Archive » AIG

Goodbye, sir!

The WSJ broke the news on Friday about Obama’s new “pay czar,” Kenneth Feinberg.
His official title as executive-pay-limiter-in-chief: Special Master of Compensation.
Can’t wait to see his logo.
Next up: Obama appoints the…
…Distinguished Overlord of Oxygen Intake (to limit individual human carbon emissions);
…Royal Captain of Calorie Consumption (to limit weight gain and end obesity);
…Exalted Diva [...]

Gulp.

Scroll for updates…

85 House Republicans, I shall remind you again, voted for the AIG/CYA confiscatory bonus tax.
Some of them have learned their lesson, but not all.
Today, 10 Republicans joined the Grabby Hands Democrats in passing the new “Pay for Performance Act” — to curb “excessive” employee pay at financial firms that receive government bailout funds, [...]

Grabby Hands.

Asshats In Government.

Artifice in government.

And another one down, and another one gone…

My syndicated column today continues the theme I blogged about two days ago in the “Rule of the Mob” post. Keep an eye on next week’s G20 summit in London. Thousands of anti-capitalism zealots will be amassing there to intimidate and harass bankers. The vandalizing of the Scottish ex-banking executive’s home in Edinburgh is just [...]

Never mind.

Broken windows.

I mentioned in my liveblog of the POTUS/TOTUS show that President Obama got testy when asked by Ed Henry why his administration took so long to respond publicly to the AIG bonus botch. RCP clipped the video:

OBAMA: “It took us a couple of days because I like to know what I’m talking about before I [...]

Cooler heads have prevailed in the U.S. Senate and in this particular case, it is a good thing.
The Senate took its role as a deliberative body seriously and has buried the demagogic, backside-covering corporate bonus tax bill passed last week by the House. They’ve kicked the can down the road.
The Hill reports:
President Obama and [...]

Bonus-tax boneheads.

Now what?
Last week, the Obama administration brought us a $1 trillion Federal Reserve magic trick hatched by the David Copperfield School of Economic Recovery — printing up a trillion bucks and “pumping it into the U.S. economy”…by buying up bonds and mortgage securities…sold and backed by the government.
Today, hapless, truth-challenged tax cheat Treasury Secretary Tim [...]

My syndicated column today tallies up all the craptacular spending that’s been going on while the AIG-bashing hypocrites on the Hill crow about $165 million in corporate bonuses none of them bothered to stop before they rushed to fork over billions to AIG in the first place. I mention the little-noticed $6 billion GIVE Act, [...]

You can find the full roll call vote on HR 1586, tax cheat Charlie Rangel’s ass-covering, after-the-fact AIG bonus tax here. I have broken out the 85 Republicans (led by GOP Minority Whip Eric Cantor) who voted with Rangel and the Democrat demagogues.
Because you should know:
Aderholt
Alexander
Barton (TX)
Biggert
Bilbray
Bilirakis
Blunt
Bono Mack
Boozman
Brown (SC)
Brown-Waite, Ginny
Buchanan
Calvert
Camp
Cantor
Cao
Capito
Cassidy
Castle
Crenshaw
Davis (KY)
Diaz-Balart, L.
Diaz-Balart, M.
Duncan
Ehlers
Emerson
Fleming
Forbes
Fortenberry
Frelinghuysen
Gallegly
Gerlach
Goodlatte
Guthrie
Heller
Herger
Hoekstra
Johnson (IL)
Jones
Kirk
Lance
Latham
Lee [...]

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If you haven’t been watching the AIG bonus debate in the House, you really should tune in.
Barney Frank is shrieking. Jumping up and down over parliamentary procedure. Blaming Bush, Bush, Bush, and then attacking GOP for “partisan attacks.”
John Boehner just finished statement: “Are you kidding me? This is joke. Vote no.”
Very effective: Almost [...]

Grabby.

Fall, fall on your sword, ye Purveyor of Hypocritical Indignation.
Via CNN, unscrupulous borrower and No. 1 AIG benefactor Chris Dodd admits that yes, yes, he did support AIG bonus protections before he was against them:
Senate Banking committee Chairman Christopher Dodd told CNN’s Dana Bash and Wolf Blitzer Wednesday that he was responsible for adding [...]

Update: Allah’s got video. Ditto what Allah says about Frank: “What a wretch.”
I noted in the public flogging liveblogging below that Rep. Barney Frank rather flippantly dismissed the death threats against AIG executives.
Edward Liddy read this threat, after which Frank smirked, “I am not persuaded:”
All of the people should be executed with piano wire around [...]

Code Pinkos scolded, Barney Frank on a witch hunt. Ackerman: “Cut your losses.” (Photo credit: AP/YN)

Ed Morrissey: If AIG’s retention bonuses are a problem, why aren’t Freddie Mac’s?
Barney Frank was unavailable for comment…

Boogie while the Beltway burns.

My syndicated column today looks at the award-winning performances of Washington hypocrites outraged by the AIG entitlement beast they nurtured through four massive bailout infusions. For added comic relief, be sure to read through the entire transcript of Robert Gibbs’ press briefing yesterday. (It’s been sanitized. Just add 25 “ums” during every exchange on AIG [...]

Bob Owens keeps his eye on the ball and breaks it down:
Barack Obama’s lack of leadership in a down economy has now hit crisis proportions, as his claimed inability to block millions of dollars in bonuses for executives of bailout recipient AIG has caused even his supporters to turn on him.
But while the ire of [...]

A suggestion from reader Richard W.:
Michelle,
I don’t understand why AIG doesn’t just borrow the same approach Obama took to defending the $410B pork-laden spending bill he just signed in private. Seeing as how the bonuses were earned for work done in 2008, AIG should just call the bonuses, “Last year’s business” and make all [...]

Nice trick: Eleven AIG employees received $1 million retention bonuses — and then left the company after collecting the cash to keep them there.
How do I get in on a deal like that?
***
See comments below on timing of bonuses. Point taken.
See also: A reader advises AIG to take a page from Obama.
Related: Alan Reynolds [...]

Calling bull.

Kabuki Theater of Outrage, Act III. Unscrupulous borrower Sen. Chris Dodd struts on stage. Fox Business reporter Rich Edson turns on the spotlight:
Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) on Monday night floated the idea of taxing American International Group (AIG: 0.9768, 0.1967, 25.21%) bonus recipients so the government could recoup the $450 million the company is paying [...]