Can anyone point out an article about Geithner’s NY Fed role and position in this financial meltdown? The man just does not inspire me so I should check his history.

AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND…

Citizen Attaturk and the Firepup Freedom Fighters:

“…Tim Geithner, clearly the Matt Millen of the Obama Administration…”

ROFLMAO…ok I’m back offa the floor now but JEEZUS, Tim Geithner as Matt Millen??!!! Oh-oh there I go again…

Up here on the tundra we have a football coach named Brad Childress who could be mistaken for Geithner…except he’d probably do a better job as Sec of Treasury than Geithner and certainly better’n he does as a football coach.

Heh-heh…Geithner as Millen…great shot.

KEEP THE FAITH AND DON’T LET THE BASTARDS INTO YER YARD!!!

And we’re outraged abouth the outrage over the outrage. This can’t end well.

Citizen Stony Pillow:

Yeah…but trust me Citizen, the outrage is out here and it’s voice is gunna get feet in the street if Obama doesn’t start gettin this mess straightened out inside the WH pretty rikki tik.

Did we mean “rewarded”?

Citizen Raven:

Yes we did Brother Raven…this is our “reward” for bein’ chumps for the last 60 years.

Citizen Raven:

So ya don’t think a few of the Big Ten’s finest ken get past the first round?

I think most will!

I’m thinkin’ this could be the best overall tourney in a long time…Big Ten is better’n folks out East and South give ‘em credit for …

Crazy things happen! I went over for a couple of ACC Tourney games last weekends but Dome’s are no place for the hoop!

Even though Obama’s economic team are proving to be real losers, at least Obama has his picks for the NCAA tourney. Now that’s progress we can all believe in.

You and Mornin Joe are on the same page.

And until there is a real opposition party Americans will continue to be seen as chumps and stooges by the plutocracy.

I won’t be 60 till November.

Good morning, pups. It’s MoDo and The Moustache of Wisdom today. MoDo, in “No Boiled Carrots,” says President Obama is still having trouble summoning a suitable flash of Irish temper at the gall of the corrupt money magicians who continue to make our greenbacks disappear into their bottomless well. The Moustache of Wisdom has something about “Obama’s Real Test.” He says the bank bailout plan makes sense and might even make profits for U.S. taxpayers. But in this climate of anger, it will take all of President Obama’s political capital to sell it to Congress and the public. I guess the little woman’s stock portfolio must still be in the crapper…

Here they are.

The coffee, tea and hot chocolate are ready, and I’ve got bagels with cream cheese this morning. Some of the cream cheese has the chives that have come back in the garden. They seem to be involved in some sort of race with the sage and oregano to see who can wake up fastest. The thyme is still sleeping in… Have a great day.

Progress I believe in: paying multimillion-dollar bonuses to people in a small London office:
– who wrote contracts that have bankrupted the company,
– some of whom have already moved to other jobs,
– who wrote clever contracts that go into penalty defaults if any of these people are not retained,
– who wrote contracts so clever that they are the only people on the planet who can “unwind” them,
– who wrote contracts such that to save the world’s economy these guys must receive bonuses.

Ah, yes, bonusing them is progress that I believe in.

and the drunks are gone

MoDo, in “No Boiled Carrots,” says President Obama is still having trouble summoning a suitable flash of Irish temper at the gall of the corrupt money magicians who continue to make our greenbacks disappear into their bottomless well.

But maybe he can nudge them with positive inducements into saving the world’s economy. Minimally intrusive governance, don’t you know.

Per the wikipedia:

Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness, is an influential book by Richard Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein, which suggests it is better to attempt positive change by giving the choice of good behaviour (nudging) rather than by sanctions against bad behaviour

There are signs that the economy may be hitting bottom already-consumer spending, housing starts, stock market recovery, etc. So it could be that by Fall we will be in recovery mode. Summers and Geithner will then have pulled off an incredible feat, and will be hailed as heroes. Obama and the Democrats will leave this all behind in rising poll numbers.

We should see the bigger picture. AIG will be euthanized in due course, and these outrageous bonuses seen as a small price to pay in an overall recovery program.

Robert Scheer on AIG: Perp Walks Instead of Bonuses.

By Robert Scheer

There must be a criminal investigation of the AIG debacle, and it looks as if New York’s top lawman is on the case. The collusion to save this toxic company in order to salvage the rogue financiers who conspired to enrich themselves by impoverishing millions is being revealed as the greatest financial scandal in U.S. history. Instead of taking bonuses, the culprits should be taking perp walks.

I’m not just referring to the swindlers in the Financial Products Subsidiary of AIG who devised and sold those insurance policies on derivatives that brought the world economy to its knees. They do seem deserving of a special place in hell, and presumably the same divine power that according to Scripture labeled usury a high moral crime and threw the money-changers out of the temple will consider that outcome.

However, the enablers are the AIG leaders who, as New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo revealed Tuesday, signed those bonus contracts a year ago to reward the very people “principally responsible for the firm’s meltdown.” That’s a cool $44 million divided among the top 10 shysters, even though the depth of their chicanery was well known to top management.

As Cuomo noted in a letter to Rep. Barney Frank: “The contracts shockingly contain a provision that required most individuals’ bonuses to be 100% of their 2007 bonuses. Thus, in the spring of last year, AIG chose to lock in bonuses for 2008 at 2007 levels despite obvious signs that 2008 performance would be disastrous in comparison to the year before.”

The lame argument that those bonus-baby employees needed to be retained in order to sort out the mess they had created was also shot down by Cuomo, who revealed after his office’s initial investigation had pierced AIG’s veil of secrecy that “[e]leven of the individuals who received `retention’ bonuses of $1 million or more are no longer working at AIG, including one who received $4.6 million.”

[Mod note: Edited for length. For copyright reasons, please do not post entire articles in the comments — use an excerpt and provide a link instead. Thank you.]

The whole town throbs, like one huge hangover!

Citizen bobh:

“We should see the bigger picture…these outrageous bonuses will be seen as a small price to pay in an overall recovery program.”

Bullshit…there will be no recovery of our honor, the Constitution, or a return to the struggle for peace and justice and rule of law unless we deal with the end stage capitalism which encompasses all of the corruption of our history to date. If we don’t deal with ALL of this beginnin’ with the bonuses and the criminal activity of the dirivitives we will continue to deteriorate and we will end up in the dust bin.

We didn’t deal with fascism in 1877, we didn’t deal with corrupt capitalism in 1932-39, we didn’t deal with McCarthy and the fascists in government in 1952, we didn’t deal with Viet Nam in 1975 or with the corruption of our first fascist coup of the Nixon administration, we didn’t deal with the second fascist takeover in 1980 or with the corruption of Iran-Contra…and ALL of that shit came back to us bigger and better and immune to our puney protestations.

No Brother bobh, a “new prosperity” will not recover our soul.

Always said.

Dana.

Dumb As Dogshit.

I second the “bullshit.” I like the oprtimism, bobh and hope you are correct. But even if you are correct about the recession bottoming out, these bonuses obviously – to me anyway – have absolutely nothing whatever to do with “our recovery program.”

NCAA Tourney??
Beware The B’East!!!!!!

I remember when that conference truly was an eastern one and gave a grerat platform for schools for which basketball was the major sport to shine. Georgetown, St. John’s, Providence, BC, Syracuse, Seton Hall….. Those were the days.

Good morning,
this will be some hearing this morning.
Looks like it will be on CSPAN 3

Here’s the WJ lineup:
7:25-7:45 REP. GARY PETERS
D-Michigan, 9th District
Financial Services Cmte. Member
peters.house.gov

Topic: Today’s hearing on federal aid (more than $150 billion) to the American International Group (AIG), the bonuses the company gave its executives, and what the federal government should now do about AIG. Rep. Peters introduced a bill Monday night intended to recover executive bonuses in excess of $10,000. Mr. Peters is member of the subcommittee will hear from AIG CEO Edward Liddy and others at Wednesday’s hearing.

7:45-8:00 Newspaper Articles/Phones

8:00-8:30 MARTIN WEISS
Safe Money Report
Editor
moneyandmarkets.com
Economic Analyst
weissgroupinc.com

Topic: Guest will discuss latest economic news, including federal assistance to AIG as well as the latest up tick in the stock markets.

8:30-9:00 SHAI AGASSI
Better Place Electric Car Company
Founder & CEO
betterplace.com

Topic: Agassi has been in meetings on the Hill and in the White House this week to push his idea of living free from oil through zero-emission electric cars running on a clean energy grid. This week President Obama will travel to Southern California’s Edison Electric Vehicle Technical Center- an electric vehicle research facility. Guest was one of TIME magazine’s Heroes of the Environment for 2008.

9:00-9:20 REP. SCOTT GARRETT
R-New Jersey, 5th District
Financial Services Subcmte. Ranking Member
garrett.house.gov

Topic: Today’s hearing on federal aid (more than $150 billion) to the American International Group (AIG), the bonuses the company gave its executives, and what the federal government should now do about AIG. Mr. Garrett is ranking member of the subcommittee holding the hearing. He views the AIG bonuses as contractual obligations, but thinks the U.S. should not have given federal aid to AIG in the first place. And he thinks aid should not have been given to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, or other institutions either.

9:20-9:50 EAMON JAVERS
The Politico
Financial Correspondent
politico.com

Topic: Discussion on AIG & the hearing today on AIG’s impact by the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance & Government. Guest will also discuss Pres. Obama’s reaction to AIG bonuses & spending of federal aid.

Michigan never should have beaten Seton Hall in the ‘89. That was one of the worst calls by an official I have ever seen in my life.

Are there any of the toads corpmed hasn’t trotted out yet? cheeeeeeeeeeney, bush, dana dumb…and the list goes on. :-(

Impeach President Obama for all the things George Bush did and didn’t do! He deserves it. I can’t believe after 2 months of being in office how badly he’s done and why he was not able to fix the financial sector of our country by noontime on the Saturday after his inauguration. The nerve of this man! Impeach him now! War criminal!

oo Gary Peters goes right to it, they don’t deserve the bonuses and whaddya mean they can’t renegotiate the contracts. The UAW did.

Feet in the street? I hears the teabaggers are already doin’ it. Hundreds. Thousands. Tens of thousands. Hundreds of thousands. Millions of em!!!! Think we should join them? Michelle Malkin’s behind the teabaggers so they must be ……..

well, assholes.

never mind.

Citizen BeerfartLiberal:

Keep hangin’ on to that righteous indignation there Brother BFL, ‘cuz the Big East teams are gunna show up where they have belonged all season when this is all over. I’m not sure how the Big Ten is gunna do in the end but given where the bookies and the East coast media put ‘em in the tourny I wanna hear from you next week.

Does anyone feel like this is a real showdown between the corps and the middle class (not as defined by Perrino)? The truth is coming to light. The U.S. taxpayer has always supported the corps and now the ugliness of that truth is becoming obvious to every citizen. We’ve got the TARP money, the EFCA and healthcare reform all on the agenda and the corps. are going crazy. No more hidden agenda by them, they’re fighting tooth and nail. Optics be damned, they’re out to win at any cost.

High crimes!!!! High misdemeanors!!!! Plus Bush kept us safe and now we’re less safe. I heard that on the cable TV. Just use the Articles of Impeachmnent alrady drafted; cross out “Bush” and put “Obama”. Wait. That’ll say George W. Obama. Never mind. Hold off on the impeachment.

The Sanctity of Contracts, Chapter 73:

Delphi Corp. retirees failed to win a delay of the company’s plan
to cancel their health care plan while they appeal the termination
to a higher court.

Delphi won approval Feb. 24 from U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain in New York City
to end health benefits for 15,000 former salaried workers.

Oh that’s right. After 2 months, our nation is in security peril! Impeach the bastard!!!!

This is outrageous, they are beginning to fight back

I see John McCain is going to release his March Madness picks. Copyimng Obama? Nope. Sees he’s been doing it the past 2 years. It’s just that, as Joe The Biden has said so eloquently…. who gives a shit?

Noe obama is picking who? Louisville, Pitt, Memphis and NC. I’m not big on Pitt and ever since NC lost to FSU, they’re stock plummeted in my view.

Actually, Solai…the showdown is between the Democrats and the republicans who are itching to impeach President Obama. All of these schmucks gave George Bush everything he wanted, no oversight of any crime he committed, and are NOW in the mood to go after a president with full force!

As I stated on FDL leading up to the November 2008 election, we don’t need to worry if Obama wins because the Democrats will find some lame excuse to impeach him. Most likely it will be over not paying for his White House pens or something more stupid.

Trust me on this. The outrage is building! George Bush & Dick Cheney they’re protecting once again, but that’s okay, they’ll finally get to have that Senate Impeachment trial they’ve been longing for!

And remember, in 2001 after George Bush was handed the White House, he made us proud. While his VP was doing secret energy policies and conspiring to kill the nation, that was okay. We were fine with that. Oh, but when President Obama is given the biggest shit pile (so big you can see it via satellite at the moment!) in the history of shit piles, HE IS TO BLAME!

Yep, as of right now, Obama is to blame for:

Enron crashing.

Not regulating Wall Street after Enron crashed.

Credit Default Swaps.

The Iraq occupation.

9/11/01.

AIG bonuses (he personally handed them out last year).

AIG bonuses (he personally handed them out this year too).

Bear Stearns.

He let Lehman Brothers die.

He personally handed out the tax cuts for the uber wealthy over the last 8 years while laughing wickedly at the poor and middle class.

I mean, really, he’s impeachable at the moment! Holy cow!

Don’t forget Ari Fleischer the other night on Hardballz. Speaking iof Hardballz, Mika hosted last night. I watched for about 3 minutes and she didn’t get anybody coffee. It wasn’t her, know what drove me to another channel? Harold Ford. hey, msnbc! Lose that bum!

I can’t wait to see the headline on FDL at some point that reads, “Why I Agree With Rush Limbaugh on President Obama”.

Ewww, it’s coming. I can feel it. *scraping tongue with my snow shovel*

Illinois should have been there anyway.

In 1989? I was followin The Hall. They got put out west that year. Don’t remember Illinois.

Okay roundballers, my sleeper pick to make the Final Four: Siena. They will be this year’s George Mason.

Geithner and Summers should go out in the first round.

That implies a belief in the idea of a “soul” in the first place. As long as we are calling bullshit, sign me up.

In December 2008 it was learned that AIG would be giving $1,000,000 to each of the 400 assholes at the company who did the company in, so where was the almighty George Bush in overseeing this after we bailed this company out?

http://uppitywoman08.wordpress…..n-bonuses/

Oh wait. *blushing* We’re not supposed to blame Bush and his Thugs. I’m embarrassed that I am. I did write about this subject in January of this year though:

http://whitenoiseinsanity.com/…..last-year/

Holy crap! I’m to blame too!!!!!

Then you aren’t really a college basketball fan, who do you think beat the Cuze to get there? Nick Anderson, Kendall Gill, Kenny Battle. . .

Some supplements:

Hearing page from the Financial Services Committee. The prepared statements aren’t up yet. It looks as if they plan to have a video link there, for those who can’t get CSPAN.

AIG 2008 10-K filing at SEC

“Causes and Effects of the AIG Bailout” hearing page, Oct. 7, 2008, from Committee on Oversight and Govt. Reform. Complete transcript, and lots o’ statements, including the letter from the accountant that Josh Marshall discussed yesterday.

When Bonus Contracts Can Be Broken. Six lawyers, including Glenn Greenwald, weigh in.

oo thank you!

My, er, pleas—

Well, you know what I mean, you’re certainly welcome!

Is Perino in the same club as McCain…..middle class = 5 million $$$$$??????

Can any one tell me when I can expect my SS disability to be cut so we can bail out some more banks? I just want to be prepared, doncha know…………….

Dana Perino?

DANA PERINO?

People are INTERVIEWING Dana PERINO?

She WAS (repeat, WAS) a SPOKESWOMAN. Her job, literally, was to tell people what the Bush administration wanted them to hear.

Maybe she’s an intelligent person, I don’t know. But she has no public record of thinking about, formulating, implementing or even analyzing policy. Why is anyone interviewing a former spokeswoman (I’m trying to cut down on the capitalization, or I would have done it there) about policy?