIG. So if, as AIG has claimed, the bonuses were handed out for the purpose of holding on to talented employees, they often didn't succeed in doing so.

    Continuing the breakdown, Cuomo wrote that one lucky employee got more than $6.4 million, seven received more than $4 million each, and the top ten raked in a combined $42 million. None of the recipients were named.

    Cuomo, who is also looking into the $3-4 billion paid out by Merill Lynch in bonuses, wrote in the letter:

    A.I.G. made more than 73 millionaires in the unit which lost so much money that it brought the firm to its knees forcing a taxpayer bailout. Something is deeply wrong with this outcome.
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    • Combat Ready
      Foot Soldier
      • Mar 2007
      • 572

      #32
      Amid AIG Furor, Dodd Tries to Undo Bonus Protections He Put In

      Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) on Monday night floated the idea of taxing American International Group (AIG: 0.9491, 0.169, 21.66&#37 bonus recipients so the government could recoup some or all of the $450 million the company is paying to employees in its financial products unit. Within hours, the idea spread to both houses of Congress, with lawmakers proposing an AIG bonus tax.
      The move represents somewhat of an about-face for the Senator.
      While the Senate was constructing the $787 billion stimulus last month, Dodd added an executive-compensation restriction to the bill. That amendment provides an “exception for contractually obligated bonuses agreed on before Feb. 11, 2009” -- which exempts the very AIG bonuses Dodd and others are now seeking to tax.

      Amid AIG Furor, Dodd Tries to Undo Bonus Protections He Put In - FOXBusiness.com

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      • FORD
        ROTH ARMY MODERATOR

        • Jan 2004
        • 59571

        #33
        Pretty douchey thing for Dodd to do, I'll admit. Guess he must be jealous of Lieberman having exclusive claim to the title "biggest douchebag Senator from Connecticut".
        Eat Us And Smile

        Cenk For America 2024!!

        Justice Democrats


        "If the American people had ever known the truth about what we (the BCE) have done to this nation, we would be chased down in the streets and lynched." - Poppy Bush, 1992

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        • Combat Ready
          Foot Soldier
          • Mar 2007
          • 572

          #34
          Originally posted by FORD
          Pretty douchey thing for Dodd to do, I'll admit. Guess he must be jealous of Lieberman having exclusive claim to the title "biggest douchebag Senator from Connecticut".
          Well, Dodd was the number one AIG recipient of contributions in 08. Over 100 grand....What do you expect?

          He's just back-pedaling due to the uproar.

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          • kwame k
            TOASTMASTER GENERAL
            • Feb 2008
            • 11302

            #35
            Originally posted by Combat Ready
            Well, Dodd was the number one AIG recipient of contributions in 08. Over 100 grand....What do you expect?

            He's just back-pedaling due to the uproar.
            Yup, it's the politically expedient thing to do. Go whichever way the wind blows.
            Originally posted by vandeleur
            E- Jesus . Playing both sides because he didnt understand the argument in the first place :D

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            • Big Train
              Full Member Status

              • Apr 2004
              • 4013

              #36
              The government really can't do anything in this case and just admit they fucked up. Just the fact that Obama said "by any legal means", they know they can't win a court case. This is much ado about nothing, they need to suck it up and move on to the bigger issues.

              Dodd can be the Dem whipping boy for awhile.

              Comment

              • WACF
                Crazy Ass Mofo
                • Jan 2004
                • 2920

                #37
                Originally posted by Big Train
                The government really can't do anything in this case and just admit they fucked up. Just the fact that Obama said "by any legal means", they know they can't win a court case. This is much ado about nothing, they need to suck it up and move on to the bigger issues.

                Dodd can be the Dem whipping boy for awhile.

                Being that public money was used I would think something could be done.


                When a company goes down but restructures....and it keeps it employees...if they were unionized the contract is null...you start over.

                The same thing may apply here...

                Comment

                • LoungeMachine
                  DIAMOND STATUS
                  • Jul 2004
                  • 32576

                  #38
                  Dodd is getting shafted by FAUX News and LimpDick.

                  Dodd put in language KEEPING AIG FROM paying bonuses, the language was changed in committee without his knowledge or support.

                  Originally posted by Kristy
                  Dude, what in the fuck is wrong with you? I'm full of hate and I do drugs.
                  Originally posted by cadaverdog
                  I posted under aliases and I jerk off with a sock. Anything else to add?

                  Comment

                  • Combat Ready
                    Foot Soldier
                    • Mar 2007
                    • 572

                    #39
                    People are starting to get pissed off, it's about time.

                    <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0M0ZOMXPzQ0&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0M0ZOMXPzQ0&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

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                    • ULTRAMAN VH
                      Commando
                      • May 2004
                      • 1480

                      #40
                      So now it appears that President Obama knew all about those AIG bonuses - in time to do something about them.

                      And how did he know?

                      Because Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told him about them - last Thursday, before AIG honchos disbursed $165 million in "retention" bonuses to many of the same folks who basically bankrupted the company last year.

                      So why, we wonder, was the president in such high dudgeon Monday regarding the payouts?



                      Obama blasted the firm's "recklessness and greed," adding "this isn't just a matter of dollars and cents. It's about our fundamental values."

                      Took him long enough to catch on.

                      For the bonuses were public knowledge long before last week.

                      The Treasury Department knew of them last fall. So did the Federal Reserve.


                      And the administration had been dickering with Congress for weeks in an effort to restrict them, without success.

                      For his part, Geithner supposedly learned about the pending payouts only last week - from the Fed.

                      But how is that possible?

                      Last fall, he was head of the same New York Federal Reserve Bank that last week supposedly told him of the bonuses.

                      And for all of Obama's bombast, and his underlings' unease, the fact remains that Treasury not only never sought to block them - but, in fact, approved them.

                      An unnamed AIG official told The New York Times that the company never would've paid the bonuses without Treasury and Fed approval.

                      Yesterday, thanks to a timely subpoena from Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, it was discovered just how outrageous the AIG bonuses really are.

                      Fully 73 execs got $1 million or more each - of whom 22 were paid at least $2 million, while seven got $4 million. One lucky duck pocketed a cool $6.4 million.

                      Moreover, though the bonuses were designated as "retention" payments - intended to keep the execs working at AIG - nearly a dozen of the recipients had already left the company.

                      Adding even more insult to injury, they were paid to the very same officials whose risky schemes brought AIG to its knees in the first place.

                      So why didn't anyone do anything?

                      Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) of the House Government Oversight Committee certainly wants to know. He'd been hectoring AIG Chairman Edward Liddy about the matter since December - when the company shelled out $55 million in bonuses.

                      "I assumed they were well aware of it and would take appropriate action," he said, referring to Treasury.

                      Right on the first count.

                      Wrong on the second.

                      Monday, Obama asked: "How [does AIG] justify this outrage to the taxpayers who are keeping the company afloat?"

                      Simple - Obama's own Treasury Department gave them the go-ahead.

                      Yes, Treasury will now seek to extract $165 million from AIG future bailout booty, making the taxpayers whole.

                      But the bonuses stand, Geithner's already shaky credibility has received another blow - and the president's feigned anger is fooling no one.

                      Another bad week for the Obama administration - and it's only Wednesday.

                      Breaking News | Headline News | Current - New York Post

                      Comment

                      • FORD
                        ROTH ARMY MODERATOR

                        • Jan 2004
                        • 59571

                        #41
                        Like Thom Hartmann said this morning, time to dump Geithner and bring in Robert Reich, the guy who should have had the job in the first place.
                        Eat Us And Smile

                        Cenk For America 2024!!

                        Justice Democrats


                        "If the American people had ever known the truth about what we (the BCE) have done to this nation, we would be chased down in the streets and lynched." - Poppy Bush, 1992

                        Comment

                        • WACF
                          Crazy Ass Mofo
                          • Jan 2004
                          • 2920

                          #42
                          The different angles of who knew what and when will make this interesting...

                          Regardless....there needs to be consequences in regards to this mess...or what has anyone learned.

                          Comment

                          • Combat Ready
                            Foot Soldier
                            • Mar 2007
                            • 572

                            #43
                            Originally posted by LoungeMachine
                            Dodd is getting shafted by FAUX News and LimpDick.

                            Dodd put in language KEEPING AIG FROM paying bonuses, the language was changed in committee without his knowledge or support.

                            I have no idea who to believe on this anymore. Here is the latest:

                            Analysis: White House, Dems backpedaling on AIG
                            Analysis: AIG bonuses have Democrats reeling, unable to blame Bush; Republicans go on offense
                            Wednesday March 18, 2009, 1:20 pm EDT


                            Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., won passage of a provision earlier this year that they said would have prevented the type of payments now at the center of a storm.

                            It was dropped without explanation in the final compromise on the economic stimulus measure, replaced by a less restrictive set of conditions backed by Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and accepted by the White House.


                            Analysis: White House, Dems backpedaling on AIG - Yahoo! Finance

                            Comment

                            • Combat Ready
                              Foot Soldier
                              • Mar 2007
                              • 572

                              #44
                              We should have known we'd be fucked because the Bush and Obama administrations both supported the bailout.

                              The fix was in.

                              Comment

                              • FORD
                                ROTH ARMY MODERATOR

                                • Jan 2004
                                • 59571

                                #45
                                The language was more than likely changed by Susan Collins the supposed "moderate" Republican from Maine. I guess in her case "moderate" means pro-choice, but fall right in line for corporatist cocksucking
                                Eat Us And Smile

                                Cenk For America 2024!!

                                Justice Democrats


                                "If the American people had ever known the truth about what we (the BCE) have done to this nation, we would be chased down in the streets and lynched." - Poppy Bush, 1992

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