Liddy: some 'distasteful' bonuses will be returned
Edward Liddy, chairman and CEO of AIG, told a congressional panel this afternoon that this morning he asked those who received more than $100,000 in highly controversial bonuses to step up and return half of their payments.
Departing significantly from his prepared testimony, Liddy said that some employees have already agreed to give up their entire bonus.
Liddy said that he shares the public and political anger at the "distasteful" bonuses given to the employees who almost drove the insurance giant to ruin.
But trying to calm the furor over the bonuses, Liddy said the payments were necessary to keep the people who can best extract the company from the risky bets that nearly bankrupted it -- and to make sure that taxpayers get repaid the $170 billion and counting in federal aid and that there is not another financial meltdown.
"No one knows better than I that AIG has been the recipient of generous amounts of government aid," Liddy testified.
The unit that caused the problems has taken $1 trillion off the books, but there is still $1.6 trillion to go, he said.
"I'm trying desperately to prevent an uncontrolled collapse of that business."
AIG paid $220 million in retention bonuses in the troubled financial products division, including $165 million in payments Friday that ranged from $1,000 to $6.4 million. New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo reported that 73 people received at least $1 million.
Before leaving for California, President Obama said the AIG bonuses have been consuming attention and "rightfully so."
"They represent what all of us consider an inappropriate use of taxpayer funds," he said on the South Lawn of the White House.
But he said that just as outrageous is the "culture of greed" that led to the bonuses and the meltdown that is forcing the federal government to "clean up AIG's mess."
He said he has spoken to Representative Barney Frank and met with economic team to fast-track legislation to create a body -- similar to the FDIC for banks -- that would protect consumers and creditors of financial firms like AIG.
Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, asked Liddy to submit the names of those receiving the bonuses, but the CEO said he would only do so if they stayed confidential.
Frank replied that he would not agree with that restriction and would ask the committee to issue subpoenas for the information.
Liddy said he wanted to comply, but feared for the employees' safety, reading one of the threats he said had been received that talked of executing the workers with piano wire.
Representative Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts was among the most aggressive in grilling Liddy.
When Liddy said he took offense at the attacks, saying he wasn't at AIG when the retention bonus contracts were set last March and he would have done them differently -- Lynch replied that offense was intended.
Lynch said many of his constituents have lost nearly the entire value of their retirement plans and are appropriately outraged that some of those responsible for the market meltdown are receiving extra pay.
Earlier, Frank didn't sound too optimistic that angry members of Congress will get what they want.
"Well, I don't have a lot of confidence in Mr. Liddy's view at this point," Frank said this morning on CNN. "When he said that first he couldn't get the money back because they had contractual rights but also that he was worried about not retaining them, it left me unconvinced he's really going to be trying.
"The notion that we want to retain these people, that we want to pay the people who messed it up in the first place so they don't leave, is just backwards to me. I think we would probably be better off if they did leave," the Massachusetts Democrat added.
Frank instead is pushing the idea of suing AIG to get the bonus money back, pointing out that the federal government owns a nearly 80 percent stake in the company after giving it more than $170 billion in aid.
"I still believe that we have a right legally to recover this, because we can assert our ownership rights and say, yes, you may have had a contractual right to a bonus but your rotten performance means you should forfeit it," he said.
He also complained about the bonus system at AIG, which he says rewarded employees who made the company money but didn't penalize them for huge losses -- the equivalent, he said, of heads you win, tails you break even.
Other members of Congress are promoting bills to tax the bonuses to recoup the money.
And Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who is facing tough questions of his own, told congressional leaders Tuesday night that one option is to deduct the bonus money from the latest $30 billion in federal help to AIG.
On CBS, Frank called that inadequate.
In an op-ed piece published in today's Washington Post, Liddy, who took over AIG last September, says he has seen "the bad side of capitalism" and says that "mistakes were made at AIG, and on a scale that few could have imagined possible."
In the article, which he is expected to echo in his testimony to a Financial Services subcommittee today, he acknowledges the anger at the bonuses but says they were necessary. "Make no mistake, had I been chief executive at the time, I would never have approved the retention contracts that were put in place more than a year ago. It was distasteful to have to make these payments. But we concluded that the risks to the company, and therefore the financial system and the economy, were unacceptably high."
Liddy also says that under his watch, total 2008 compensation for the top 47 executives at AIG was 56 percent lower than their total 2007 compensation. "My annual salary is $1," he writes. "My only stake is my reputation."
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Man am I tired of hearing and seeing Barney Frank. This guy has been knee deep in causing this mess. Seeing him beat his chest and point his corrupt or inept finger at anyone is preposterous. He says we should not retain those that help create the AIG mess, I agree. Barney should be cleaning out his office and going back to where he came from!
Dems fiddle while Rome burns. You are in charge now. LEAD. From Obama reading the wrong speech off a telepropter, to wasting time on the blame game, the Dems have shown they are in way over their heads.
You are in control of the presidency and both houses of congress, yet all they can do is blame others.
Seems like if Frank is that concerned, he should be among the first to resign.
The only ones not prosecuted yet are the ones doing the questioning today!
Barney Frank you fraud. How much of the bonuses went straight into your pockets!!
I read Mr Liddy's op-ed and I am left being suspect of his judgement. He needed to specifically explain why retention bonuses to former AIG employees were deemed necessary for the best interest of the company. Because that action is so suspect I am reluctant to accept anything Mr Liddy says.
Now I am starting to question Geithner's judgement as well. Many prominent business and academic figures feel nationalization which Geithner demurs to do. Apparently so far Geither's deference to the banking community does not seem to please shareholders in general as stock market action demonstrates. I am a strong Obama supporter who is starting to question whether Geithner has the capability or will to change the thinking in the financial industry. I do not like what I see and AIG brought it to my attention but I have had an uneasiness about Geitherner before this.
Public campaign finance. Cheaper than a bailout.
So Barney Frank says that the people at AIG who engineered the failure of their company should not only not be paid retention bonuses but that they should be terminated. Since the government (taxpayers) now owns 80% of AIG there is no reason to be believe that these contracts should not be abrogated.
Webster's:
1.To abolish by authoritative action
2. To treat as nonexistent
I concur with his perception.
However I will invoke the same logic to members of Congress. Since you people in the House and Senate Committees created the legislation which has allowed this catastrophe to occur should you not be held to the same level of responsibility? Thus far I have heard no one in either one of these committees, or any member of either legislative body, stand up and state that the initial blame lays with Congress.
In the overall picture we, the taxpayers, are the cause of this mess simply because we continue to return these incompetent, self serving nincompoops back to Washington to "supposedly" serve the people of this nation. We should have learned by now, regardless of party, that this has become nothing more than a "government of the politician, by the politician and for the politician."
We have now left the dock with President Obama (Captain) - Harry Reid (First Mate) - Nancy Polosi (Navigator) and Barney Frank and Chris Dodd (Damage Control Officers) on the "Ship of Fools." This crew is going to make the sinking of the Titanic look miniscule.
How do these greedy, narcisstic top executives live with themselves? It must be that they have no integrity because they are stealing from the taxpayers. Total SCUM.
Vic, what is your better alternative? It would seem to be the best of all worlds that a new CEO agrees to work for $1.00 while getting stock options as compensation. If you think it through, you'd realize that it also means he's working for free (actually less when you consider what he could be making elsewhere and the lost opportunity) but will be rewarded, as is appropriate, IF HE TURNS THE COMPANY AROUND (because the stock price will then appreciate). That seems to be the right course--he gets nothing if AIG fails; he gets rewarded if he turns it around. What plan would you have to attract talent otherwise to try to save a sinking ship?
Basically, Obama and his team screwed-up. They put this guy Liddy in charge and he is incompetent and does not understand his new owners and his master - We the people own his ass and his company. Therefore, I vote to fire this idiot. I have been a ceo and the first thing I would do is fire a couple of the large bonus guys and then gently ask the others to sign docs canceling their bonuses. Another avenue is to simply nullify them as the bonuses were predicated on false revenue. Please not that if I buy through a solid contract a stolen painting, I don't own it. This is stolen money. After firing Liddy, we need to fire congress and replace those idiots and in particular Nancy Pelosi, who rather hang on to power. than help the country
Barney Frank, Tim Geithner, and Chris Dodd should resign. They are the architects of this bailout. Take some responsiblity for once in your lives.
I'm waiting for CONGRESS to take responsibility.
Sure AIG should not have given out the bonuses, buy the media have been reporting the bonuses for more than 6 months!
Seriously, there is a lack of READING in Congress and now they put on their best acting job and show surprise and shock that bonuses were paid out.
TAKE RESPONSIBILITY CONGRESS!!!! That goes for you BARNEY!
How many times are we going to hear these people just balme it on the previous adminstration? Liddy must have went to the White House playbook. Liddy was placed in charge because he is supposed to be so intelligent. He knew this was coming yet chose to do nothing. We should have let AIG fail and sell off it's assets. Then none of these people would have a job and we wouldn't be paying them 165 million dollars for being some of the country's biggest rip off artists. Who ever said crime doesn't pay. We should be putting these people in jail, but instead we offer them millions to undo the damage they did. What a racket! We should fire all of them, including Liddy. Then we should go to the White House and clean out that bunch. This is like a dog chasing it's tail. Mr. President, you are a flim flam man.
They'll be lots of angry looks and wrist slapping today!! And things will just go back to the normal way of operating!! The same happens in Massachusetts and Boston City Hall.
You people are just too GREEDY!!!!
Why should the taxpayers pay for your luxury living styles while many of us are trying to make a living?????
American politics, posturing and manipulating the public through the super wealthy elite controlled media is starting to look as sincere as World Federation Wrestling!!!!!! Americans have to realize that their $300. unemployent checks are taxed and these fat cats on Wall St. and in Washington don't report huge incomes!!!!! No one is being fined, no one is going to jail except the solitary Madoff and our "elected" politicians let the whole thing happen and now we the people, we the tax payers have to bail out the thieves of our stock portfolios and retirement plans who act and live like the greedy and pompous European nobility the U.S. was founded to put an end to.
Liddy's arrogant stance says it all: Wall Street is more powerful than Washington. The answer: Bankruptcy. Support A.I.G.? Support Wall Street? "NO WE CAN'T".
In a few months, I will be taxed for a package of gum that is worth 50 cents and the government didn’t think to tax a penny on the millions these executives received!?!
The government had no plans to tax the bonus money until the nation’s reaction to what was going on. The government is clearly not run by the people but by the financial companies that can flourish in their unethical practices as well as receive BILLIONS of our money after they squeeze the poor dry. Now politicians like Frank and Exec of the year, Liddy want to jump on America’s band wagon to join us in our disgust…only two words for them all _____ ____ (fill in the blank)
The American people are rightfully OUTRAGED that exorbitant rewards for criminal behavior have been plussed by corporate execs who have not only fleeced but insulted, without compunction, the hard-working people of this country. They have added to the already enormous disgrace this country has suffered by its many so-called leaders who should be called greeders. Shame on AIG!
Give them a bonus when they drive the company out of this mess. If they don't like it, then have them try to find another job! There are plenty of young graduates willing to take their places.
Joe at 11:22 AM has it right. The problem is there is little to
no accountability anymore in the system. The 'do what feels
good' and 'lack of responsibility' generations are in control
and the public in general are of like mind. This attitude takes
hold in the majority of indulged people. China would not allow
such as the AIG fisco to occur without punishment. The current
all-around situation does not speak well for America.
BARNEY FRANK SHOULD STEP DOWN NOW!! WHAT A DISGRACE.
Just let them file bankruptcy. They are going under anyway. All the good people will leave, and noone with a brain will work there.
BTW. Stock options have no value if the stock is worthless. The dems have no plan, all they can do is blame others. All of these guys got big contributions from AIG, most from the guys getting the bonuses.
"...But trying to calm the furor over the bonuses, Liddy says the payments were necessary to keep the people who can best extract the company from the risky bets that nearly bankrupted it -- and make sure that taxpayers get repaid the $170 billion and counting in federal aid."
Man, where do I start? It may be a legal decision to pay people these mega-bonuses, but it certainly isn't an ethical or a moral one. Also, re Liddy's comment above: why would you want to keep the people who brought the company to near-bankruptcy? I don't care what kind of "spin" he puts on this, the bonuses were wrong. My children will be paying for their mistakes for years. I say recoup the money and use it to address the important topics: health insurance, homelessness, hunger, etc.
I'm tired of hearing that capitalism doesn't work or that there is a bad side to it. This entire situation was caused by monopolies. How can a bussiness be "to big to fail" if capitialism is practiced? This is just another scam on taxpayers and we will float this and many more bills to come.
Congressman like Franks are worse than cancer to this country. The execs at AIG should be fired with their names and addresses leaked to the public. All the congressman involved in drafting this bailout legislation should step down, escpecially Franks, Dodd, Pelosi, Reid, and Geithner. Nobody, republican or democrat or independent, should be OK with this level of corruption and incompetence.
Liddy is full of BS. In this economy the financial industry, like every other industry, is laying off hundreds to thousands of employees. He wants me to believe that the same managers who put AIG on the brink of collapse are in such high demand that they will leave if they don't get bonus payments? If any other company hires them, we need to know so the public can pull their money from those firms and prevent a government bail out of those companies.
They are all in kahootz with AIG. From Obama to Geithner all the way down the line. This whole thing is just rhetoric. Nothing substantial is going to be done and this chit will continue until this country goes completely belly up. It's all greed and it starts at the top being Capitol Hill. It's that simple.
Totally time for another TEA PARTY! On the steps of the white house this time.
At any rate, as Jim Morrison once said. "I'm gonna get my kix before the whole chit house goes up in flames!"
It is strange that all of the post are blaming the current administration. Do any of you remember George? He and his "team" proposed the payments to these companies over a year ago and rushed the approval of 350 billion without so much as a single line of regulations. Have you forgotten how that administration could not tell anyone how the money was spent? Where was the outrage then?
Get off of the President. At least he is attempting to put some oversite in the process. I do agree that Congress is to blame and they should own up to their involment in this mess, afterall they approved the bailout and only started asking "WHERE"S THE BUCKS" now after their golden boy George was out of office.
Someone please explain how Frank at all culpable. His party had no power in the legislative body to which he belongs from 1994 till early 2007. I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure that the party out of power doesn't get to make legislation.
I think I'm missing something here.
The ETHICS envolved in this situation is a complete and total insult to ALL the American population especially my Grandchildren and their children. They will have to pay the price literally. Obama just rolls the money of the presses in Washington and hands it out rewarding those that caused this historical situation. I am a Senoir citizen and good part of my retirement is gone.
These bonuses were preserved - and even protected - in the bailout bill! This is a purely manipulative ploy by the WH to create outrage against the "dreaded private sector."
How is this whole AIG mess is looking as disgraceful as the Enron mess??
I was always under the assumption that bonuses were given for good performances. That sure isn't what happened at AIG. I think the names and faces of all these bonus recipients and how much each one got should be flashed on tv as well so we can all see who they are. I don't know how they sleep at night...but then again GREED knows no shame.
Dont worry, this is truly an important issue to President Obama. He is going to focus all of his attention on this AFTER he fills out his NCAA basketball brackets on ESPN tomorrow. Wow, AIG mess, priority number TWO!
Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, and Tim Geithner design and implement these bailouts and they are outraged at the outcome.
Come on America... time to wake up... these people are criminals. Get them out of office and positions of power, and let's start over.
AIG CEO is the Patsy here people.
AIG had the OK to get the money with no strings. They piss it away on bonuses. so what ?
Dodd, Frank, Geitner and yes - Dear Leader - Messiah Obama are to blame here.
When is Congress going to look at itself in the mirror? Never.
TEA PARTY APRIL 15 Boston City Hall
Likely China will replace America as the world leader soon enough.
We practically beg them to continue loaning us money to blow. We
allow corruption by leaders they would absolutely not allow, They are
also likely now to be more self-sustaining as a country than we are.
We can't even manufacture a can opener. Too bad.
And what about Obama and Dodd receiving over 100k in campaign contributions from AIG after this bailout?
Dodd himself wrote the amendment that allowed for bonuses to be paid.
Now he's shocked? Give me a break.
It's time for a real change. All new legislators and a leader who does not lie to the people that he works for.
Its time to investigate Barney Frank he has to go!!!!!!!!!!!!
EVERYBODY READ THE BOOK "CORPORATION NATION"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THESE COMPANIES SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN LEFT TO BECOME THIS LARGE AND POWERFUL IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT IS WHY CHARTERS WERE CREATED IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!! GOV'T SHOULD HAVE REVOKED THEM LONG AGO!!!!!!!!
WAKE UP AMERICA!!!!!!
THE GOVERNMENT IS IRRESPONSIBLE AND THEIR ATTITUDES AND POLICIES ARE UNCONSTITUTIONAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
F
D
LIQUIDATE THE COMPANIES, SPLIT THEM, OR
"The notion that we want to retain these people, that we want to pay the people who messed it up in the first place so they don't leave, is just backwards to me. I think we would probably be better off if they did leave," the Massachusetts Democrat added.
Barney should hold himself to the same standards and resign. Why does he keep gettting voted in. This happened under his leadership.
Barrack Obama, Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid voted for unlimited bonuses for AIG executives. Barrack Obama and Chris Dodd were the top two recipients of AIG campaign contributions.
This morning Barrack Obama implied "we had nothing to do with this."
Wake up America... we are being played like violins... time for REAL CHANGE.
Didn't 60 mins call Barney Frank that smartest man in Washington? So smart he didn't know AIG was going to throw our money down a rat hole...kind of like he was so smart he had no idea the was a male prostitution ring run out of his home.
Like him or not, Mitt Romney is the best man to handle the financial crisis. Obama can deal with the health care issues, but this recession may his undoing...I hope not, but Geithner is the wrong guy.
Swarley do some research
Barney Frank fought any and all regulations against Fannie Mae. He fought it before 1994.
So how can he argue that Republicans never did anything when he voted against any regulation attempts?
I'm just amazed that people and my district cannot see right through Barney Frank’s hypocritical banter . Can someone really tell me that Barney Frank is not partially culpable for this mess? Why do we continue to vote for this clown?? His grandstanding is making me sick. Wake up people!!
Why would retention bonuses be necessary in a field that has been rocked by layoffs and people are lucky to have whatever position they currently have? There can't be much for anyone who goes looking.
This is all just disgusting. AIG is disgusting and their actions are criminial. I'm a staunch liberal but shame on Congress for not putting forth enough measures to regulate the bailout money. Let's not forget though, that these conditions were shoved down our throats during the end of the Bush administration. Obama and the new crew and trying to clean up this mess. However, party lines aside, both Congress and AIG have come together to make two HUGE wrongs.
We own that company, don't we have a say in how it is operating and how they spend their money?
I am an Obama supporter who is beginning to wonder on which side is Mr Geithner. He has been doing everything possible to protect the bond holders and CEO's at Citigroup and other banks. What is his reticence to nationalize the banks? It seems to me that Geithner pays a lot of deference to the heads of these financial firms. What is he so enamored with? They seem more like the leaders of Enron than anyone else.
If this was a tactic by the WH to turn people against these CEO's I have seen no other evidence that they are distancing themselves from these people. Quite to the contrary, I wonder if they are in bed with them.
Anyone who thinks that this AIG affair is any different than what Citigroup, Goldman Sachs or Bear Stearns was doing has been asleep. Other than Geithner being complicit in this outrage this is the behavior of corporate America in 2009 and for at least the last two decades. Anyone saying otherwise is a stooge for the financial industry.
I just have to wonder will AIG ever be fixed. I do not think bailout money should be used to pay off foreign nationals or foreign companies.
You mean if I rob a bak, and get caught, I can offer to give half the money back?
Liddy's "compromise" is morally unacceptable, and coming from an arrogant tin ear unaware of the fury generated by this gigantic ripoff. We need business leaders who have an ethical compass enabling them to distinguish right from wrong...this guy functions on a third grade level.
If I was AIG I would just tell Congress to go pound sand. They (Congress) caused the problem and are still a part of the problem. Just let AIG close their doors and see what kind of tune Barrny Frank and co. will sing. An for all you people mad at corporations, hold on to your wallets, while you looking at this they (US Govt) are raping and piliaging in the other direction. There hate campign has you looking the wrong way.
This is NOT a negotiation Mr. Liddy--asking them to voluntarily return half is just another slap in the face. Just let AIG go down the tubes and the chips fall where they may.
Ahem. Resignations, please.
Too much self-preservation going on here.
Half back, sorry not nearly good enough, not by a long shot is that good enough.
We want it all back and we want it now. These people wouldn't even have jobs if it
weren't for OUR tax dollars, give it back and go away.
To factsNotficton -
Your theory is basically correct but is Liddy the most capable person to accomplish the task.
When he states that the bonuses are contracturally correct and there is nothing he can do about it that is nothing more than "passing the buck."
If he had any intestinal fortitude he would emphatically state that he will pursue any and all legal processes to not only refuse to pay the bonuses but terminate all who were accomplices in the failure. If nothing else there is something more important lost in this charade - morality. IF these bonuses are ultimatelly paid that will tell us of the ethics and morals of both the AIG folks AND THE CONGRESS PEOPLE WHO PERPETRATED THIS CHAOS IN THE FIRST PLACE.
Barney Frank and Chris Dodd should quit grandstanding and pointing fingers when they were the two most prominent perpetraters of the mortgage crisis when they blocked tighter control over Freddie and Fannie 2 years prior to this crisis.
The intelligence of both Washington, D.C. and Wall Street have been suspect for the past 10-15 years - their incomptence can no longer be hidden.
They have become nothing more than a "Sesame Street" with a like cast of characters.
MY APOLOGIES TO SESAME STREET AND BIG BIRD
Obama did some Clinton-speak today: "Demcorats didn't write the AIG contracts."
FACT CHECK:
1. AIG CEO who wrote the contracts was a Democrat who took office with the help of Democrat Spitzer
2. Democrats did write and voted for the AIG bailout bill that encouraged the bonuses
3. Democrat Tim Githner helped write the AIG bailout bill
4. Democart Chris Dodd submitted the amendment that allowed unlimited AIG bonuses
5. Republicans voted against the AIG bailout
Now that you know the facts, you can decide. You won't find these facts in the Boston Globe.
Swarley: pay no attention to Bbill and all the other coolaid-drinking wingnuts that have taken over the online letters here at the Globe. The anti-regulatory, let-the- corporations-do-anything, it's-all-the-unions-fault crowd have been pretty much running the show in the USA since Reagan, effectively controling government through a combination of Republicans and right-wing Democrats. Progressive Democrats, who include Barney Frank and, of course, the wingnuts' favorite target, Ted Kennedy, have had no power at all for the last 30 years.
It is this ideology which has transferred huge amounts of wealth from the middle class to the top one percent.
It's a joke to claim that the looser terms for mortgages in the last 10 years that let some lower income people buy houses they couldn't afford led to the current meltdown. The 35-1 leveraging of the hedge funds and other financial ponzi schemes are what led us here. The broken mortgages of the poor are just a sideshow
Would this have happened if it wasn't such big news? Doubtful
Hey, I agree that bonuses should be tied to personal performance and company performance so- in the case of AIG- paying these sorts of bonuses in most cases is outrageous.
However, has Barney Frank every worked a day in his life? Barney wants to bail out everyone who made a stupid mortgage decision but wants to take back money from people whose company has failed? I don't know of any job where you earn a negative bonus if your company fails. You might not earn commission but they don't take money back. Not to mention that Barney isn't giving back any of his paydespite being responsible for a whole lot of the banking mess.
Maybe Barney can introduce legisation that states when people are laid off a company can bill the employee for pay already earned.
oscarbozach -
Thanks for some facts. I think what you wrote is generally correct. Geitner was definitely in the room when the AIG bonuses were decided. No question about it. The rest is dead on.
I hope conservative and liberal ideologues will start using facts. This whole mess is a screw-up by both parties but the Dems seem to have been the major culprits in this meltdown. I blame the Republicans for not speaking loudly enough and not blowing the whistle while their friends in business stole everything but the kitchen sink, but Dems like Frank and Dodd effectively helped businesses, government agencies, and home buying idiots rob us. They opened the door, gave these thieves the vault combination, turned off the alarms, and drove the getaway car. It's too late to claim they did not see the robbery happening.
Everybody is mad and everybody (especially Barney F) is at fault. Barney was one of those bank armtwisters that caused this mess by leaning on the banks to loan people money for houses they could only afford if real estate valuses never dipped again. This is the source of the issue. What AIG was drink the congressional koolaid that Barney and his Washington fraud friends were making in the back rooms of congress.
FIX the problem Barney and stop pointing fingers unless you happen to be looking in the mirror
BBill, your position is that he voted against bills that the majority of congress also voted against, so therefore he's soley responsible? I've heard this argument going around from the conservative side, and I'm having trouble figuring it out. He voted with congressional Republicans, no? If he voted against congressional Republicans, then why didn't they just override the minority vote, especially since they had control over the entire government? I'm not arguing for or against anyone, I just am having trouble with the logic.
I'm not sure what what happened before 1994 is all that relevant to this particular discussoin.
Congress should modify the 2009 tax law that ING paid bonus to their employee or contractor, the tax rate will be 100% to recovery this greedy and unjustified payment.
Congress should modify the 2009 tax law that ING paid bonus to their employee or contractor, the tax rate will be 100% to recovery this greedy and unjustified payment.
I just did a search to see when Barney Frank is up for re-election so we can get this fool out of office. My search came back with results for him, and for Barney the dinosaur. Isnt that kind of funny... they're both dinosaurs, have been singing the same song for years, and they both need to go away.
Lynch is outraged? This from a slimeball who skipped out on his student loans!
EVERYONE:
THIS IS NOT A REPUBLICAN/DEMOCRAT ISSUE - THIS IS A STUPID POLITICIAN, CORRUPT GOV'T ISSUE!!!!!!! THEY ARE ALL TO BLAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ITS TIME THE CITIZENS IN THIS COUNTRY CONSERVATIVE OR LIBERAL, STOP BLAMING THE OTHER SIDE AND INSTEAD BAND TOGETHER AND THROW THEM ALL OUT OF OFFICE !!!!!!! WHEN WILL WE REALIZE WE ARE FIGHTING OURSELVES WHILE POLITICIANS CONTINUE TO RUIN OUR LIVES??????
START VOTING FOR PEOPLE WHO WILL MAKE A REAL DIFFERENCE, INSTEAD OF DOING WHATS BEST FOR THEM AND THEIR CRONIES !!!!!!!!!! CONSIDER THIRD PARTIES, WHATEVER IT TAKES!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WHO'S WITH ME!!!!??????????
Liddy is correct, the onlyhing at stake is his rep. He put in an immpossible situation. By Bailing out AIG, the government endorsed the cullture, and the employees there know they will not be allowed to fail no matter what they do. And you cant fire them, because they are the ones who built the system and are needed (at least for a while) to right the ship. Firing them, or allowing to many of them to leave would further cripple the companies ability to stay afloat. Its F'd up to be sure.
The beauty of this mess is that it proves none of these clowns read the stimulus bill. Good job Mr. President ramming the bill throught. No need to read it.
How are these bonuses any different than all the pork these high and mighty politicians have thrown our way?
Nate, your keyboard has a nice button the middle on the left-hand side which says "Caps Lock", go ahead and give it a click. I think you might feel better.
Senator Barack Obama received a $101,332 bonus from American International Group in the form of political contributions according to Opensecrets.org. The two biggest Congressional recipients of bonuses from the A.I.G. are - Senators Chris Dodd and Senator Barack Obama.
The A.I.G. Financial Products affiliate of A.I.G. gave out $136,928, the most of any AIG affiliate, in the 2008 cycle. I would note that A.I.G.’s financial products division is the unit that wrote trillions of dollars’ worth of credit-default swaps and "misjudged" the risk.
Greed Is Out
Greed is out,
Yes, yes, let’s shout,
Again and again:
Greed is out.
Let’s spout, let’s shout!
Realized pain
And unrealized gain
Are not taxable.
Charitable contributions
Are deductible.
No stock options!
The Stock Market
Lost its jacket
And its pants.
Common sense
Must prevail.
No bail, no bail,
For the crooked billionaire;
It is just, it is fair
To lock him up
‘Cause he is at the very top
Of the super-kleptomaniac list.
He is a mad genius;
He killed telepathically,
And he loved fame and money.
What a disgrace!
What a dishonest face!
No bail, no bail,
For such a whale!
Stock him in jail,
Squish him in hell,
Greed is out,
Let’s spout, let’s shout!
Copyright© March 2009, Hebert Logerie, All Rights Reserved
Hébert Logerie is the author of two poetry books:
“Sparkles of Love and Etincelles de l’Amour”
Wow Oscar, as usual you are 100% twisting the facts. Nearly everyone agreed that AIG had to be saved, but you conviently left that out. Not all republicans votes against the bail out bill. Please state your facts.
Lets see, Rethuglican Phil Grahmn write the bill that deregulates the markets in which AIG insured. So the Repthuglicans are just as much to blame as Frank.
I'm with Nate. And let's start with Barney F. If we send him back to Washington then we have no one to blame but ourselves. "You get the government you deserve."
So some (most) of these top executives are being bribed, handsomely, to stay with AIG? Hmmm. I'm glad that I
1) Have a simple checking account
2) Have a simple savings accounts
3) Do NOT own a home
4) Own my car
5) Owe nobody ... anything! Not you 'average' 53 year old, but I'm solvent.
Not
No
but are they still on their way to PRISON???
Why is it when someone steals TICTACS they go to jail but when you rip off EVERYONE and CONTINUE TO DO SO you don't get any jail time?
Return HALF the bonuses??? Isn't that like a bank robber returning half the stolen loot?
Thanos73, talk about twisting facts. Which one of my facts is inaccurate?
Who embarrassed Massachusetts more today??Frank or Lynch??
Rep. Stephen Lynch is a fool. His deliberately obtuse, contrived anger at the hearings merely confirmed that Congress is populated with grandstanding buffoons. Liddy didn't write or approve the retention contracts..............got it Mr. Lynch?
Thanos73 you reallllly need to get your facts straight buddy
What??? That is crazy!
They should ALL return the bonuses! Not just the ones with bonuses over 100k.
No one should have accepted them in the first place.
Hey, The focus should be on Frank, and others who created this scenario. DO you really want a government that will give money to some companies, and not to tothers? That will write special laws to overly tax individuals? Even if none of this passes, don't focus on AIG: focus on the brainiacs who voted on a bill they did not read, started to pick and choose favorites in the economy, and now that someone out scammed them, legall, I might add, they go after them. God forbid you say something negative to Frank. It soulnd like he would bend every rule to bring the force of the government down on your head.
I'm not an economist, but wouldn't the best way to stimulate the economy be to double these bonuses since they will be spent in a manner that will put money back into the economy better (luxury cars, real estate, stuff) than it going back to the government to waste half of it?
I hate the idea of rewarding bad performance, but I'm more worried about my own financial well being than my own principles on this issue.
Once again members of the Mass. Congressional delegation in this case, Mr. Frank and Mr. Lynch exhibited arrogance, grandstanding and a total lack of respect toward a witness appearing before a committee. I wonder if they would work for $1 per year as Mr. Libby does? I/m glad I moved to New York where I can still root for my Mass. sports teams without dealing with the politicians.
The tax should be about 105 %. So that way they would not be able even get the interest on the money and for benefit of having the funds till next April .
Let's see the people power - if the public, insurance brokers and corporate buyers simply stop placing and renewing insurance cover and financial products with any AIG company until AIG have recouped all the bonuses - down to the last dollar - they would soon find a way of getting them back.
talk about toxic assets - all of these employees are seriously unhirable... no need for retention bonuses - when the only way I would hire them is if they figured out how to save the mess they created!
Obama did some Clinton-speak today: "Demcorats didn't write the AIG contracts."
maybe not - buy you as President of the United States of America should have read the fine print not once but twice before signing off on it.
I voted for you because you were going to bring change. You changed these peoples lives in a big way, they are laughing all the way to the bank. So much for change - or is change overrated.
liddy should provide a list of those AIG employees who return 100% of their bonus money. then those people who have been honorable can be celebrated; which is at least better than what we have now.
I watched the hearings on Capitol Hill today. Mr Liddy took some unfair criticism.
Sitting there watched that blithering idiot Barney Frank make a joke of himself.
They can’t blame Bush for this mess. This is democrat cooking all the way. All I can say is 2010 can’t get here fast enough. Those morons in Brookline will vote him again. What a disgrace. No matter how bad it looks a contract is a contract. I be dammed if I’d give any bonus back.
Maybe next time Frank, Dodd, Bella, Nobahma will read the stuff they are voting on.
This is discouraging when schools, town services, policemen, and firemen are facing huge cuts to meet state budget cuts and business men are reaping the benefits of million dollar bonuses. As a teacher who could lose her job over a $1 million dollar budget cut in my district's budget, I am outraged and disgusted.
So, should BF be taxed 90% for the years the mortgage market ran amok due to his actions?
Maybe we can tax his live in hooker 90% to help us out.
Why didn't any of these law makers read the Bill? I say fire everyone in congress and get some qualified people to manage our money! Unless you believe – “never let a good crisis go to waste”.. What a joke these people are.
In fact, it was a law approved by Congress in 2000 that allowed companies to place tens of trillions of dollars of these risky credit default swap bets.
After the 1998 collapse of Long Term Capital Management, a giant hedge fund that pioneered the use of derivatives, the Fed engineered a rescue to prevent the unwinding of risky bets from spreading to the larger financial system. That brought calls for tighter regulation of derivatives, including a push for greater derivatives regulation at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, led by a former Wall Street attorney named Brooksley Born.
But strong opposition to the proposal from then-Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan and senior Clinton administration officials sank the idea. On Dec. 21, 2000, President Clinton signed into law the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, which further eased restrictions on derivatives like credit default swaps.
“For at least 150 years, these sorts of gambling contracts were unenforceable if they weren’t traded on an exchange,” said Stout, the UCLA professor. “We eliminated 150 years of insurance regulation and derivatives regulation all in the name of rocket science and financial engineering.”
The new law cleared the way for an explosion in credit default swaps. In the first half of 2001, there were $632 billion in credit default swaps outstanding, according to the International Swaps and Derivatives Association. By the second half of 2007, that number was up 100-fold — to more than $62 trillion. Now, as the government tries to unwind the mess at AIG, much of tax money pumped into AIG has quickly flowed out to dozens of “counterparties” — the companies, investment funds, municipalities and others who bought credit default swaps from the insurance giant.
And I'm supposed to feel happy about this. I am being asked to defer my meager 3% raise until next year so I don't lose my job. How about I take only half..........
The people of the United States have been royally screwed by the private finance industry and the government officials elected to oversee this mess. Vote them all out.
Top two recipients of AIG political donations on 08: number one, Chris Dodd; number two, President Obama. All accounts, to include Dodd's, now have Senator Dodd, at the insistence of the Obama Administration, deleting language in the legislation that would have eliminated bonuses at AIG. Starting to get the picture? Yeah, Barry, politics will be different when you get to the White House....Put the blame where it belongs: Geuthner for being clueless, Congress for being complicit, and Obama for pretending to be a president. So, what's the pretender in chief's response to all of this? An appearance on Leno.....brilliant.
I'm amazed at how many people are angry at Liddy while giving the politicians a free pass.
In Sen Dodd's amendment to the stimulus bill he put in that bonuses promised before 2/11/09 are to be honored. Then this liar claims someone else stuck that in under his name. He finally admitted on Wednesday it was he who put that provision in his amendment. Why are members of Congress and the Senate going after Liddy? It was the government that came to him to unravel the mess at AIG, and he's doing it for $1.00 a year. They should be going after Christopher Dodd. Even Obama knew about this. If Obama kept his campaign promise to post legislation on the White House website for 5 days before signing it all of this would be a non issue. Instead, the Democrats voted for an 1100 page spending bill that will exceed a trillion dollars and not one of them in either house read the stimulus bill. Then Obama signed the bill, also, without reading it. $165 million is a drop in the ocean compared to the $9 billion in pork that those parasites gave themselves. We deserve the government we voted for. No matter how arrogant they are we keep voting them in and that's why they know they are ABOVE THE LAW.
Barney Frank should dtop grandstanding and listen. This would be a novel approach. Would be more effective than insulting those who testify. I am ashamed of him.