AIG Derangement Syndrome
Okay. We get it. Every politician in Washington wants to show They Care by bashing AIG. Which almost all of them agreed to bail out. Repeatedly. But never mind all that.
This, however, is just too much:
Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley suggested on Monday that AIG executives should take a Japanese approach toward accepting responsibility for the collapse of the insurance giant by resigning or killing themselves.
The Republican lawmaker’s harsh comments came during an interview with Cedar Rapids, Iowa, radio station WMT. They echo remarks he has made in the past about corporate executives and public apologies, but went further in suggesting suicide.
“I suggest, you know, obviously, maybe they ought to be removed,” Grassley said. “But I would suggest the first thing that would make me feel a little bit better toward them if they’d follow the Japanese example and come before the American people and take that deep bow and say, I’m sorry, and then either do one of two things: resign or go commit suicide.
“And in the case of the Japanese, they usually commit suicide before they make any apology.”
Bob Owens points out that Sen. Grassley took $26,250 from AIG in 2007-2008 alone. Is he ready to take a deep bow, too?
I said my piece yesterday about the gag-worthy Kabuki Theater of Outrage over AIG from its bipartisan enablers in Washington.
Ed Morrissey puts an exclamation point on it:
The nasty little secret at the center of all the outrage is that the Obama administration could have stopped the bonuses by simply stopping the bailout. They could have forced AIG into bankruptcy, which would have voided the company’s contractual compensation obligations. Instead, the Obama administration chose to inject liquidity into AIG, following the lead of the Bush administration, which had done the same thing. That kept AIG’s doors open, and therefore kept its contractual obligations to its employees intact.
Now Obama is outrageously outraged, as Allahpundit put it yesterday, but over what? A company complying with its contractual obligations? AIG has no more right to abrogate those contracts than any other employer would with its union contracts. Whether or not the compensation agreements reflect wisdom and managerial brilliance, they exist — and as a matter of law, AIG has to honor the commitments. Screeching about the bonuses now is not just futile, but a demonstration of the arrogance involved in these bailouts. If the government wants to tear up all the contracts, it will have to nationalize AIG and get Congress to approve it.
In the future, we can avoid having taxpayer dollars go to Wall Street bonuses by not bailing out private companies with taxpayer dollars.
The Beltway enablers now say they’ll stand up to corporate beggars abusing public tax dollars. But when push comes to shove, the Chicken Littles in Washington have lost their heads every time.
See what others have said
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Trackbacks
- Obama Wants You To Trust Markets and Government; But He Offers to Ignore AIG Contracts « Peace and Freedom Global Future
- Dodd Allowed AIG Bonuses; Now Ringleader to Get Them Back « Peace and Freedom Global Future
- GOP congressman introduces birth certificate bill « Jim Blazsik
- GOPMOM ALERT: AIG Bonus kerfuffle continues
- Bloodthirsty Liberal » My Outrage Can Lick Your Outrage
- Arrogance of AIG outrage | Citizen-Right
- Good Richard's Almanac
- William K. Wolfrum Chronicles » Blog Archive » No one expects a blogaround - Bonus Edition VI
- AIG: Demons or Fall Guys with Those Exec Bonuses? « Frugal Café Blog Zone
- Congress Fakes Outrage, What Are They Hiding Now? | Patriotic Dissent
- The Japanese approach toward accepting responsibility for AIG? Executives should kill themselves! | Fire Andrea Mitchell!
- AIG Derangement Syndrome « The Conservative Trend
- Nightly Ramble: The Shamrock edition, because we couldn’t find any real ones | BitsBlog
- Grassley: AIG execs should kill themselves « The Daley Gator
- AIG Bonuses: Paulson, Geithner and the Money Laundering Smoke Screen | The Great Illuminator
- AIG-OBAMA: Laundering Our Money? « FactReal
- Michelle Malkin » A few words about the Freddie Mac CFO suicide
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Sorry, but that’s not correct. Companies break commitments to employees all the time. Ed makes it sound as if AIG’s employees are UAW workers. They are employed “at will” and their contacts can be negated at any time.
We the taxpayers already bought AIG, lock, stock and barrel.
Giving AIG money is stupid, perhaps, but arrogant?
Pardon my ignorance here – but what exactly is/are these “bonuses”? I don’t trust the media to report accurately what they are (I imagine most of the media don’t even have the slightest clue about executive compensation). I don’t trust the politicians to be honest about it other than they believe they now have a new soundbite. I don’t trust the bureaucrats to have the mental horsepower to understand. I don’t trust the AIG execs either (as it appears they have a string of questionable business practices longer than just the “current” turmoil).
Just remember when Harkin and Grassley are in Washington, the small Iowa villages of Cumming and New Hartford are without their idiots.
Some people in Congress wanted to put greater controls on how the bailout money would be spent. Obama threatened to veto such proposals, so they died.
Which makes it amusing that he’s now talking out of the other side of his mouth. Not unusual, mind you. But amusing.
The real issue here is the fact that the gov’t thought they knew better than “the market” up front and decided to put money in. So yes – arrogant in that they thought they knew better.
The crooks in this mess are many but at least one of the players is gov’t – past and present. Gov’t has ZERO business propping up any particular business (or hastening the fall or others).
Wrong. Just let AIG go into Chapter 11 reorganization. Yes, if we were going to provide the funds to make AIG viable going forward, we would take a major ownership stake, but “nationalization” means government running of the banks, which would not be necessary.
Government did not put money in for that reason. They put money in because they believed, correctly for all I know, that AIG cannot be allowed to fail. And that debate is already over. For better or worse we the taxpayers already bought AIG.
The only question now is whether our ownership of the company affords us any rights in how it is run.
I only pray that, if we are attacked, san fran is hit first.
By the way, Rush just reminded us that those bonuses are “RETENTION BONUSES”, which means, bonuses paid to certain people if they stay with the company, don’t go and take another job, and complete certain tasks for a certain length of time. If that is the case, NO ONE has a right to take them away, as the employees fulfilled their end of the bargain. They are also referred to as “Pay to Stay Bonus”, and there is an ironclad CONTRACT promising payment if you do what is laid out in the contract. I received one of those myself once. Our company of 650 people was bought out, and we knew we were all going to be laid off. I was in Human Resources and they needed my skills and expertise to do certain things that no on else could do. They offered me a nice chunk of money if I stayed 6 months and performed the tasks they had laid out for me. I was happy to do it, because it gave me 6 months of guaranteed employment, more 401K savings, health insurance, then I was offerred severance and the bonus. Nice deal…but it was worth it to the company because they NEEDED me! Just like AIG needed those folks they PROMISED THE BONUSES TO BY CONTRACT. If this was me getting threatened by Congress, I would get a lawyer so fast, they wouldn’t know what hit them. What a bunch of incompetent bozos that they don’t even know what a retention bonus is! Amateur hour in the WH, and we are all be punked.
See my comment #100.
Yes, this is exactly the same as the situation with GM. Except that with GM we don’t see conservative bloggers going on about the sanctity of existing contracts.
The politics of this is toxic for the right. Some people on our side are doing their best to live down to the lefts sterotype of us as wanting socialism for the rich and the free market for everybody else.
Rush also said the AIG bonuses were Retension bonuses to incent employees that were scheduled for termination to stay until termination. This is not what the MSM is telling us.
Which is pretty funny once you consider that it was the Obama administration and the Democratic Congress which put in place the rules which the Democrats are now screaming their heads off about.
Exactly. See my Post #100.
The terminology is changing
The first release termed the bonuses as “retention bonuses”..
That is not the same as “performance bonuses”.
Performance bonuses may be appropriate, although I would suspect that the manner of putting tax monies in has affected the books in a manner that warps when it is appropriate (vs books inflated by tax dollars, not profits)
Retention bonuses are monies paid to get an employee to not leave.
So when alternative employers are not hiring, or are actively going bankrupt, when the retirement portfolios are worth a fraction of what they were a year age, when your current employer has been government annointed as “too large to be allowed to fail”,…
the top employees at AIG have to be bribed with taxpayer dollars to stay.
I doubt it. but they are getting taxpayer dollars in bulk.
So folks, the bottom line on these bonuses is this…The cretins in Congress are deliberately hiding the true nature of these bonuses that rightfully belong to those employees. And why? So they can get everyone fired up against those poor folks and obfuscate the incredible buffoonery that is going on in the WH. They can’t get away with their stupidity for long. They are being “outed” every day. It won’t be long before even the dumbest citizen in the country will see what is happening.
And how can you tell which party this insane individual belongs to? Because unlike if he were a Republican, they neglected to say which party in the article. Had he been a Rep., they would have plastered it everywhere.
I had to look it up, as I had never heard of him.
What is it with Dems and Libs? What is with their obsession with people they don’t agree with killing themselves or getting murdered? These people’s souls are seriously tainted.
These criminals are perpetrating the biggest fraud in history on the American people. A “sting” that even Redford and Newman would have to admire. No one is being told the truth. And no one is safe from the same kind of tactics that were used on Joe the Plumber, Rush Limbaugh, and anyone else they can find in order to hide what they are really doing. Unfortunately for them, the silent majority is finally waking up! Their days are definitely numbered and there will come a day when we see them in handcuffs on the way to the pokey. I think treason is punishable by life in prison…unless they quickly change that law before they are arrested!
The AIG bailout has fulfilled its role, it allowed it to give billions to Hank Paulson’s Goldman Sachs.
The bonuses are a perfect excuse now to cut off the spigot, and let it go to court for reorganization bankruptcy, and allow the non-preferred creditors, those not in bed with key Dems and a few key Republicans, to wait in line for a pennies on the dollar debt settlement.
As for GM and Chrysler, maybe one little touch of socialism, have the Feds guarantee their car warranty programs for a couple of years while they reorganize, so dealers can keep selling cars, then shut down the unprofitable car lines and factories and renegotiate union contracts to more closely match non-union American workers at Honda and Toyota.
Who am I kidding. Obama will never let the UAW be forced to settle for normal benefits and $20/hour paychecks for high school graduates.
I believe he IS Republican, Fireman! At least, that is what is said in MM’s comments.
Obama’s “boy” Geithner being thrown under the bus in 3….2….1…
happycrapper: That was exactly my point – just because it’s called “bonus” isn’t really a bonus. It’s a contractual obligation. (I didn’t know they were retention payments).
I told one of my employees this morning that I didn’t know but if he and I worked a deal – I’d pay him $5,000 per month for 12 months and at the end of December if he was still here, I’d pay him $20,000 that month…is the $20,000 that month a bonus? No I’d argue – it was the payment method we agreed upon.
He might have an R after his name but he very seldom would be confused with a conservative.
Big party in the WH tonight! Hundreds are coming. On our dime. Nice. Retch.
Most folks don’t know that they are retention payments, or even what a retention payment is. The WH and the MSM are purposely hiding the true meaning of the “bonuses” to make a big production out of this and, once again, take our eye off the ball. Crapweasels!
On March 17th, 2009 at 2:07 pm, conservativesRus said:
Most Republicans currently in the White House are NOT conservatives. I wish I could think of even one.
Hey the ONE is simply partying like its 1790 in france.
(look it up)
You should be listening to Rush – he is explaining this right now..
Hey New York, if Bernie Madoff didn’t get you, Barney Frank will!
America has grown so accustomed to trampling The Constitution, that no one recognizes or even cares about the unconstitutionality of these bailouts. If the SCOTUS was worth its salt, they could have squashed this crap sandwich before it came out of Congress’s mouth. This country is a runaway train on a dead end track.
During Clinton, wasn’t there a Dumbocrat who said the same thing about someone being grilled: at least the germans took “the honorable way out…”
I keep thinking it was something like Lantos, Lampost, LightToast…
Jeez, these Washington clowns have no clue about anything and that includes Obummer and Grassly. Grassly was way out of line and Obummer, well, he’s in another category all by himself. These bonuses were promised, under contractual obligation, were known and protected even as Washington was bailing out AIG.
Will Washington stop paying COLA for our military and their union-subsidized federal workers? It’s like Washington rewrites the law and rules of the road when common sense could have prevailed and made this a mute point. The political mucketymucks can protest AIG bonuses but it’s crickets when it comes to making our vets pay for their own service-related healthcare.
We’re living in a time where millions of Americans think there’s tons of waste in the military budget but think they have a right to their welfare and government freebies. Pork for the welfare state and weapons cuts for the military. I get it now… even if the the welfare state has a larger budget (for SS and Medicaid/Medicare) than it does for its military.
This AIG bonus kerfuffle is simply political distraction from the fact that our wimpy, disengenuous politicians are covering their a$$es and not doing anything of much substance.
That is probably because they fulfilled the obligation of the contract, got their retention pay, as promised under the contract, and are now seeking other employment. That is the whole purpose of a retention payment…to keep them there until they are no longer needed, then they get laid off. Again, if these are truly retention bonuses, Congress has NO RIGHT TO TOUCH THEM! PERIOD. If Barney or Schumer keep threatening to tax their retention pay at 100%, SOMEONE had better speak up and set the citizens of this country straight. They are blowing smoke at us. And now, I hear that some of the rhetoric coming out of DC is so vitriolic, there are death threats against those who took the rentention. As if you wouldn’t do the same thing? Sorry, but if you worked extra months, knowing you would be laid off, but promised a “bonus” if you stayed, and perhaps even gave up other job opportunities in order to get that money, wouldn’t you darn well expect to get it??
NOTHING would make me happier, than seeing Congresscritters ritually disemboweling themselves on the steps of the Capitol Building.
I’d pay admission.
I wish they all would do themselves in.
I’m pissed (if you didn’t notice).
Schumer:
Yeah right Chucky! Tell me that I should expect a government check in the mail if you manage to pass such as law … and not a bill for more of my money by the same ‘law’.
When Congress starts fleecing people directly on an individual basis – STICK A FORK IN US!
There are conservatives in the White House?
Actually, I can’t think of any.
They couldn’t be bothered to read what they agreed to in the bailout bill, and now it’s whose fault?
Maybe seppuku is called for, but I think Grassley misstates just who ought to be getting the chop.
Congress owns AIG. It has the right to do whatever it wants with it. It can order the AIG employees to dress up in clown suits if it wants to.
Period.
That sounds like something lgm would write.
Our Congress cretins never cease to amaze and disgust me. And 0bama is even worse since he is leading the charge. And the outrage! As if they just now found out about this, and had no hand in it. Trouble is there are too many people who believe these bad actors, and too many in the MSM who will actively spin it and cover it up.
I say it’s time for tar and feathers, and run them all out of town on a rail!
Eliot Spitzer is writing for Slate on the AIG debacle – here’s the link:
http://www.slate.com/id/2213942/?GT1=38001
The suggestion for them to literally commit harakiri is really disgusting. It has no place in political discourse. The Senator should be ashamed of his remarks and should issue an apology to the AIG executives.
Buy a business, a house with a mortgage or anything else and a contract is still a contract. Barney Frank can dress up in a clown suit and a contract is still a contract. These are basically termination contracts-retention until. Eliminate them and you have a problem.
Barney Frank, Charles Grassley and the rest of Congress and the talking heads KNEW what what is the AIG contract. The NY Federal Reserve Chief Lonely Tim Geitner told them. You are blowing smoke just like the Banking Queen.
Period.
—
Keep the change-I’ll keep my guns
What in the world would cause you to say a thing like that about me? Seriously, that is extemely offensive! I was merely stating what a “retention payment” IS! I have gotten one of those myself. I was being laid off and given an incentive, in the form of a “retention bonus” to stay until a certain number of criteria was met. If these folks have fulfilled their contractual obligation, then it is no different than any other payment for doing a job for someone. I really don’t get you at all. I think you owe me an apology.
No, I don’t THINK you owe me an apology, I KNOW you do! And if I sound angry, it is because I am!
I know what a retention payment is. And we have no business paying million dollar “retention payments” to anybody in the financial industry in the hope that they won’t leave their overpaid jobs.
If we want to keep them a while, tell them we’ll allow them to stay on at half pay and not toss them out right now to join the ranks of the unemployed.
Garbage.
As we all pointed out with respect to the GM contracts with their employees, all they have to do is file for Chpt 11 and renegotiate the contracts. It’s the exact same thing.
Contracts are not nearly as sacrosanct as you’re pretending now. Companies regularly lay off their staff and hire them back under different terms.
Get over yourself. You know what they say if you can’t take a joke?
They certainly did. But unlike you, I understand that those people in Congress are not the enemies of the fat cats at AIG and elsewhere, they are their pals and enablers. It’s always amusing to watch people on the right rushing to the defence of the people who are screwing them.
I don’t consider what you said a joke. And your other comments only confirm my opinion of you. You are a pompous, first class a$$.
Case in point, Flenser…this response from you is arrogant and a put-down. I really don’t like you very much. Can you tell? Oh, and when you say, “It’s always amusing to watch people on the right…”, it is a dead givaway that you are in fact, a troll.
Who are you agan? Why am I supposed to be interested in what you like or dislike?
No, it is a dead give away that I’m amused at the behavior of many people on the right who leap to the defence of their bitter enemies. You’d be better off not trying to decipher my remarks as if they were written in some code. I mean exactly what I say, no more and no less.
Just a guess but I would say flenser is a tad jealous of anyone making more than flenser. A possibility? Sorry lad (lass?) but you do not know what I know, what I do or what I have. I do agree that MOST of those people in Congress are not the enemies of the fat cats at AIG and elsewhere, they are their pals and enablers. Most. But Barney Frank and Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley are certainly making sounds as if they are Socialist of convenience. Hypocrite works too.
I do not know if you would consider me a fat cat but upon selling out my business I have become a Registered Lobbiest-picture ID and all. Next year I am going to pay me so I can be patriotic and pay more taxes-maybe not.
All because….
—
Keep the change-I’ll keep my guns
Then I am a pompous, first class a$$ who would like to know how so many people here can do a complete 180 with respect to their position on contracts. Because when the topic was GM’s contracts with its employees, I don’t recall all this bowing and scraping before the majesty of contract law.
And I can guarantee you that the GOP has as much support among the UAW as it does in the upper levels of the America banking system.
Stick to playing with your guns. Guessing is not your strong suit.
So why are we supposed to jump in on one side or the other when we should be hammering both? And what’s with “fat cats”? Are you jealous of those making more than you?
No doubt. But then I’m not defending them. I’m attacking them, and their pals who they are now trying to distance themselves from in the public eye.
The only people wound up about what Dodd and Frank and Grassley said are the peope here. The so-called targets, the people at AIG and Goldman-Sachs, they understand its all a game and they don’t care.
Generally, when you post on a thread, you value the opinions of the others who post also. At least I do. But it sounds like you are above all that and only post to spout off your “superior” knowledge, which, by the way, is minimal. You have called people’s opinions garbage, etc. So obviously, you don’t value what the others are saying. I’m so glad you have removed all doubt that you are a troll. Now I can ignore you and not feel offended by anything you say. I will just consider the source and go on from there. You will be on my list of trolls, along with ILMC and lgm…creep.
As I stated in a previous comment, I had to look up who this guy was. The page I looked up had falsely stated he was a Dem. and thus, I mispoke. I retract my statement concerning his party affiliation, but not necessarily concerning about how you can usually tell who the party is.
In the past, if there is something stupid or foolish or embarrassing done by a Dem., the MSM will conviniently leave off his affiliation, unless it is a Republican, when they will make it known at every chance they can. This, however, seems to have been the exception to that rule, and I never have a problem admitting when I have made a mistake…thus I apologize and will make a better attempt at finding things like this out in the future.
My bad.