Obama better do something about this, or else the pitchforks and torches might be closer than he or anyone else knows.

A question aint really a question if you know the answer too… of course
they are too close to wall street, no way anyone not close could get past
the lobbied up senate. Obama is a harvard neoliberal, not so much on the
kind of reform FDR embraced to save capitalism from itself. Obvious move
would be to reinstate glass-steagall and be done with it, but the congress
we have is incapable of it, as is our press, all corporate entities now
and very defensive, the pushback has already begun.

We are bailing them out and they are lending us back our own $$ at 30% interest; Something about that is just………..wrong.

New World Order, anyone? If you’re as paranoid as I am this little film out to make your day

The Obama Deception

Who stole it? Are you ready to hear the answer yet?

http://www.scribd.com/doc/5156948/The-Pegasus-File

http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/3820

I’m beginning to believe that the word “conspiracy” is about to enjoy a rebirth where credibility is concerned. How many trillions in drug money were laundered through the financial system? By whom?

Coincidence Theory and “Discernible Reality” had a good run, but its OVER.

Think like an amoral criminal, with all of the resources of banking, media, espionage capabilities, armed forces and justice system at you disposal, or you’ll never wrap your head all the way around it.

Take the time to listen to Aaron Russo on YouTube first.

Yet when it came time to limit executive bonuses at bailed out banks, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act only stipulated that bonuses would be prohibited for TARP recipients in employment contracts written after February 11, 2009.

Jane, when you folks deliver the petition on Wednesday, will you kindly ask the Congress members you meet when they plan to stop letting corporate lobbyists write our laws? Call me crazy, but it seems the laws are skewed in favor of the corporate interests that write them rather than the public interest.

Might want to ask them if they are ready to give up their branch of the government if this goes on much longer as well.

I agree with you phred.
I’d like to ask them a question myself.
Since they no longer seem to be representing the people who voted for them, are they ready to give up their salaries and other perks?

Are Geitner and Summers too aligned with Wall Street to do the right thing? DUH!

The question is now more evident than ever… For whom do the members of Congress work? The moneyed interests who pay their campaign bills and keep their perks up or the Citizens who send them back to Washington to collect said cash and prizes?

The UAW deal ought to be re-examined in light of Geithners newest mis-step… the men and women of the UAW at least produce tangible consumer goods that help drive the economy, the money-managers (if laughably that’s what they are) at AIG and other financial bordellos, not so much. If Congress and Obama want to play this game to it’s conclusion, I fear we’re seeing torches, pitchforks and a republican adminstration in 2012/2013; Obama won’t last beyond January 20, 2013.

It’s time to play citizen/grassroots hardball with these folks. Sign the petition, call your congresscriminal and let them know their jobs are on the line if this does not get cleaned up expeditiously, and that does not mean handing out fat checks to failed executives.

AIG = First Obama Fail.

Despite not having voting rights, doesn’t the Federal Government still own about 80% of the shares of AIG? Doesn’t it own a substantial amount of shares at several of the recipient financial concerns. It would seem to me that this could be used as some old style “leverage” to make AIG either reduce the pay packages of its so called Executives to a level where their “bonuses” might be the final pay they ever receive.

The Federal Government could threaten to withdraw all its stock…kill AIG. The deal to prevent this. A) Give us voting shares. B) Renegotiate the Executive contracts to a level in which the bonuses are recompensed by salary reductions; C) if the executives don’t like it let ‘em walk out the door (or window).

Tax these bonuses at 150%. Do audits on precisely which accounts these were deposited to…and see if the Executives that received them are declaring them on their taxes. Disallow any Executive salaries to be deposited in off-shore accounts.

I’m sick and tired of these theives being allowed to rob the Treasury!

The more we find out, the more outrageous this sounds. I am now feeling bad about the taxes I pay. It doesn’t seem like they are being used for anything I support or anything that improves my life or helps my family. I have a growing sense that my government is not, and cannot, look after some of my interests. It’s a feeling I’ve not had before, even through Vietnam, Cambodia bombing, Watergate, the 80’s S&L crisis, Lincoln Savings, Keeting 5…

AIG must not be allowed to blackmail the public (and its 80% stockholders), damn them. Time to install new, and more tightly controlled management.

Our first mistake was giving money to the bankers, with no strings attached. They should have been allowed to fail, then pick up the pieces.

Legitimate stress tests, full audit with transparency, and nationalization of the bad banks. This B.S. must stop.

And Geithner must go, he is part of the problem, too close to the elite and acting in their interests, not ours.

We’re done.

The looting is clear, naked, and self-evident. Which means there’ll be no recovery. Not from this collapse.

Our course, such as it is, is now set for John Robb’s “hollow state” scenario. With all that this implies.

Jane – I don’t want to knock petitions and calling our representatives, but the time has come to move into disobedience. We need to stop paying taxes in mass.

My senators and representative (Leahy, Sanders, and Welch) are quite good at blowing populist steam, but that steam drifts away once they stop speaking, leaving nothing there but a man standing still. We’ve watched over and over again as Leahy issues strongly worded statements about obeying the law, responding to subpoenas, and investigating torture. We’ve heard Sanders speak passionately about health care and income disparity. We’ve listened to Welch wax on about government accountability. But nothing ever happens. Nothing.

If my supposedly liberal/progressive/socialist representatives aren’t going to do anything, then it’s time that we make the steps ourselves. We should refuse to pay taxes. Deny Geithner his funds. Deny Bernanke his funds. Deny Obama his funds until the rule of law and transparency in government is restored. That’ll fucking wake them up.

Are Geithner and Summers are just too aligned with Wall Street interests to do what needs to be done?

Yes.

This has been another…

Seriously, though, Bob Scheer has been saying this all along.

The administration official said the Treasury Department did its own legal analysis and concluded that those contracts could not be broken.

Break ‘em. Let the bastards sue. I’m thinking breaking those contracts could be called “The Humpty Dumpty Solution.”

So the people storm the Bastille. What, exactly, will that accomplish? I ask, because I’m totally ready to STB!!

You’re right, it probably will. And then it will result in penalties for non-payment of taxes in a timely fashion. We are seriously screwed re our options.

will you kindly ask the Congress members you meet when they plan to stop letting corporate lobbyists write our laws?

You are exactly right. Paulson resisted any limits on executive compensation and then accepted the ones that were put into the bill because he thought they were so easy to get around.

NPR was reporting today that the bonus pool was $1.2 billion, even higher than previously reported.

And as others have said here there are several ways these bonuses can be challenged, either by challenging the contracts directly, firing those who receive them, or simply finish putting AIG into bankruptcy and restructure the contracts as desired.

I have a sneaky feeling this AIG bonus brouhaha is a contrived thing to get the “people” all enraged so 0bama or Geithner will understand the outrage and “do something” to stop the bonuses and show how effective 0bama or Geithner are. And how great they are in protecting us from the big bad AIG. Is this another dog and pony show for our benefit? It is too convienent for them to solve “this problem”. Am I too cynical? Or, can one ever be cynical enough? One can’t keep up!

We have been saying this about Summers and Geithner here from the beginning too. I know, I was one of them.

That could work if enough people do it, but here’s the problem… Most wage earners have their taxes withheld from their paychecks by their employers and many get a refund after filing their returns. There is no way companies will stop withholding. So in the end, this becomes a largely empty threat. Not trying to rain on your parade, just suggesting we keep looking for better ideas, ’cause the ones we have aren’t working very well. Jes sayin’

Now hear this: No such thing as too cynical. I can’t believe I’m saying this, having been raised in the Pollyanna school of life, but there you have it. Sometimes cynicism is earned. This is one of those times (days, years, decades, whatever).

Here is the link to the NYT morgenson article.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03…..5gret.html

I’ve never heard of an insurance company paying off before a loss. It’s like saying there’s a hurricane in the Gulf,so lets start paying our policy holders for new roofs.

In the absence of a loss and a claim, isn’t this embezzling? or payments to favored parties to the detriment of others in anticipation of bankruptcy, which is reversible and fraudulent?

No, you can’t be too cynical. Personally, I think Geithner wants to pay these bonuses and will only change course if he is forced to by the White House. You can something of this already in the line being taken that “future” bonuses will have more oversight. Of course, why anyone at AIG should be receiving a bonus is a joke. Any company receiving government money should ban them.

This brouhaha could however serve to obscure the really awful Geithner program to bail out banks and hedge funds by selling crap assets from banks to the hedge funds with the government guaranteeing that neither faces any loss.

Change the withhold number to take the maximum available. That way we’re not constantly over paying our money to the IRS

as I said on the previous thread, I really would like to hear somebody try to make a credible business case for paying bonuses at that firm. From a reputational perspective, they never went beyond being a B-list player in the prestige leagues, and few people in the banking (as opposed to the insurance) industry wanted their resumes to read “AIG”.. and it’s not like they ever had a reputation for treating employees well or paying them decently by industry standards (other than a few financial products superstars they bought over from other firms to use as human props, in much the same way that a brand uses rock stars and sports heroes for product endorsements)… and we’re at a point where laid off former Managing Directors and SVPs with bulge bracket white shoe i-banknig firms (as in, the prestige level a few notches above AIG) are taking positions, for a tiny fraction of their peak compensation, at firms like PWC and Booz Allen with humble titles like “Valuable Support Manager” or “Credit Analysis Supervisor.” Economically speaking, in my opinion, the correct figure for a down-year bonus at an i-bank (which AIG pretends to be) is 0.. if not a pink slip.

Are Geithner and Summers are just too aligned with Wall Street interests to do what needs to be done?

fire them both. now.

summers has helped killed millions of people with his economic policies (during the clinton administration). this is very old news and obama should never have put him in charge of anything. geithner i did not know about until recently, but he looks like very bad news too.

Why in the name of all that’s holy would Geithner want to pay the bonuses?

Just as a reminder. Joseph Cassano who ran the AIG division that sold this crap left AIG but then was rehired as a “consultant” at a million dollars a month to help the government go through the mess he had created. There was a big outcry at the time about this, but Cassano received most of the money for his 6 month contract. Some of the questions I have had are where he is, what he is up to, is there any investigation of him going on, and if not, why not.

You know the worm is turning when even someone like Clueless Joe Scarborough notices that it’s wrong to force Blue Collar to re-negotiate and not the White Collar Criminals to do so.

The bottom line is — nobody trusts them. Congress needs to use its subpoena power to get a hold of these AIG contracts and make their own analysis.

i don’t trust congress either. this is, for the most part, the congress that wrote the blank check called TARP. in the senate, the ONLY senator who even thought there should be a temporary tax on the well off to pay for the TARP was bernie sanders.

put bernie in charge.

They’re taking 15% of my small (less than $1000) Social Security check to pay for Medicare and they’re getting away giving bonuses? I not so politely think they need to get their you-know-whats kicked from hell to breakfast.

And it’s the same congress that had hearings just last month with the bank CEO’s and denounced their new policies with their credit cards.
Did they do anything about those things?
NOPE.

Jane Hamsher -

FYI – Team Obama to unleash the power of their vaunted Campaign e-mail list . . . yep, this week

If Obama (the buck stops with him) keeps this bullshit going for much longer, Chuck Norris will be President of Texas. Is this a joke?

Why in the name of all that’s holy would Geithner want to pay the bonuses?

You have to understand Geithner and Summers’ mindset. For them, the US banking system is solid. Yes, there have been some problems and mistakes but the real problem is a crisis in confidence. In other words, the problem is not with the banks but with us. For some reason, we stubbornly persist in viewing the banks as bankrupt and the financial system in collapse.

As for paying bonuses, it is not a big deal for them. It is the way Wall Street does business. At most it is a PR problem, express a little faux outrage for the benefit of the rubes (us) and then say, gosh, I agree with you but we can’t do anything about it. Those bonuses are covered by contracts or pixie dust or something. So we can’t touch them. Now go away.

yesterday, i was happy to have lhp be sworn in as treasury secretary, but bernie’s fine with me too. as in, stop the bleeding first.

as long as eMeg won’t be President of California ;-P

In regards to the petition to chairman Frank, please remember he worked closely with Sec Paulson in constructing TARP. In the later half of 2008 Rep Frank was questioned by Bloomberg reporters in regards to TARP and in specific to dealing with Sec Paulson. I do not have a link but since Rep is my Rep I remember most of the quote, “Hank Paulson is a capitalist with a concience, a man I can work with and trust.” I have written Rep Frank multiple times and his responses are so full of BS it’s sad. He will accept the petition and make statements you want to hear, but I’m afraid acting on them is not what will happen.
David In Mass

Oh, Team Obama wants the help of the dirty riff raff now? Huh.

who knew the fine Japanese art of Kabuki theatre could thrive in DC?…Japan still inspires,,,,,,G

How do we get the country back? Our Congresspeople and their sponsors who have stolen it will not return it gracefully, but there are avenues to explore short of pitchforks and torches. Can we mount a protest involving nothing more than people standing in the street in front of their houses? or some other legal, non violent means to count heads, something more impressive than an online petition which can be gamed. If millions hit the street, we accomplish two things. We become aware of how deep seated the dissatisfaction of people who are now willing to act. That will impress us as much as it impresses the powers that be.

exquisitely timed as most working americans got a pay raise in the form of the Obama Tax Cuts last week . . . and now Tim and Larry are playing Wall Street Roulette with ‘The Brand’

the progressive Inside Baseball types will be weighing in soon enough as to what Messrs Plouffe and Axelrod should vs will do in response (Geitner resigns jit for Friday newsdump and WH appoints Elizabeth Warren ?)

can not wait to read what they have to say

Netroots and grassroots could get our country back, but it would have to be such an uprising we could initiate a Constitutional Convention. We would have to join forces with the people of the right to make that happen. My solution: Write a new constitution with greatly enhanced accountability to the people. Nobody wants to hear that, and I can’t imagine it happening. It’s a good fantasy though.

Elect a President who immediately begins abandoning the transparency he promised… no problem. Just use the power of the magical new constitution to force the Executive Branch to be honest. Lawmakers betray the core ideals of their party? Use the magical new constitution.

After that we can solve global poverty.
/snark

In Summers and Geithner’s view, the US banking system leads the economy, they (bankers etc) are the vanguard for economic growth and proper respect must be shown for their leadership.
They cannot imagine the US having a healthy economy without their compadres feeding at the trough.

It’s time to just say “Noh” to all that. ;)

You have to understand Geithner and Summers’ mindset. For them, the US banking system is solid.

So, delusional, then?

I keep repeating this but when Paulson who used to head Goldman Sachs bought an ~80% stake in AIG the only Wall Street banker present in the negotiations was Blankfein the current head of Goldman Sachs. The government’s intervention in AIG saved Goldman Sachs $20 billion in bonds it had through AIG. When all this happened, Paulson named a new guy to run AIG, Edward Liddy, who just happened also to work at Goldman Sachs. And now we have learned that Goldman Sachs was one of the largest recipients of the payouts made by AIG, $8.1 billion.

Mabe it’s just me but I think I see a pattern here.

agreed….talented actors…eh not so much

I’m not surprised by any of Obama’s duplicity and coziness. The thing that shocks me is that the financial system is running at all, 20 months into credit crisis.

The difference between auto workers and AIG execs is that auto workers have a stake in their companies’ surviving. On Wall St the rats are taking all the cheese they can carry before jumping off the sinking ship. It’s pure looting.

this is unmitigated insider trading and fraud…Martha was a piker 40K ?

Rep. Frank is a showman and grandstander. He’s good at huffing and puffing and it’s good bet nothing of substance will come from his histrionics.

Pattern indeed. It is called “collusion” and in government dealings generally regarded as unethical if not illegal.

If you look at the complacent behavior of the new “Obama progressive” when it comes to the bailouts of the finance industry, it’s hard not to see the undercurrent of class in operation.

I think that the “creative class” constituencies that formed the hard spine of Obama’s support really has an instinctive identification and sympathy with the people in the finance industry who are receiving that money, and so rather small trouble with the perks coming their way. After all, these finance workers are, like them, knowledge workers, manipulating bits and not atoms. They went to the best schools, and got the fanciest degrees. They are the Masters of the Universe, and can’t really be held accountable when it’s the Universe that fails. Certainly this is the dynamic operating within the Obama administration, as personified by Geithner and Summers, but it also greatly tempers any outrage in the larger Obama movement.

The contrast with the case of automobile manufacturing could not be more poignant. That industry, and all of its workers, seem to the “creative class” typically to be dirty, muscle-bound, backward-looking, and teetering on obsolescence. Neither its executives nor its workers inspires any real sympathy in the Obama administration or its movement — which is why they get much shorter shrift.

Of course, the population at large does not share such a fine opinion of the character and productivity of the finance industry, given the fiasco they have brought about.

I see the disconnect between what Obama and his core supporters seek, and what the larger public demands, as abating very little.

Pattern indeed. It is called “collusion” and fascism in government dealings generally regarded as unethical if not illegal.

I’m not sure that’s true. He likes to shine light on the dark lords. If it goes nowhere, it’s largely because no one has his back. The Kucinich/Feingold syndrome.

perfectly said. my sentiments exactly.

Hope your right. I like what he says, maybe next to no one riding shotgun.

i don’t think frank has been on our side. if we are lucky we get crumbs while the banksters get hundreds of billions.

Speaking of Bernie Sanders….

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…..75023.html

“The “Masters of the Universe” have plunged our nation, and much of the world, into a deep recession which has caused millions of Americans to lose their jobs, their homes, their savings and their hope for the future. In order to fully understand the cause of this fiasco, I have introduced legislation calling for a thorough investigation of the financial meltdown and the prosecution of those CEOs who might be guilty of illegal behavior. The culture of greed, fraud and excessive speculation must come to an end.”

I hope I’m right, too. And believe me when I say that as more time passes, I am less and less sure of where the truth lies. (truth lies: How’s that for an oxymoron?)

“Creative workers” sympathizing with the guys on Wall Street who get paid Extremely Big Bucks?
Bwahahahaha!

The more effective role for the Feds vis-a-vis their owning AIG stock is to, as stockholders, kick out the current Board of Directors, install a new one, and utilize that one to fire current “management [sic]” and hire some competent folks.

And BTW, how many auto workers’ salaries would that AIG “rescue” money pay — and for how many years into the future?

it needs to stop,DATELINE followed families being thrown out of their houses,while the freaks gather in millions of taxpayer dollars

how many would be able to stay in their homes for 1.2 BILLION

From Face The Nation

“Schieffer also asked Summers whether the government knew where all the money poured into the banks has gone.”

Summers;

“We certainly have a picture of what’s going on in the banks… We’re getting a much closer and better reading on the situation of the banks through the stress tests that are an integral part of Secretary Geithner’s financial plan,” Summers said. “These banks in a year take in a trillion dollars of which the government’s $25 billion or $10 billion or whatever it is, is one component. Then they lend out on a very large scale. So it’s not really possible to take a particular dollar that came from the government and say where that particular dollar went.

W4B;

Is any else sick of hearing about illusary “stress tests”, and what the hell is Summers talking about when he says “… the government’s $25 billion or $10 billion or whatever it is, …”, is he trying to make the public believe that what we’re angry about is only $25, er $10, er $1 billion?

The sons of bitches are paying out half a $billion in hush money bonuses alone.

Could someone explain to Larry Summers and Timothy Geitner that the truth is going to come out, so they can stop acting the fool any time now.

The government cannot just abrogate contracts.

When the govt is funding a troubled loan work out, sure it can. But even apart from that, “government” in the context of its judicial branch, has an actual duty to abrogate certain kinds of contracts. (You know, like Obama as head of our law enforcement branch of govt has a duty to prosecute torturers)

In any event, just because something is a contract, it is not necessarily an enforceable contract or an enforceable provision in a contract. Are they going to release the Treasury Department legal analysis?

Because I’d sure like to see how they dealt with issues like contracting to protect and secure fraudulent conveyances; or contracting in violation of public policy (you know, public policy – something else that govt has a duty to establish and pursue).

Is anyone putting pressure on for them to make the Treasury determinations public?

An infamous GM executive once said about loss-making car sales that he could “make it up in volume”. He could “return to profitability” by making more sales each of which lost money. That thinking is a good introduction to AIG and the US bail-out of Wall Street’s greediest, riskiest, least responsible, too-large-to-fail players.

In bankruptcy, AIG would have had the power to accept or reject (terminate) its employment contracts, like all its other ones. It would have had to take the consequences, like massive walk-outs. Which means it would have stopped writing its most loss-making business. A competent board would have been compelled to move in that direction or face personal liability for failing to do so.

Any competent creditor providing funds to a debtor in extremis would have demanded essentially the same things, if on a “voluntary” basis, or put the company in bankruptcy to get it. After all, such a creditor knows the poor commercial risk of such lending, and needs to protect her assets as much as possible by cutting losses, stop what’s causing them and put its new debt ahead of all others. Otherwise no one gets paid or has work.

A competent lender would have demanded wholesale management changes at the top and put a stop to the company’s biggest drains on assets and profitability.

If, like Enron, those drains were the company, he would have refused to lend and, if a host government had wrongly allowed one of its economic actors to become too big to fail – if firing the actor would mean closing the theater – it would have picked up the pieces afterwards. Not, that is, by letting all the houses burn down, but by assuring “markets” that it would promptly send in the first responders who would have first cleared the buildings, then dowsed the flames. It would then have made the area safe before rebuilding or allowing people back into ones still standing.

As it stands, AIG is both the fire and the fire fighters. The government and its taxpayers are locked in their building and AIG won’t let them out. That is, until they pay a king’s ransom for the water and fire staff (privatized, of course, like all Republican governmental functions). Time for the USG to take matters into its own hands.

What I think is that there is a lot more inherent sympathy in the “creative class” with the executives and “knowledge workers” on Wall Street (all of whom, I gather, are recipients of bailout bonuses, and all of whom certainly depend on that bailout money for continued secure employment) than there is with the executive and blue collar workers in Detroit.

The reaction of the typical Obama progressive to the bailouts of AIG and others has been pretty muted compared to their nonstop outrage over the excesses of, say, Haliburton, Exxon, or Enron. I think that the perception that these latter players are engaged in dirty industries, unlike the reputedly sophisticated, intellectual industry of finance plays a real role in the differing reactions.

“This is a corporation that finds itself in financial distress due to recklessness and greed,” Mr. Obama said ahead of announcing a plan to rescue small businesses through a raft of new lending options. “Under these circumstances, it’s hard to understand how derivative traders at AIG warranted any bonuses, much less $165 million in extra pay. How do they justify this outrage to the taxpayers who are keeping the company afloat?”

“This isn’t just a matter of dollars and cents. It’s about our fundamental values,” he added.

The fact that Obama is asking, if indignantly, only underscores the problem, doesn’t it?

And it’s not about “values”, either, it’s about dollars and cents. And laws.

The President of the United States blaming Wall Street kleptocracy on “values” and “greed” is like the head of the FAA blaming a plan crash on gravity.

Quote from article: Are Geithner and Summers are just too aligned with Wall Street interests to do what needs to be done?

The answer, well duh…

How long before Americans start to realize that NONE (how did Geithner get that job anyway, Obama the hero?) of them are above being dishonest, to playing for one side only(hint hint not the American people).

Until we realize it’s really us vrs. them, we are going to lose each and every time…

They sure ‘know’ it darn well is us vrs. them

One of the more infuriating things about this is the way the outrage these bonuses have caused are dismissed as “populism”. That attitude is not justified when it is taxpayer money that is being spent. If the AIG executives were getting bonuses from money they made, it would be different. They lost money, a huge amount of money. Then they asked for a taxpayer bailout, and this is how they spend it.

The conservatives got lots of mileage over the mythical welfare queen, driving her Cadillac at the taxpayers expense. Where is their outrage now that we have real welfare queens that dwarf any they imagined previously?

I would like to see President Obama take some action to prevent this. Expressing outrage is not enough. Some ideas about how this could be prevented are already showing up online:(link, Link). If no action is taken, I suspect some of that populist justified anger will rub off on the Obama Administration.

If the politicians in Washington where Nascar drivers, which ones would have the biggest Wall Street bailout company logos on their cars and uniforms? What actions have they taken to stop this outrage?

I really wish the petition wording reflected the straightforward arguments of this excellent post, instead of just simply calling for re-regulation.

Yes of course, that’s clearly what is needed, but why not also spell out the case for retrieving the ’bonuses’ and your historical precedent of the UAW w/r/t TARP as well? I really doubt my comments to the petition will be read by staffers, though the petition text likely will be.

If Obama (the buck stops with him) keeps this bullshit going for much longer, Chuck Norris will be President of Texas. Is this a joke?

Would that be a bad thing? Just think, no more US presidents from Texas.

if we are lucky we get crumbs while the banksters get hundreds of billions.

If we can get some important structural changes it will be worth it.

Health care reform.
Card-check unionization.
Universal savings accounts.
Financial industry regulations.
Stop Rs from kicking everybody out of their homes when they lose voter reg.
Save car companies to protect people and keep manufacturing base.
Enable competition to oil to free us from foreign dependence.
etc.

AIG = Allowing Irreversible Greed.
AIG = All in Greed.
AIG = Arn’t I Greedy.
AIG = A$#holes, in general.

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…..out-money/

Not to make excuses for these people, but the bailouts are making crooks out of everyone that touches the money.

It’s like mucking out the Aegean stables.And Hercules is no where to be found.He’s probably been bought off.

Please read and listen…

iamthewitness.com

*sighs* The reason for the autoworkers stipulation and lack thereof of a similar stipulation in the AIG bailout is quite simple if you would stop with the hysterics for two seconds and think logically.

The cause of the auto market collapse has little to do with the recession. All the recession did was cause the entropic path the big three are on to decay faster. The reason for this decay is twofold. 1.)They make crappy cars. 2. and obviously more important since Suzuki, another maker of crappy cars, is still in business) Their pay levels and associated employment benefits(Primarily the latter) are not competitive. Thus, it made eminent sense to curtail wages.

Turn to AIG et al. Their collapse had jack all to do with the wages paid to workers and EVERYTHING to do with practices endorsed both de jure and de facto by the U.S. government. Thus, there was no real need to include such stipulations since their pay scales had no connection to their problems. They could have paid all their execs $1 a year and they still would have collapsed like a house of cards.