There is no defense for those million dollar AIG bonuses.
Why is there one standard for white collar thieves and another for hard working blue collar people?
When will there be some accountability for these bailout billions?
When will these fatcats be held to the same standard as common people?
From Firedoglake:
American taxpayers now own $80% of AIG after paying $173 billion to keep it afloat. White House economic advisor Larry Summers says the government simply can't break the contracts that AIG had with executives, but nobody said that when Congress demanded that auto makers break union contracts and cut hourly wages for factory workers as a condition of receiving TARP funds.
Over 10,000 of us have already signed the petition. Can you help us get to 20,000 by Wednesday? Click here to add your name:
http://action.firedoglake.com/page/s/Transparency
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For those who believe AIG *MUST* honor those contracts, read the counterpoint here:
AIG Is Obligated To Pay Bonuses? Bull!
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Go sign the petition. It takes less than five minutes.
People who run a company into the ground should not be rewarded with our tax dollars. Congress needs to pull their collective heads out of their asses and start figuring out where our money is going.
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Post Bailout AIG spending courtesy of Wikipedia:
Post-bailout spending
"The following week (of September bailout), AIG executives participated in a lavish California retreat which cost $444,000 and featured spa treatments, banquets, and golf outings.[34][35]
It was reported that the trip was a reward for top-performing life-insurance agents planned before the bailout.[36] Less than 24 hours after the news of the party was first reported by the media, it was reported that the Federal Reserve had agreed to give AIG an additional loan of up to $37.8 billion. [37]
AP reported on October 17 that AIG executives spent $86,000 on a luxurious English hunting trip. News of the lavish spending came just days after AIG received an additional $37.8 billion loan from the Federal Reserve, on top of a previous $85 billion emergency loan granted the month before. Regarding the hunting trip, the company responded, "We regret that this event was not canceled."[38]
An October 30, 2008 article from CNBC reported that AIG had already drawn upon $90 billion of the $123 billion allocated for loans.[39]
On November 10, 2008, just a few days before renegotiating another bailout with the US Government for $40 billion, ABC News reported that AIG spent $343,000 on a trip to a lavish resort in Phoenix, Arizona."
Enough is enough.
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Here is a perfectly legal way to not honor those bonus contracts just like blue collar pension contracts are not honored courtesy of the Huffington Post:
"Within existing law, there is more than one way to do it, but a direct solution is readily at hand: Firstly, the US trustees in charge of the firm must immediately instruct the corporate treasurer to make no payments of any bonuses. They also need to order him to issue stop payment orders on any checks that fly out the door at the last minute, as with Merrill Lynch. Then the trustees need to split off the derivatives unit from the rest of the firm and separately incorporate it. This step leaves AIG's other businesses free to operate as usual. If the recipients of the bonuses refuse to waive them, then the derivatives unit should at once be thrown into bankruptcy, terminating all obligations to pay them."
No need to honor those contracts at all.
Remember to sign the Firedoglake petition demanding accountability for the bailout money:
http://action.firedoglake.com/page/s/Transparency
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Gratuitous Nudity. The first picture is a special reminder of how the law is bent when it suits the powers that be.
Comments
Tim4Change has the excellent idea of having Congress impose a special 100 percent tax on these bonuses. An Easy Answer to the AIG bonus issue
I'd like to see the Justice Department set up a special task force dedicated to the disgorging of all bonuses and excessive salary payments made to bailed out corporate hacks.
Power to the People!
(Freaky foot stamping got me here)
Mr. and Speaker Pelosi own over half a million in AIG stock.
Makes you wonder what else the rich and powerful of Congress are invested in and how much that has to do with the bailout billions pouring into those corporate coffers.
think it's just wink and a nod stuff. Didn't Wall Street, or
the bankers, underwrite Obama's inaugeration?
The dice are loaded and the captain lied.
This is beyond immoral and if we lived in China these guys would all be shot. (The AIG guys, not the guys in BBE's living room).
Signing petition and rating this.
Yes, that photo is from our fabulous torture prison. Specialist England is behind the pile.
Junior enlisted being jailed while the high ups of the Bush administration are guilty of violating the law by a factor of thousands more and run around rich and free is the other side of the bailout bonus coin. We have such different standards for our elites be they political or financial.
And Obama wants to sweep all that off the table. Just like Pelosi took impeachment off the table. They all suck.
...and I see you are into simple, healthy food too!
Bonus-less Rated.
to me its kind of like handing a wino a twenty and getting pissed off when he buys booze with it.
read my piece on this subject if you have time.
Slate voted him the"world's worst banker". He won in the face of strong competition.
Thanks for the nudies. Good ones.
Rated & Cheers!
You are right, of course, with everything that you have written here. It is outrageous, and spinning off that particular financial arm of AIG into receivership, is exactly what I would have done if I ruled the world, but I am also thinking something else.
There is something a little smelly about the media emphasis on the AIG bonuses, and the fanning of outrage by DNC and some other groups. I can't put my finger on it, but I'm thinking red herring.
Something else is going on here. Do you agree? Wish I knew what. You are good at this game. What do you think it is?
Appreciated and thumbed
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