| Mar 17 @ 8:56 PM |
AIG Bonuses Are A HUGE DEMOCRAT/OBAMA SCANDAL - Democrats Approved Them
|
|
DiamondRain
Posts: 6,354
|
The facts are in. If you are furious about the AIG bonuses, and want to hold someone accountable, look no further than President Obama's trillion dollar "stimulus" bill and the Democrats who rammed it through in the middle of the night with no chance for the taxpayers to discuss it or question it.
It turns out that one of the Democrats responsible, Senator Chris Dodd, added an amendment to the stimulus bill now called "the Dodd Amendment" that GRANDFATHERED IN AND APPROVED THE BONUSES.
Therefore, to make it clear, the VERY SAME BONUSES that Obama and the Democrats in Congress are now so "furious" about, the very same bonuses they are vowing to destroy the recipients of through tyrannical governmental punishment WERE APPROVED AND SANCTIONED BY THEM.
Every single Democrat in Congress voted for them.
It's all an act to distract you from the real prboblem. WASHINGTON SPENDING AND CORRUPTION OUT OF CONTROL.
That's not all. SENATOR DODD WAS THE LARGEST RECIPIENT OF CONTRIBUTION FUNDS FROM AIG IN THE 2008 ELECTION CYCLE. It was the very executives at AIG that he approved the bonuses to who CONTRIBUTED MONEY TO HIM.
And Obama took money from AIG too.
All these sanctimonious Democrats are now lining up to claim that they had no idea that they had already APPROVED these bonuses. YEAH RIGHT!
This is a scandal, this is a scam, this is a fraud on the American people. THE ENTIRE "STIMULUS" BILL IS A SCANDAL.
You want hearings? We need to put OBAMA AND CONGRESS IN FRONT OF A TRIBUNAL OF CITIZENS. Those are the hearings we need.
WHERE ARE THE HEADLINES ABOUT THIS? IT IS A HUGE SCAM in Washington politics, yet all I have seen so far on the major networks is railing against the AIG people, most of whom are completely innocent and doing something completely legal.
=========
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Rich Edson
FOXBusiness
Amid AIG Furor, Dodd Tries to Undo Bonus Protections in the 'Dodd Amendment' Rules
Some Details About AIG's Bonuses Are Revealed
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) on Monday night floated the idea of taxing American International Group (AIG) 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.
While the Senate was constructing the $787 billion stimulus last month, Dodd added an executive-compensation restriction to the bill. The provision, now called “the Dodd Amendment” by the Obama Administration 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.
Dodd’s original amendment did not include that exemption, and the Connecticut Senator denied inserting the provision.
“I can't point a finger at someone who was responsible for putting those dates in,” Dodd told FOX. “I can tell you this much, when my language left the senate, it did not include it. When it came back, it did.”
“Because of negotiations with the Treasury Department and the bill Conferees, several modifications were made,” Dodd Spokesperson Kate Szostak in a response to FOX Business.
The provision excluding those bonus payments made it into the final version of the bill, and is law.
Separately, Sen. Dodd was AIG’s largest single recipient of campaign donations during the 2008 election cycle with $103,100, according to opensecrets.org. Also, one of AIG Financial Products’ largest offices is based in Connecticut.
“Senator Dodd was completely unaware of these AIG bonuses until he learned of them in the past few days,” wrote Szostak. To suggest that the bonuses affecting AIG had any effect on Senator Dodd’s action is categorically false.”
[Edited on 3/17/2009 9:04 PM]
|
|
  |
|
| Mar 17 @ 9:28 PM |
AIG Bonuses Are A HUGE DEMOCRAT/OBAMA SCANDAL - Democrats Approved Them |
|
Angel54214
Posts: 18,185
|
I'm just catching up on all this, but it looks like Geithner is getting full blown blame and now asking for the $165 million back!
WASHINGTON – Talking tougher by the hour, livid Democrats confronted beleaguered insurance giant AIG with an ultimatum Tuesday: Give back $165 million in post-bailout bonuses or watch Congress tax it away with emergency legislation.
Republicans declared the Democrats were hardly blameless, accusing them of standing by while the bonus deal was cemented and suggesting that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner could and should have done more. While the White House expressed confidence in Geithner, it was clearly placing the responsibility for how the matter was handled on his shoulders.
Geithner sent a letter late Tuesday to congressional leaders informing them that he was working with the Justice Department to determine whether any of the AIG payments could be recovered. He cited a provision in the recent economic stimulus law that gave him authority to review compensation to the highest-paid employees of companies that already have received federal assistance.
Fresh details, meanwhile, pushed outrage over AIG ever higher: New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo reported that 73 company employees received bonus checks of $1 million or more last Friday. This at a company that was failing so spectacularly that the government felt the need to prop it up with a $170 billion bailout.
The financial bailout program remains politically unpopular and has been a drag on Barack Obama's new presidency, even though the plan began under his predecessor, George W. Bush. The White House is well aware of the nation's bailout fatigue — anger that hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars have gone to prop up financial institutions that made poor decisions, while many others who have done no wrong pay the price.
White House officials, for the first time, on Tuesday night said Geithner told the White House about the bonus payments last Thursday, and senior aides informed the president later that day. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal details of the timeline involving AIG.
Lots more and was too long to post the whole article:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090318/ap_on_go_co/aig_outrage_82
|
| |
|
| Mar 17 @ 9:28 PM |
AIG Bonuses Are A HUGE DEMOCRAT/OBAMA SCANDAL - Democrats Approved Them
|
|
SweetNapaGuy
Posts: 8,490
|
And if anyone were to look at the VERY LINE FOLLOWING the bolding, they'd see it was inserted by someone else. Who? Naturally, DR is pointing fingers at the Democrats (of course...). Who says it wasn't the Republicans? They added/amended the bill about as much as the Democrats, after all...
*****************
DR: You're in a constant state of agitation. You're constantly outraged (at only the Democrats, naturally...). Have you considered taking anti-anxiety medications?
|
|
| |
|
| Mar 17 @ 9:41 PM |
AIG Bonuses Are A HUGE DEMOCRAT/OBAMA SCANDAL - Democrats Approved Them |
|
Angel54214
Posts: 18,185
|
If we go back to Feb. 14th, we can see what was going on and here is a couple snippets....
It will be up to the Treasury Department to implement the restrictions in Dodd's amendment if the stimulus package, which is awaiting Obama's approval, becomes law. There are questions about how the restrictions would apply retroactively to companies that already have received TARP money, Reda said, and questions about how Dodd's restrictions fit with looser restrictions on executive compensation proposed by Obama and Geithner.
Presumably, Dodd's amendment "overrides" Obama and Geithner, Reda said. "That's extremely confusing." http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/14/stimulus.pay/
|
| |
|
| Mar 17 @ 9:59 PM |
AIG Bonuses Are A HUGE DEMOCRAT/OBAMA SCANDAL - Democrats Approved Them
|
|
DiamondRain
Posts: 6,354
|
Every Democrat in Congress voted TO APPROVE the AIG bonuses.
Now they are claiming they are LIVID that the bonuses are being paid.
BALONEY!
IT'S A SCAM.
They are making a circus about a lousy $165 million to distract your attention away form the $175 BILLION of your money they gave away through waste and corruption.
The Democrats set the rules, now they are blaming the AIG people for following the rules THEY SET.
If they didn't want them to take those bonuses, they SHOULDN'T HAVE APPROVED THEM.
This is GOVERNMENT FRAUD.
.
[Edited on 3/17/2009 10:04 PM]
|
|
| |
|
| Mar 17 @ 10:01 PM |
AIG Bonuses Are A HUGE DEMOCRAT/OBAMA SCANDAL - Democrats Approved Them |
|
robodad
Posts: 7,823
|
It looks like the Obama administration is looking to reclaim the money or put taxes on the bonuses.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/17/aig.bonuses/
|
| |
|
| Mar 17 @ 10:03 PM |
AIG Bonuses Are A HUGE DEMOCRAT/OBAMA SCANDAL - Democrats Approved Them
|
|
robodad
Posts: 7,823
|
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hEalVdubp5tGI_-bkLMyNULqCjXgD9704H100
|
|
| |
|
| Mar 17 @ 10:06 PM |
AIG Bonuses Are A HUGE DEMOCRAT/OBAMA SCANDAL - Democrats Approved Them |
|
SweetNapaGuy
Posts: 8,490
|
Definitely someone needs to prescribe some anti-anxiety pills. Poor guy's going to suffer a stroke...
I suppose you're next going to claim that every Democrat voted for all the Republican pork that got added to the bill, and that the Republicans are not to blame for inserting it?
|
| |
|
| Mar 17 @ 10:13 PM |
AIG Bonuses Are A HUGE DEMOCRAT/OBAMA SCANDAL - Democrats Approved Them
|
|
DiamondRain
Posts: 6,354
|
I suppose you're next going to claim that every Democrat voted for all the Republican pork that got added to the bill, and that the Republicans are not to blame for inserting it?
You're talking about the wrong bill.
This "Dodd Amendment" was in Obama's "stimulus" bill.
There were NO Republican earmarks in that bill and only 3 Republicans voted for it.
But every single Democrat voted for it.
The Democrats made the rules.
AIG followed the Democrat's rules.
And now the Democrats are blaming AIG for following the rules THEY MADE.
Plain and simple.
It is the fault of the DEMOCRATS and Obama's stimulus bill, not AIG.
And all this righteous indignation about the bonuses to AIG now is a crock of BS.
[Edited on 3/17/2009 10:19 PM]
|
|
| |
|
| Mar 17 @ 10:16 PM |
AIG Bonuses Are A HUGE DEMOCRAT/OBAMA SCANDAL - Democrats Approved Them |
|
Angel54214
Posts: 18,185
|
Diamond...do you think Libby had anything to do with it? He's the AIG chairman.
|
| |
|
| Mar 17 @ 10:22 PM |
AIG Bonuses Are A HUGE DEMOCRAT/OBAMA SCANDAL - Democrats Approved Them
|
|
DiamondRain
Posts: 6,354
|
I don't know. But I will say this.
Libby was not the CEO at the time AIG got into all the trouble. He's only been there a short time. You cannot blame him for causing the problems, he is the one who is putting his career on the line to clean them up.
Yet these jerks in Congress are vilifying him too.
Anything to deflect the blame from where it belongs. ON THE GOVERNMENT.
|
|
| |
|
| Mar 17 @ 10:24 PM |
AIG Bonuses Are A HUGE DEMOCRAT/OBAMA SCANDAL - Democrats Approved Them |
|
Peabianjay
Posts: 1,790
|
He's only been there a short time
lol
And yet you blame Obama?
|
| |
|
| Mar 17 @ 10:26 PM |
AIG Bonuses Are A HUGE DEMOCRAT/OBAMA SCANDAL - Democrats Approved Them
|
|
Angel54214
Posts: 18,185
|
Well I would say now the government owns AIG.
I was even wondering if money "borrowed" in the Obama stimulus had placed interest and payback timeframe from AIG. I know Bush's stimulus did.
|
|
| |
|
| Mar 17 @ 10:29 PM |
AIG Bonuses Are A HUGE DEMOCRAT/OBAMA SCANDAL - Democrats Approved Them |
|
uab_5
Posts: 4,759
|
PJ,
DR blames the Democrats for sinking the Titanic.
Iceberg? Goldberg? Same to DR! 
|
| |
|
| Mar 17 @ 10:32 PM |
AIG Bonuses Are A HUGE DEMOCRAT/OBAMA SCANDAL - Democrats Approved Them
|
|
SweetNapaGuy
Posts: 8,490
|
There were NO Republican earmarks in that bill
Complete and utter B.S.
DR, you lie like a politician. Cite
$300,000 Montana World Trade Center. Rehberg sponsor.
$1.1 million requested by Senate Republican Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander and Sen. Bob Corker, both of Tennessee, for water treatment plant improvements in Tennessee's Unicoi County, as well as $300,000 for a sewer extension project in another county.
$24,000 A+ for Abstinence. Specter is sponsor.
And so on. There are thousands upon thousands of earmarks in the package, and you can be sure that the Republicans got their claws into it.
|
|
| |
|
| Mar 17 @ 10:45 PM |
AIG Bonuses Are A HUGE DEMOCRAT/OBAMA SCANDAL - Democrats Approved Them |
|
DiamondRain
Posts: 6,354
|
Nope.
Your own Anointed one Barack Hussein Obama said out of his own mouth.
"There are no earmarks in the stimulus bill."
ONLY 3 REPUBLICANS VOTED FOR THE STIMULUS BILL (phony Republicans who are really Democrat plants).
EVERY Democrat voted FOR the stimulus bill and FOR the AIG bonuses.
[Edited on 3/17/2009 10:53 PM]
|
| |
|
| Mar 17 @ 11:05 PM |
AIG Bonuses Are A HUGE DEMOCRAT/OBAMA SCANDAL - Democrats Approved Them
|
|
Angel54214
Posts: 18,185
|
And so on. There are thousands upon thousands of earmarks in the package, and you can be sure that the Republicans got their claws into it.
You are making Obama look really bad here because he has worked hard and pushed bipartisan all through his campagning; Republicans and Democrats are what make up the Congress weither you like it or not. Earmarks are funds set aside for states needed projects...those you mentioned; some are needed and some may not be. Earmark funds will be prioritized and up to the Mayors of each district to see to it the funds are used wisely and the spendatures have to be reported to the federal executive branch. This for both Republicans and Demorcrats.
These earmark funds are going to get thrown around by Repulican and Democrat officials for the next 3 years.
The voted stimulus bill that Obama signed is all broken down below:
http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/politics/2009/feb/What-Does-the-Final-Stimulus-Bill-Contain-.html
|
|
| |
|
| Mar 17 @ 11:06 PM |
AIG Bonuses Are A HUGE DEMOCRAT/OBAMA SCANDAL - Democrats Approved Them |
|
uab_5
Posts: 4,759
|
DR,
I want you to stop with the slurs, mate.
And I think we all understand that Haiti was oing to freeze over before yo;u supported a Democratic POTUSA.
|
| |
|
| Mar 17 @ 11:09 PM |
AIG Bonuses Are A HUGE DEMOCRAT/OBAMA SCANDAL - Democrats Approved Them
|
|
SweetNapaGuy
Posts: 8,490
|
Angel, what's more bipartisan than earmarks? The Republicans got their claws into the bill, then were able to (hypocritically) vote against it. They knew it would pass, so why not get their cake and eat it too?
If they had REALLY been against the bill, they could have filibustered it. They hold enough of a minority (41 to 58; 1 seat vacant) to have held the bill up for months.
Instead, they are politicking, as usual. They have lots of money going to their home districts and states, and they don't have to take any of the blame if it goes bad.
And you can be sure they'll find a way to take some of the credit if things go well. (E.g., "We held back spending on unnecessary items as much as we could, so the bill was as efficient as we could force the Democrats to make it.")
|
|
| |
|
| Mar 17 @ 11:13 PM |
AIG Bonuses Are A HUGE DEMOCRAT/OBAMA SCANDAL - Democrats Approved Them |
|
Angel54214
Posts: 18,185
|
AIG should have been under investigation from the start of their first initial stimulus funds they requested and then received. AIG committed a whole lot of illegal fraud crap in 2006. And just 2 years later, the silver platter was handed to them with minimal questions asked!
http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2006-19.htm
|
| |
|
|