Obama: "I am shocked, SHOCKED, to find that gambling is going on in here!"
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.
Link: Manufactured Outrage - NY Post
Replies to: Obama: "I am shocked, SHOCKED, to find that gambling is going on in here!"
Can we at least agree on some of the facts.
Knute:
I believe the following facts are undisputed:
1. AIG got themselves into this disaster prior to the fall of 2008 as the result of the Federal Government's failure to properly oversee their activities.
2. AIG contractually agreed to pay their employees exorbitant 2008 bonuses sometime in 2007.
3. AIG was on the verge of collapse in the early fall of 2008, well before the Presidential Election.
4. The bailout of AIG was orchestrated by the Bush Administration and their Appointees prior to the Presidential Election of 2008.
If the above is true how can this disaster be laid at the feet of President Obama? The terms of the AIG bailout were set in stone long before he entered the Oval Office.
Tom
Not the entire truth Tom
Tom:
AIG was just given an addtiona $30B payment, on Obama's watch. At that point, already having been made aware of the bonuses from what happened in 2008, there were no restrictions put on this money. This payment that was just made was no seceret to BHO.
Secondly, 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.
"The president goes out and says this is not acceptable and then some backroom deal gets cut to let these things get paid out anyway," said Wyden.
Link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090318/ap_on_an/bonus_stakes
Tom, your kneejerk reaction to blame everything on Bush is comical
The financial mess that we are witnessing can be blamed on many players-not just Bush and Paulson. The Democratic-controlled Congress also had a major hand in enacting the bailout.
Secondly, Obama is being flat dishonest as he feigns outrage over the bonuses when his Keystone Cop Treasury Secretary let him know before the bonueses were announced.
I particularly enjoy Chris Dodd's blatant hypocrisy..
He snuck an amendment into the stimulus bill protecting exactly these types of bonuses and now when everyone's outraged, he's out there threatening lawsuits and taxation and the like.
What a blowhard prick!
Spot on-it looks like Dodd may be in for a re-election battle for 2010.
I hope the people of CT wise up finally
Top two recipients of AIG dough? Dodd and Obama
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Number 3 - John McCain.
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That makes three fools. May as well go further down the list.
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Not as bad as being #2.
Posted at 12:48 pm on Mar 18, 2009
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Or #1 for that matter. Dodd received $103,000 from AIG...
hence his "bonus" amendment.
Being #2 is worse.
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I understand people's outrage but people must understand that this was a binding contract
Many people point towards the UAW renegotiation's and say that it isn't fair they had to concede many things in order to keep GM's doors open but AIG employees didn't. But, what many people are seeming to forget, is that UAW wasn't FORCED into it. They knew if they didn't negotiate, bankruptcy was right around the corner and renegotiation was the lesser of two evils.
But, for AIG employees, Bankruptcy really isn't an option. So, what reason do these employees have to give back the money or renegotiate? Fear of losing their jobs? Hardly. These guys that got the economy to head downward are really the only ones that know how to unwind the investment instruments. If they leave, AIG is in deeper trouble and the government stands to lose the money they already invested and the economy would drift further downward. The leverage is with the AIG employees.
This really is no different than your favorite sports team signing a player to a contract and offering a "bonus" that is guaranteed 12 months later. Player blows out knee and is worthless. Team is still legally obligated to pay what is stated in the contract. The only real difference is that this is taxpayer money and not team owners. But, Congress knew about this all along and so they are like our owners.
How bout this - renegotiate the contract or the names/addresses of bonus recipients get published?
Why not? The taxpayers own the company and most public employees' compensation is public information.
That will likely persuade most of these recipients to "volunteer" to reopen the contract...at least the ones that live in the states.
That is more or less a physical threat, which wouldn't really work
The only way I would be okay with what your proposed is if the company provided adequate security for these people. If not, you would be knowingly putting them in harms way. Not a good choice.
My proposal was tounge in cheek
Kind of.
BHO is in way over his head.
It doesn't help that his press secretary is a bumbling idiot.
Superman would be in over his head.
mtthawk:
We are in this disaster as a result of the mess the Bush Administration
left us in. Trying to get us out of it is a Herculean task and there is going to be a lot of missteps along the way.
Tom
Yes...but at least he'd have a teleprompter so tiny nobody would know he was completely at sea.
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Well, duh. He's a journalist who went to work at the Daily Planet straight out of high school.
I don't want a guy with a GED as president just because he happens to be able to bench press the earth.
Tom, be objective. Obama is off to a rocky start.
Between his handling of this crisis, his failure to reassure the investment class of America, his bungling of the visit with Gordon Brown, the controversy swiriling about Vets paying for their treatments, the trade flap with Mexico, etc., it has been a bumpy ride
You can say that again.
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Did you see how Gibbs reacted to Cheney?
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I did-it was a pathetic response
Gibbs is a moran of the highest order
