The AIG Bonus Tax: “Give the money back or we’ll take it away”

They should tax the Hell out of them Same thing when The little People get Bonuses From their Jobs their Taxed!

This will only be the beginning of knee-jerk Congressional reaction to the AIG scandal.
Someone will make a play to get all of AIG’s bailout money back..
http://www.political-buzz.com/

I’m very afraid of the rhetoric coming from Chuck Shumer and Harry Reid. This is the start of confiscatory tax policy which will hit every one of us in the years ahead. This is the type of talk which ushers in the unwelcome and disasterous loss of freedom for each and every one of us. Remember, if they do it to those working for AIG, what makes you think they won’t do it to you.

How about a 91% “Millionaire Congressman Tax”?

Our Government proves to me more and more each day, what dumbasses they are.
If they had not been so busy running around looking up screaming “the sky is ffalling” and thinking they needed to pass the Tarp crap so fast, MAYBE, just MAYBE, they would have taken the time to put some rules blocking this.
NOW, how much money is Congress wasting sitting around trying to do something about this.
IDIOTS.. Our Government of Idiots.
Maybe we should TAX ALL OF CONGRESS and the President for being STUPID!

No way are those arseholes getting that bonus money…..

@Clint,
Under the rule of LAW, what you going to do to stop them?

Perfect, we gave them the money we can take it away … That is a great idea, they are trying to find ways to have their cake and eat it to, corporate welfare (bailouts) has to end no more free rides.

For those that saw my comments yesterday, here is what I wrote then (evidently the loony-left liberal d-crats were listening, since this is EXACTLY what they have now proposed!):
These obscene bonuses are very easy for the tax-and-spend loony-left liberal d-crats to “fix”.
Simply impose a 100% tax rate on theses bonuses, retroactive to date of first payment. (NB: this is the rate the pelosi-hussein regime will eventually apply to everyone to pay for their socialized heathcare plan.)
D-crats love to tax you to death, then tax your death, while wasting your tax dollars on cr*p. But, like loony-left liberal d-crat TAX CHEATS geithner, rangle, olbermann, daschle, killifer, solis, kirk and millions more, they hate to pay taxes, and they’ll cheat the government out of every penny they can.
So, to ensure they get every penny of the bonuses, the loonies also need to make certain the recipients don’t “geithner” them, like they do.

Chuck Shumer should give his pay back for stealing from the taxpayers. Remember if we OK a tax on one group it’ll be another group after that. The government does not and should not have this kind of power.

the dems are doing the only thing they know how… tax, tax, and more tax
they look so stupid and impotent.
this is the most embarrasing moment in our history.
for the first time in my adult life i am really not proud of my country!!

Linda,
Do you have a better idea on how to get the 160 million out of them? Like a typical republican critisize without a solution.

Here’s what I want to know. These guys are super rich. People that rich have politicians for friends. What politicians are friends with these guys? Which ones took campaign money from these guys? Why aren’t the polititions that know these guys personally speaking up. Why are we not putting pressure on there political buddies to get them to give the money back?

Isn’t this what Hitler’s S.S. told the jews in Germany? Give us your bank accounts, houses and businesses or we’ll take them away?
I may disagree with xecutive bonuses, but I don’t want anything to do with a government that thinks it’s perfectly all right to use government power to abuse people simply because they work for a company the government doesn’t like.

Chad, Dodd did not write bonuses into the bill.

Bush and his Repig Congress has borrowed and spent for years…not on healthcare, education or the environmet but on his ridiculous war with no bid contracts to his donors the have mores and tax cuts for the rich on the backs of the middle class.
The Bailout, Tarp was Bush, Bernake and Paulson voted for by both parties including McCain who of course waited till 150 Billion in pork (from rum makers to corporations in America Samoa)was added to buy the Repig votes.
Now all of a sudden the Conswines want to look fiscally responsible even though 40% of the pork in the BUDGET is theirs hahahahah.
Nationalize the banks or let them go under. I notice they still have a lot of money for lobbyists. The “Bankruptcy Abuse” bill Bush signed was written by lobbyists much like his energy policy.

Is there any rupublican on this blog that has any ideas on how to get the 165 million back? I see plenty of critisizing going on, but no ideas. There are a lot of incorrect facts being spread around on who gave them the money and what the new bailout bill says they can do with the money.
The Fed gave them the money without congress approval.

to texas outlaw (which i totally doubt you are)… no, i say let them keep the bonuses, it is what our lawmakers allowed when the stimulus bill was passed and it should be honored. the time to lock the barnyard gate is before the cows get out. if you were actually a texan, you would know that. sorry. and stop calling me a bad name, as I am not a republican, but a true conservative.
by the way, texan, if the chief executive officer of the united states, aka obama, aka barrie sowetoro doesn’t think he has to honor our laws, it will happen that people everywhere will begin to lose faith in our nation’s ability to do anything or at least that’s my opinion.

i can`t believe that the public even buys into this rubish. one big reasons these insurance buisnesses fail is because they stick everyones money “in the pot” for everyone to use including them.thats how they hide their theft also. they don`t keep a running balance of ever persons account. you could make payments for 10 years get in a fender bender and they still need a deductable?thats cause they spend even our money as soon as they get it.

Why wasn’t this policy or condition worked out before the bailout?
Oh, the conditions were worked beforehand by Senator Dodd? The AIG bonuses stay because of this people!!
Care to elaborate on this Senator Dodd or you Senator Franks? You both are basically the only signatories on our National checkbook along with Reid and Pelosi?
Let me just calmly say, if any one of you conduct business like this in a free enterprise market, you would be broke and wearing your ass as a hat and that includes you too Mr. Pelosi.
Politicians’, Meteorologist (TV weather) and Professors are the only professions or faux professions that allow one to be wrong 100% of the time and still keep their jobs, in fact get raises. How sick is this? That’s the question America….

LOVE – IT nothing like taxing a greasy fat old pig. Make them squeal… it makes me laugh that they finally found a way to beat a crook at their own game.

Cathy,
Dodd added an amendment to the $787B stimulus package that SPECIFICALLY PROTECTS THESE BONUSES! Notice the “exception” language in item 1 below:
Dodd Amendment Rules
1) Crack down on bonuses, retention awards and incentive compensation: Bonuses can only be paid in the form of long-term restricted stock, equal to no greater than 1/3 of total annual compensation, and will vest only when taxpayer funds are repaid. There is an exception for contractually obligated bonuses agreed on before Feb. 11, 2009.
2) For institutions that received assistance totaling less than $25 million, the bonus restriction applies to the highest compensated employee; $25 million to $250 million, applies to the top five employees; $250 million to $500 million, applies to the senior executive officers and the next top 10 employees; and more than $500 million applies to the senior executive officers and the next top 20 employees (or such higher number as the Secretary determines is in the public interest).
The false outrage on Capital Hill is sickening! Where is the Ethics investigation into Dodd’s actions!
Question: Which Senator received the most campaign donations from AIG? Anyone? Bueler?
Answer: Chris Dodd, of course, to the tune of $103,100 for the 2008 campaign cycle!

This is the slippery slope we’re on. First comes the bailout money (our money), then when the recipient doesn’t use the money exactly the way the government thought they should use it, then the government get’s all mad and passes 100 new laws further limiting free markets, freedom, liberty, etc. Once they pass this and bonuses are taken away, then they will move onto the next thing they spend it on… Bottom line: AIG should have been allowed to file for bankrupcy (that why we have bankrupcy laws) and we should let the market play out. No one is too big to fail.

ddmcd,
Why are they retaining people that failed to do their jobs. The latest headline pointed out the 77 people got at least 1 million each. That will take up the majority of the bonus money right there. There is still a question of Fraud here. You asked if Geithner should have known. There is still that question of wether or not the folks at AIG intentionally hid these contracts intentionally. If they have then there could be fraud charges made.

Bailouts for NO ONE! File for bankrupcy and re-organize. If you can’t make it, close up shop. The demand for the product won’t go away, it will be captured by someone else who will give success a try…that’s capitalism and that’s what makes our country great! We don’t survive because of the government, we survive in spite of the government!

Posted by: ddmcd1974 | Mar 17, 2009 2:26:11 PM You are pathetic some of these people aren’t even with the company anymore!
“Eleven of the AIG employees who were recieved so-called retention bonuses of $1 million or more are no longer with the company, according to a letter from New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo that was sent to Rep. Barney Frank.” CNBC

Brenda,
What would you do if they closed up shop and you could not get a job for the next three yrs. Could you afford your house? Would you loose everything?
If you don’t have these things then it is easy to say let it all go to he!!.
If you have these things to loose you should be looking for a way to fix it.

What AIG paid out in bonuses should be none of our business…and it would be none of our business except that the geniuses in Washington decided that they wanted 80% control of AIG. They gave them tons of our money with no stipulations. Now it’s turning into a clusterf*ck and they don’t know what to do. These poorly managed companies need to be allowed to fail!…to make room for others to more successfully take their place. That’s capitalism!

they can only take so much before the average person and lower class has nothing else to loose. then instinctively they could go into a survival mode. too bad these rich suites aren`t thinking bout that. things could get WAY worse as long as these lipservice lies continue to scue everyones perseption of the real problem at hand. credit cards, loans, plus checks arent anything but fake cash. when they are used improperly and we all know what that means. we have just simply created our own debt of off fasle money.

Fine give them their bonuses. When AIG returns to its original self and still doesn’t owe the American people the money for their bail out. When the money can come from people investing in the company of their own free will. Not from people who are only doing this to keep them from taking down the whole market

The funny thing everyone, is that Senator Dood is trying to cover his a$$ b/c he’s the one who put in the legislation that none of the executive bonuses were to be affected by the bailout! What a disgusting human being! I’m sure it’s George Bush’s fault though!
http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/finance/dodd-cracks-aig—time/

texan, your class envie is showing. shame, shame. do you know that much of the millions you speak of were “earned” by mortgage bankers who were forced by our Congress to lend to the subprime market?? this whole credit disaster had it’s origins in bad loans, forced upon the banks by bad public policy in a misguided attempt to level the playing field in America. the banks profited of course but it wasn’t their idea to go after those subprime markets. and the dems including Mr. “Acorn” himself, Obama, were huge backers of subprime lending so that more americans could have a piece of the pie, even though they were BAD credit risks in the first place.

Linda,
The lawmakers did not allow these bonuses in the bill. The fed gave them the money without congress approval.
The new bills that have been written since the new administration took over has stipulations in the bill to prevent this from happening. This is the misconception the is out there. That Obama’s people let this happen. These contracts are from last year. Obama and the bailout bills where not around then.
There is still a question of fraud. It is quite possible that the AIG officials hid these contracts intentionally. If it is determined they did hide them intentionally they there can be charges pressed.

Texas outlaw: First of all, if AIG closed up shop, it really wouldn’t effect me. However, if I worked for them and I lost my job I certainly wouldn’t wallow around for three years. This is America. If I couldn’t find a job, I would start my own business and earn a living doing something I could do well. It’s all a decision…you can either look at losing your job as “the end of the world” or as an opportunity to do something new. This is what makes America great and I’m really sick of all your “what if” scenarios. Recession?…no thanks, I’m not participating. I’m taking what is great about this country and using it to better myself. So, go ahead and wallow in your gloom and doom, I’m not interested.

Ever hear of a contract? These are not bonuses they are salary guarantees made in advance by contract. Chapter 11 would have seen no payments. We may not like it but if you value the free market and a man/woman’s word than you must honor a contract. Last time the government reached its long arm into people’s affairs in this manner we had a revolution and formed a democracy. The government is not above the law. Pity they were too stupid to think of htis before they gave AIG the cash. Where is the nearest tea party?

They should tax the Hell out of them Same thing when The little People get Bonuses From their Jobs their Taxed! >>>>>>
And Chris Dodd who put in the amendment to allow this to happen. YES THE DEMOCRAT CHRIS DODD who got BIG KICK BACK MONEY from AIG amended the bill to allow for these bonuses. Now either they dont read these laws or they are incompetent you choose.

Texas i see you ignored my second posting because i asked you specifics. You must be a liberal. When i ask or point out specifics they usually dont reply. Your a sheep. Stop being a sheep and think for yourself. Do not trust any of these clowns in office. They are all scum. From Lieberman to Dodd to Obama. They do want america the beautiful they want america the democrat or america the republican.

Texas do you know who unregulated teh credit default swap industry? CDS are what brought down AIG. It was Clinton

Why tax them? Make them give the money back! That’s OUR money to save caving institutions. They basically ripped us off for exec. bonuses. Excuse? I don’t pay taxes so that someone who makes more than me can get more of my money. Revoke the loan!

npage said you can’t “go after somebody” with a tax. Haven’t we heard for decades that a higher rate on the wealthy is “fair” because “they can afford it”?
How about a flat tax on “disposable income”, defined as that remaining after health care, education, savings (unlimited) and a very generous personal exemption?
We’re headed for a revolution against Washington. The total incompetence of the ultra-left wing, inexperienced crooked Chicago poltiician (redundant) we elected, just because he was (half) black, will result in a revolt of some sort. I hope its non-violent. Like, say, a taxpayers civil disobediance movement equal to the civil rights movement. How soon?
Meanwhile, replace the baboons in the cabinet with the Marx brothers, Groucho, Zeppo, Harpo, Chico and Karl. OOPS! We already have that last one.

AIG informed the Fed of the bonus agreements in 2008- government lawyers had already reviewed the contracts and agreed with AIG that not paying was not feasible before checks were cut. No where does Obama admit that the government knew — he just sticks to the “looking at every legal possibility” to try and stay above the fray.
Shameless? The words and actions of the media and congress and Obama are shameless – people at AIG are receiving death threats and bomb threats. Most of the execs who created the problems have already been fired or left; the ones who are now quitting and/or not showing up to work are those who have the best chance of cleaning up the mess – hey, but who cares, when the sound bites of outrage resonate with a largely uninformed public.
Just remember, when violence erupts (and it’s likely to in this toxic environment), no one in govt or the media actually presented the facts or credited anyone at AIG (or any other financial services co) with actually being people trying to do their best by their company and their familiies.
In most cases, no laws were broken, and the choice facing decision-makers wasn’t “destroy the world economy or make money” It was a gamble – one that made a lot of money for a while and then went south. Want to blame someone – blame government officials and agencies which could have set rules (like requiring stronger cash to debt ratios, could have imposed new regulations on credit debt swaps/etc) and who could have used their public/media bully pulpit to raise awareness amongst investors and voters.

texan, did you ever hear of the Community Redevelopment Act, please read this:
http://ibdeditorial.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=306370789279709
this is what paved the way for the meltdown, plain and simple and it was Clinton who opened the flood gates which caused the flood that we are all drowning in now.

Question: Since we the taxpayer became 80% owner of AIG last year…..cant WE the taxpayer tell the CEO’s and the like how much money they get? Or that we have recinded these bonus’s due to poor productivity and mis-management of funds? If someone can answer this, that would be great! All I hear is that the Taxpayer is the biggest holder of most of these companies..if that’s true, then why are we allowing these people to still get a** loads of money??

By definition, BAILOUTS are a BONUS to ALL in the BAILOUT BUSINESSES. “In Debt We Trust.”

Sorry, irma, but once Congress got their hands on it and passed a bill on how to spend it it ceased to be “your”, “my” , or “our” tax money. As well demand that the NEA give back money because you don’t pay taxes to support art of which you don’t approve, or the military give back money because you don’t pay taxes to support an immoral war. Congress will have to find a way through the courts to get the money back and be more careful with throwing money away like this in the future, or trust that public outrage and boycotts will force the recipients to voluntarily return it. Trying to tax the money back from specific people – as opposed to classes of people – would never hold up as a lawful act as it violates the basic idea of equality under the law.

I think we have to be careful with this but I think the idea of a punative tax for those who act irresponsibly with public money (AIG would have not been in business to give these bonuses without the public purse)should have a confiscatory tax applied. I do think that this will still cost the American tax payer as the cost of pushing a bill through congress must be enormous.
I think people should also be informed that because of the enormous amount of poorly performing loans out there the regulatory offices of the Federal Reserve (OCC, OTS & FDIC)has in fact curtailed lending by requiring increased capitalization of these banks and thrifts. This is running counter to the need for banks to make loans to jumpstart the economy. Also because of the increased regulatory pressures faced by banks that have taken TARP money a group of these banks are on the verge of returning that money.

Michelle – These aren’t discretionary bonuses, they are tied to compensation contracts. A legal contract is a legal contract. Just because govt now owns 80% stock, doesn’t give it the right to overrule a contract between two other parties.

If they don’t return the money by voluntary measures,they will never live to enjoy it. Because they will be put in a higher tax bracket.Like i have said before this is a form of emmbezzlement.Tax them where it hurts until we get all of it back.

Also, have to agree that those retention fees that the government is currently trying to tax back and keeps incorrectly calling bonuses were on the books and the gov’t knew full well they were there. Now they are again playing stupid and I wonder if people will let them play the hero when they break every law getting the money back. On Tarp, it actually was very effective at creating lending and liquidity even if firms were unable to really use the Tarp funds. NOw the restictions that the government is placing on Tarp reciepients have become ludicrous and the firms want to give the money back but are not allowed. As for Bush and Paulson, at least they knew how to cut a good deal for the government. USA got the Warren Buffet deal out of Goldman. By the way Wall Street recovery already happening started in January will be slow and steady and see growth by 2010. meanwhile government will claim this glory as their own despite greatest attempt to stiffle it.

I support the tax.. I also support taxing all exec bonuses at insanely high rates. NONE of them deserve the immense welath they get. Compare Aerican execs with Execs from the rest of thw rold and you can see how insanely out of touch American execs are.
Nobody deserves th ewelth these guys make, nor does wallstreet i nthe face of so many others who don’t even have enough to get buy.
Screw them all… They deserve it, and I’ll even pick up arms to enforce it

ddmod1974, actually it was Phil Gramm who was the admitted and avowed and persistent advocate of deregulation, and who – in a Christmas coup in literally the last days of the Clinton administration – added back a section that virtually ensured that no regulation would encumber CDS.
Gramm stuffed it in the middle of a zillion-page bill that other Members had been assured was complete (which it was, until he stuffed the CDS protection back in). CFMA passed – with a number of members absent for holiday break, lied to by Gramm, at the 11th hour, in the last days of Clinton’s administration.
In 2000, Gramm refused have the Banking committee that he headed consider proposals to curb predatory lending, to the publicly-quoted delight of the National Mortgage Bankers Assn.
In his last 3 years in Congress – the years in which he blocked most regulation and investigation into credit practices from his powerful Committee chair, he was the top recipient of campaign contributions from commercial banks and in the top five for donations from Wall Street.
His wife, Wendy, can have her head on a pike in the town square as well. On two occasions, when she led the Commodity Futures TRading Commission, she approved rules exempting many swaps and derivitives from regulation.
Huh – and her husband was chairing what Committee again? And receiving his campaign contributions from where, again?
For complicity, she’s worse than Ruth Madoff.
~MM

My suggestion to AIG? Work harder to achieve the organization’s profitability so you can pay back government’s $117B bailout. AIG is also a taxpayer…like any large companies, it’s big taxpayer… AIG has been existing for many years…count the millions of dollars in taxes it paid to goverment for years and it never had any bad records of tax evasion…

I don’t care if its lawful or not to tax the bonuses away. What pisses me off, is if another business were bought out all contracts would be null and void. Why is it if your job is a white collar job you deserve special treatment. Think about the auto workers, it was a key demand by repulicans to lower wages, why not the same for all who ask for cash support.

I seem to remember that it was the Bush Administration that started all this bailout crap as well as the ones that initially sent the bulk of the money to AIG, BOA, Sterns and others with no strings attached. If anyone is to blame for allowing these schmucks to remain in their positions and do as they wanted with the bailout dollars, it’s that idiot Bush. Seems a bit disingenuous for “Republicans” on this blog to be blasting Obama & Democrats for what was instigated by the Grand Old Party’s President!

Brenda,
Pure capitolism does not work either.
If it where pure capitolism we would be like africa. 1% with all the money and the rest slaves to them. AIG is not the only financial institution we are having to help. Did you know that AIG has given a butt load of money to City, Merrill Lynch, and others with the money they got from the fed. So if AIG goes most of the others will too. If we don’t bail out AIG who else do we leave of the list? What makes you so sure that this country would not go to he!! in a hand basket if all these banks fail? Is there some report out there that shows you how we are going to recover. We are a democracy which has made laws to protect our liberties.
That is what I believe they are trying to do here. I do not want to live through a depression just because of pride. Life after all these banks fail would be a life with fewer opertunities and liberties.

the rich are hopefully squirming in their mercedes… the gig is up on the super rich who have been exploiting the rest of us for their personal gains… old school republican capitalism is dying a quicker than expected death… thankfully

Legal: I understand that a contract needs to be honored, but it seems that you are not doing your job too well, when your company ison the brink of collapse. If I sign a contract with my company that gives me a bonus for meeting my quota for the quater, with productivity up, then my boss should abide by the contract I signed. Now, if I dont meet my quota, productivity, etc, I am no longer going to get my bonus. Well, in this case a whole company is/was on the brink of total collapase..meaning…nobody did their job, nor do I believe that a company honor a contract when very clearly, the person who signed it did not hold up to their obligations..if they did, they wouldn’t have asked me to help prop up the instituion.

This is definately touchy on one hand AIG should have never given bonuses. But, they did. Now our Senate would like to impose a tax to single out those who recieved a bonus. Two wrongs never make a right. If they can do it to AIG they can do it to anyone. What happens when it comes time for the Big three auto companies or any other company to pay annual bonuses to its workforce. Now I am not talking CEO’s I am talking union or company workers that really make the company go. Are these bonuses to get taxed in the same manner? Should the people that depend on these bonuses to buy christmas presents or pay bills return them? My question is once you start this where do you draw the line. I realize we are talking millions of dollars to one person on one hand and then thousand to another on the other but its cumulative if you give 100,000 employees a 1000 dollar bonus you spend 100,000,000. Will we stand up for that??? I do not agree with what AIG did by handing out bonuses but should we punish the people who recieved the bonus or learn form this and punish the company later? Aren’t we supposed to be better than this????

Hey D9,
The decision to begin bailing out AIG was entirely bi-partisan, certainly commenced by the Bush Administration. Most conservatives, like myself, knew it was a bad idea and asked our Congressmen to oppose it, as well as all other bailouts. Unfortunately, Congress isn’t known for doing nothing — gosh, we must do something!!! So they did. And this is the result — a bottomless pit into which we continue to throw our children’s and grandchildren’s future prosperity. AIG should have been placed into receivorship where all contracts would have been fair game for revision. For Obama to say “there’s nothing we can do — our hands are tied” is a LIE.

mtr2311 – there’s about 70 trillion in asset back securities debt floating around, with some significant portion attributed to AIG. Is that big enough for you? That’s $$ that are on the books as assets to some and debt to others – wipe it out, and economies get wiped out.

All the Republicans screaming about these bonuses – and now decrying Congressional efforts to recover or recapture them by taxing them – seem to forget entirely that the AIG bailout was NOT designed and implemented by Democrats or by the hated Tim Geithner, but by Republican Hank Paulson. It was PAULSON – not the Democrats – who insisted that we hand $85 Billion to AIG without attaching any strings or oversight to it whatsoever! This $85 Billion was NEVER EVEN SUBMITTED TO CONGRESS: it was done quite literally OVERNIGHT by Paulson and Bernanke WITHOUT ANY OTHER INPUT WHATSOEVER!
If Republicans want to blame anyone for this AIG bonus fiasco, they had damned well better start in their own front yard!

This is a very bad idea. Read up on the history of the “Alternative Minimum Tax”. It was designed to target 150 people in the 70′s. Once on the books it has been tweeked over the years to apply to millions of citizens.
In the future, The govt will be taxing anyone that ever gets a bonus.
Again…. This is a very bad idea.

This administration is using the econamy as an excuse to push a bunch of meaningless, socialistic, unwanted programs onto the already over-burdened taxpayers.
Now, they want to shred what is left of our constitution? Somebody put a net over this bunch of loonies!

Bonuses should be based on profits and not on losses. They should be stoned for ruining people’s lives instead of rewarding them for poor decisions and business practices. Sounds criminal to me.

Umm Jordan Geithner was in charge of teh AIG operation for Paulson and Geithner is the one who recomended saving AIG via 85 billion. Paulsona nd Bush allowed Lehman to go under and would have allowed AIG but Geithner a NY man just like AIG is a NY company cried otherwise. Please review facts prior to shouting

I never said AIG got the money to help other banks. The fact is they are helping other banks. What I did say if we choose not to help them, then who do we help. If we help none of them we are going downhill fast. I don’t want to live in a depression.

ddmcd1974 – What’s dragging down the stock/value of companies like AIG, etc? Would it be having to report all those swaps at “market value” (which is less than 0 since no one wants to buy them)? And, would it also be the holders of those securities now calling on AIG to pay off on losses on the toxic ones?

It’s amazing considering all the fraud that has been committed with respect to the subprime mess…no one is being charged with white collar crimes.
Wonder why they didn’t out jewelry (handcuffs) with each AIG bonus check?

Tax the greedy hacks and give em’ the sack!

The Dems should really try thinking before speaking. This would never stand up in court and once you do a tax like this you have opened pandoras box. If we have gotton to the point that if Congress decides they do not like how someone is compensated thay will just pass a special tax on them then we are all doomed.

Someone explain to me why this company shouldn’t go bankrupt, please

Legal: First let me say, that I appreciate your information and that you and I can have a respectable discussion without it being vile and name calling…so thanks! :)
What I guess I dont understand fully is even if the majority of AIG was ‘doing well”, then why did those exec’s that were in the division that went almost bankrupt get bonuses. If it’s for the “stay we need you to help clean up”…nobody is worth almost 4 million dollars in bonus’s. Especially when their division was near bankrupcy. I just keep coming away from this “AIG” thing feeling sick. Here I am, tightening my purse strings, dont own a home, because I cant afford one, dont have kids, because I cant afford them, work my butt off everyday at work so that I can have some job security, yet here are these wa-hoos, who can bring a major corporation to it’s knees, expect the taxpayer who is already struggling, to help them financially.and then give out 1/4 of what we all gave them in bailout money…to those who seemed to run the ship aground. I’d be more pleased if the gave the mailroom guy or the bathroom attendent the millions in bonus. Just my opinion. Have a great day and enjoy St. Patty’s day. Nothing like a nice cold green beer, to at least take your mind of the news that keeps getting worse!

Texas Outlaw, — Would it be so bad to go bankrupt & start over?

texas outlaw, the problem is the plan was not thought through. the feds should be injecting money into the banks right now, but with some oversight and guidlines in place BEFORE the money is given out. This simply shows the inexperience of this administration and I just do not think that Bush reall cared at that point.

IDIOTS.. Our Government of Idiots.
Maybe we should TAX ALL OF CONGRESS and the President for being STUPID!
Posted by: ajax | Mar 17, 2009 1:45:57 PM
—————————————-
I guess W is bankrupt by now. My 8 year old is smarter than Bush,,hell Quayle is smarter than Bush.

Of course none of the news media is reporting just which political wh@res are on AIG’s payroll do ill do it for them:
1) Christopher Dodd who has only recently found his “outrage” – over $100,000 bucks of AIG bonus bucks into his personel pile – did he support the bailout – of course hat els is an AIG bonus recepinet expected to do
2) None other than the Messiah himself, Barrack Hussian Obamba – a close number two in terms of AIG bonuses bucks paid directly to him also in excess of $100,000. Does BHO suppot the bailout – of course
This is not entirely a partisan thing but let it be known the Democrats have received nearly tripple the AIG bonuses bucks than their “greedy” Republican foes have received – worth noting?
Wheres the real outrage?
Naw, you’re too stupid to figure it out

IOU, you think those ” best of the best” would bluff the second time by letting their own company to fail. If they are truly the best, let them show the taxpayers that they can drive their company above deep water. Evidently, they could not. We need not to be fear by these blackmails from AIG and the politicians who support them. I agree with some posters, if you carry some Univeral or Universal Varialbe Life policy, check into to it to see you can switch, cancell or borrowing the hell out of your cash value and invest somewhere else. Greed will drive AIG to the ground anyway. It is what it is,my brother.

Once again, you libs can keep blaming Bush. But the Dem’s have been in charge since 2006. They wrote the bills, they set the agenda and they did NOTHING that Bush wanted and you know it. We have been in a freefall since 2006 wonder why? Dodd allows the bonuses, then the public finds out and BAM! outrage…. and obama is running scared once again because he got caught dealing dirty. Hope this is the change you all voted for. OH WAIT, must be Bushs fault. Wonder when it won’t be bush’s fault anymore.. I thought obama had all the answers. He said he did in his campaign.

Washington is funny. BAILOUTS are a bonus to ALL in the BAILOUT BUSINESSES. Here’s an idea, give BACK to us ALL the bailout MONEY RIGHT NOW! “In Debt We Trust.”

the government’s stink over these bonuses is a diversion. The politicians are trying to redirect the public’s anger to someplace other than Washington. The truth is, if AIG fails our economy will tank fast. They know it, but they’re hoping you don’t. And they’re hoping that if they come out with all kinds of blustery rhetoric that people won’t dig a level or two deeper to find out what’s really going on.
If AIG goes under banks around the country will go belly up very fast. There will be a run on the banks. The FDIC won’t be able to keep up with the bank closings. It will be much worse than the 1930′s. AIG is the buffer between our current economic pain and armegedon.
The public’s anger is rational…but take a minute to think about the politician’s reactions, is it real or faked…take a minute to research and learn about why the government has kept AIG from sinking.

It kills me that Obama is furious about AIG getting hundreds of millions in bonuses and he says nothing about his hundreds of billions in pork spending.

Why not tell them to give it back or face the same charges that Bernie Madoff did.

Such bonuses are unconscionable. These bonuses should be heavily taxed if not returned to AIG. There is no reason to believe this would lead to more taxes for the rest of us–this is a common threat that the rich always make when their taxes are increased. The executives of many of the leading financial institutions have been looting the system for too long. Hopefully, their day of reckoning is coming.

For those that are calling for a Tax think about this.
The Head of AIG was appointed by the Government under the Bush Bailout. Obama had already given AIG another Bailout since then, obviously without enough stipulations about Bonus Payouts. So in order to cover the Politicians Butts they are blaming the Government appointed Head of AIG on how he spent the Bush/Obama restriction Free Bailout Money.
But this attitude that because it’s Tax Payer money that is given to this once Private corp with no oversight built in, and because they can’t just take it so they make a special tax is dangerous….
Whats next….People on Welfare that buy cigs instead of Food will get a special tax to take back the Money? How about Private Church schools that get Lunch assistance from the Government, should they get a special Tax because they don’t believe in Gay Marrage? Or the Student that gets Government Loans to go to College but doesn’t become a public servant, should the Government then Tax him since he didn’t do what the Gov likes?
Where does the Maddness End and Political Accountability begin?

Dodd wrote in the stimulus package protection for these AIG bonuses. Obama made a big show of signing that bill into law thus approving these bonuses. So why are they acting so surprised now when they were caught? I am so sick of the Obama amateur night show.

I would strongly recommend people contact AIG at https://securecontent.aig.com/contact-aig_20_19050.html and let them know exactly how you feel! I offered to take one of the 11 positions they now have open. I am sure I can do just as good a job as the “best and brightest” that they lost!

chris evelo: The AIG bonuses and any so called Pork are two unrelated issues. And besides, the pork belongs to Congress–they write the bills.

I think Forrest Gump is running the Government! Why don’t some of you legislators use your brains before you opening your mouths. The ONLY thing that could make this mess worse is MORE Govermental intervention! Geez, what a pack of morons- BOTH parties!

Wow Dan….sounds like you are into facism.
Punish those that don’t agree with you…
By the Way the Regulations that are there have not been enforced…hence the Problem. It’s Kinda like the Illegal Alien Problem…the Laws are there but no one is minding the Store.
Madoff was an outright theif….he didn’t even buy any stocks for years he was just shuffling money from one person to the next to make it appear there were profits….but if the Regulations already in place would have been enforced he probably would have been caught sooner.

There are alot of similar Pro Obama comments on here….I am going to have to check my e-mail and see if they sent out another Obama Call to Action for his internet “Army”…..
Last one said to show support for his ideas all the time and everywhere.(para-phrasing….but I wonder if there are New Marching orders…

PROOF that both parties acting together toward a common goal can actually do something right. They should also consider passing legislation handing out prison sentences for any attorneys who may want to help these AIG scumbags avoid the tax, that should keep them quiet. I dumped my AIG stock last fall and didn’t even realize enough to buy a friggin’ tank of gas!!

Sandcrab,
Yes, Senator’s Dodd’s plan to impose a 100% tax on the AIG execs’ bonuses would be unconstitutional under multiple provisions of that great document.
But, you know what? Senator Dodd KNOWS it would be UNCONSTITUTIONAL. It’s one of the oldest legislative tricks in the book. When you are feeling the heat, you propose a legislative fix that you know will not ultimately work, in order to deflect the public’s anger away from you!
Ah yes!….. Senator Dodd…… a great American……. a Patriot through-and-through. AIG is getting its money’s worth out of the campaign contributions they paid him!

Senator Grassley suggests that the AIG execs retire or commit suicide. I would suggest that option for the Congress since they were the ones that approved the legislation that exempted these bonuses from regulation.

So while we’re bailing out all these failed corporations, we’re expecting our military to use private insurance to pay for the treatment of their injuries. These are injuries received while on duty. This administration is a disgrace. We cannnot let them stick it to our troops.

Ah…I knew I liked you for a reason Common….is that the Party out of Florida? And what tea Party Protest did you go to?

This administration is worse than a disgrace, it is a farce. Jimmy Carter wasn’t this bad and Carter was WRONG on every count!

IOU,
These are fat cats if they are getting multimillion dollar bonuses. These are not the first bonuses these people have gotten. These people have money in the bank and in their many saftey deposite boxes. I havn’t heard on of them offering to give the money back. These people have to take some responsibility for the failure. I agree there may not be many others that can take their place, but they should not be rewarded for failure. Where is the insentive for success. Every other business I know of does not pay bonuses when the company looses money. What kind of Americans are they if they have to be bribed to keep their jobs and try to save our economy. There is more here then just what people have the right to do. It is doing what is right that is important. They have a right to the money, but it doesn’t make it right to take the money. I hate to say it but the senator that suggested they quit or kill themseves was kind of on the right track. There was once a word that was very important to citizens of this country that has been thrown out the window by the deregulating capitiolist.
HONOR!!!!! Doing what’s right even when you have the right not to.

Common: I was at the St. Louis Tea Party. We have 1500 people that day. Funny how the News gets it wrong..they reported only 400.
Are you guys using the Natioanl site to coordinate with others? WE are having one on Tax day as well.

This is all insanity. Who in their right mind would think that the brass of major corporations would act responsibly with taxpayers’ money when they don’t act responsibly with anyones’ money. They have all the money in the world now to fight whatever action that Congress takes in court, they’ll be fighting it with our money… 100′s of billions of dollars worth. Why isn’t someone organizing a huge march on The Capitol or the corporate offices of some of these companys? I know why, it’s easier to just sit at home a blog your anger away. No one with any clout reads the stuff we post in here, the internet is just a playpen unless someone finally gets angry enough to get out of their chair. If someone knows of any plans for a demonstration please let me know. That’s what we need in all this mess, a good old fashioned demonstration, it is our constitutional right after all. Unless the Patriot Act took that away and if we make enough noise they label us as terrorists. Freedom is only a word now without meaning or substance.

Why should the executives not get to keep the money? The money was given to them for NOT leaving the company.
If you boss gave you a contract for $1 million dollars for doing EXACTLY what you have been doing, would you NOT take it?
The horor here is that almighty government can’t keep it from happening again. It is too late this time, but we should be able to stop it in the future.

I guess it is safe to say that AIG is not going to get any future assistance from Washington!!!

http://www.taxdayteaparty.com
For the Little Revolutionary in all of us….

Hmmmmm…..guaranteed bonus money not tied to job performance – try asking your boss for that one!!! I thought that only existed in professional sports!!!

Why should we not pay these bonuses?
Contracts are binding. If we wanted to dissolve the contracts, we could’ve let AIG file for bankruptcy.
Congress screwed up by not taking due diligence in writing the TARP bill.
AIG made a similar bonus payment in December ’08.
The folks getting this $165 million in bonuses were responsible for generating $2.7 TRILLION in business for AIG.
They’re also responsible for assets in which a 1-day mistake could cost AIG (and us) $700 million or so.
Lastly, if AIG fails to honor this obligation, it could be construed as a “cross default” and AIG’s partners in the credit default swaps will have an option to bail out, leaving AIG (that’s us) holding the worthless paper, alone.

Oobo, check these out: marchforchange.org ourvoiceswillbeheard.org citizensforrealchange.org onemillionvoices.com

Texas – What do you think the corporate structure at AIG Financial Products looks like? CEO, a few EVPs and SVPs, and then workers – analysts, modelers, accountants, lawyers, traders, sales/biz dev, marketing pros, admin, IT, etc. Those retention agreements cover the gamut – presume you think only the ~10 people getting more than $1 million need to kill themselves or volunteer their services, but everyone else can stay alive but give back the money they contracted for?

BillyBob,
This money wasn’t given to AIG from this Administration. It was given by the Fed from the Bush Administration.
All the bills passed by this administration has limits on this kind of thing.

George- do you realize that an employee at a publicly-traded company has two responsibilities? – Make money for shareholders and don’t break the law. AIG was within legal rules and did make money for shareholders – until the “gamble went south” as someone else said. I do blame people who could have put up laws to create more oversight, limit liability, etc – I don’t expect corporations to act for the “health and welfare” of the country, I do expect my government to do that.

texas outlaw, the Japanese’s ritual of Harakiri is to die to protect oneself honor. On the contrary, these bastards have no conscience so it ain’t going to happen unless they receive the ” retention bonuses “. Retention bonus ” my A**. Where could they go with the resume that showed they drove their own company down the gutter?

SD,
Are you saying it is only the fat cats at the top that are at fault? Yes I am saying they should take a pay cut. Many people restructure contracts and take pay cuts when their company is failing. In fact I have never heard of someone getting a bonus even when the company fails. In fact many people get laid off from their jobs or take paycuts when the stock price of the company goes down a few points. I understand that there are some honest hard working people. I work hard too, but if my company fails I am out of a job or I don’t make bonus. They should have kept their jobs without having to be bribed by bonuses to do so. 100 million to the fat cats at the top and 60 million divided among the rest of the company. It’s all shamefull business.

I seem to remember that AIG officials said they cannot “not” give the bonus’s out because they were negotiated last year. Now some senators want to “get the $ back”.
The “new” budget that was just signed into law had a lot of “PORK” in it, and when Pres. Obama was asked why he did not veto it and get a new budget passed that had less PORK in it, he said it was because it was negotiated last year. Do I sense a double-standard?

Right Now, Glenn Beck is giving an excellent summary of how both Republicans and Democrats screwed this mess up.

Washington is funny. BAILOUTS are a bonus to ALL of those in the BAILOUT BUSINESSES. Here’s an idea, make all the giant bailout businesses give BACK to us ALL the bailout MONEY RIGHT NOW! “In Debt We Trust.”

SD – Good on you for being so noble that you’d willingly let your employer and federal government off the hook for $$ they promised (and contracted) to give you, for the good of the company and the country. Perhaps you can try it with your employer since Im sure they’re suffering from current economic crisis in some way or another.
I’m not so noble – someone signs a legal contract telling me that I get $$ for showing up to work, I want the $$ when I show up. Especially when most other companies that might need my services have either disappeared or instituted hiring freezes.

I think our president, vp and all representatives should also give back those campaign donations they received from AIG. Start with #1 recipient Chris Dodd, and #2 recipient Barack Obama.

So how comfortable are those of you who were all for the recent $1 trillion spending (stimulus) bill that was signed by our lovely members of congress without having read it. What the h-ll was the hurry. Nobody in D.C. knows what they’re doing so I suggest they take a long recess and go home.

Quote from previous post: “Tax laws should not be written to “go after” whomever those in government deem necessary. This sort of rhetoric leads to lousy thinking and lousy thinking leads to unfair practices.” “UNFAIR”???? Really! Let me tell ya what’s unfair, Corporate Big Business executives cheating their way to the top and gouging the American public for all they are worth. I think they SHOULD Tax that money and get as much of it back as we can. “Bailout” funds were not intended to line some fat cat’s pockets! This shows what Corporate America is really made of.

Who voted these bozos into office anyway? I didn’t vote for them. You wanted change, well there you have it. Was this what you had in mind?

nomononey,
It cost me 11,000 dollars for one day at the hospital and they could not even diagnose what was wrong with me.
The health care system is already corrupt. No one is saying the gov’t should take over the health care system. They just want to make health care available for everyone. Another misconception spread by the republicans that want to act like we are becoming a socialist country. I know these words social, and liberal are dirty words to them. Social comes from society, Liberal comes from liberty. We don’t want either of those things in our country. We want winner take all. Only the strong survive. The Soviet Union is a socialist country and we are now where near that. When capitolist get too greedy the people need someone to represent them and that is our government.

Government is like a court appointed lawyer. Certianly not the best lawyer in town, but better then having no one at all in the court room. We should count our blessings that we have a govt.
China could come collect its debt and we would all have to learn Chinese to serve our masters, because we would be slaves.

You republicans all like to blame Obama for this mess. Who was in charge of the country for the last 8 years Bush has brought our economy down and now you want to blame Obama who is trying to fix it the best he can yes there is alot of Pork in some of these bills but it has been that way for years and now you want to point a finger at Obama he got rid of quite a bit of the pork in the bill they passed but you can’t get rid of it all. It has been that way for a long time and previous presidents have passed bills with alot more pork in it then this one. I for one think he is doing a great jobs and if anyone can do better why don’t you run for president in 2012 or shut your mouths. EJ

Never overestimate the wits amd common sense of politicians! This is a terrible situation and passing a bad law will not resolve it. Most Americans, no matter how furious, would think twice about supporting a punitive tax aimed at a particular small group (slippery slope and all that). And if such a law were to be passed, can you imagine the court cases about its constitutionality that would take up time and more money? Although the circumstances are very different, this kind of thinking is similar to that behind the Schiavo case, i.e, enacting a law for one particular situation. Bad, bad, bad!
Our esteemed leaders should have thought this all out before they started bailing out these corporate leeches. As for Senator Grassley´s comment about the businessmem perhaps committing suicide? Besides being rather tasteless, it does not take into account a major cultural difference…. the Japanese seem to have a sense of honor. American corporate businessmen do not.

LetsKeepItReal: On the one hand, I agree with you that the idiots at AIG should be taxed on those bonuses and have to turn them back over. However, realistically, let’s think about this…let the g’vmt do this, establish a tax targeting a few individuals, and it will slap us all in the face in years to come. If they can create a law to tax those AIG bonuses, what is to keep corrupt politicians from creating taxes targeting everybody’s bonuses? Let’s face it, the politicians are for the most part corrupt, the CEO’s of America’s largest corporations are mostly corrupt as well. Who is in charge of everything?…the politicians and the CEO’s. No, a special tax is not really the answer, it opens the door to way too many problems in the future for us less than fortunate ones.

Why didn’t Geithner know about this before giving AIG another $30 billion bailout just 2 weeks ago.

Just follow the money because sooner or later, it all ends up lining the pockets of our politicians.

I still cannot figure out why so many here try to tie the AIG bailout to TARP. TARP was an emergency act of Congress, drafted and handed to Congress by the Bush Administration with instructions that there was “no time” to study and debate the bill, but only to pass (e.g. “rubber stamp”) it IMMEDIATELY.
But the AIG bailout did not have even that limited degree of Congressional involvement: it was crafted and completed in the wee hours of ONE morning by primarily just TWO Bush appointees: Paulson and Bernanke. Some try to aver that Tim Geithner was somehow involved, but the history of the matter makes it abundantly clear that if Geithner had any input whatsoever, it went largely unheeded.
And absolutely – there was NO Congressional involvement in the AIG bailout: by the time Congress woke up and read of the matter in the morning papers, it was already over and done with! Congress was not even given the opportunity to say “yes” to this bailout – much less to say “wait a minute” or “let’s set some ground rules”!
Whatever conditions were “forgotten” in the AIG terms were wholly forgotten by Paulson and Bernanke – and without any help from anyone else whatsoever. Not Dodd; not Obama; not NOBODY!

I would say taxing bonus’s this year for all you received a bonus at 50% would be fair. But the question I have is that, I wonder why since we own 80% it is not considered nationalized — perhaps, they would have to have their employees join in the unions that government employee have to. Since, threats don’t scare them I think we need to look into the Employee Free Choice Act going into their branches and offices — their practices with the underlings that are employed by the company are worse than Walmart — want to scare them — allow their employees to unionize!!

Jordan,
Attached is a link to a Sept 17th article discussing how Paulson and Bernanke informed Congress of their plan to bailout AIG before it actually happened. Treasury didn’t just up and do it in the middle of the night as you suggest.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/17/business/17insure.php

Everyone should read Kevin Rennie’s expose of Dodd in the Hartford Courant, picked up in the WSJ editorial two days ago. Dodd was buddy buddy with a convicted stock swindler named Jonathan Downe and Dodd arranged for a presidential pardon for Downe on the last day of the Clinton administration. Then Dodd got a sweetheart deal on an Irish cottage, special thanks to Downe. Dodd was on WFSB-Channel 3 Hartford, Ct. on Sunday defending his friendship with the stock swindler Downe. Dodd said Downe had reformed and taught school kids (he didn’t say what Downe taught the kids, maybe highway robbery 101) and so Downe should be forgiven. Interesting, Dodd is never asked about arranging the pardon and he still says he won’t release all his Countrywide documents.

The contracts were written over a year ago, long before AIG was nationalized. Congress cannot do retroactive contract changes – it is not constitutional.

The real problem with the AIG bonuses is the fact the government now owns AIG and are managing it in an incompetent way. Just shows that Obama’s socialist utopian dream of an authoritarian government run society where everyone is equal will never be fair or equal. Especially when every decision is based on politics and made by a bunch of incompetent boobs like Obama, Reid, Pelosi, et al.

So, finally this not a ” AIG retention bonus” at all. AIG also gave bonuses in a million of dollars to high rank former- excecutives who helped to ruin their company. This BS bonuses deal is getting worse every minutes !

We have laws and a Constitution, and you can’t just break contracts, or you throw away everything sacred in this Country, whether you like AIG bonuses or not! The Dems knew about the bonuses and made the deal anyway.
You can’t go back after them now, and any Government that can just say we are taking 100% of your bonus in taxes is one scarey Government we should all fear. This confiscation, and if our Government can just get mad and start confiscating our incomes in taxes, we are in a world of hurt. How do you say to someone who may have really earned their bonus, sorry Chum, we are lumping you in with the others and confiscating it. This should have been handled up front, and it wasn’t. Each exec on the bonus list should have signed a waiver as a condition to having his job and company saved, before the money was issued.
Furthermore, it was the Government that insisted that 50% of home loans through Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac were given to inner city poor, and that they go into the sub-prime lending market, all of which AIG had to insure. So who is the real culprit?!

sandcrab1612, et al. – I am not personally familiar with the amendment offered by Dodd, but from a quick search of the matter it appears there is considerable opinion that the amendment only protected certain generally-smaller institutions “not yet” receiving TARP funds at the time of passage, and that TARP itself explicitly limits executive “spending” (which can be argued to include bonuses.)
I cannot state with any authority what the ultimate effect of Dodd’s amendment may be, but I think these bonuses are almost certainly going to be recaptured, one way of another (or else the recipients will be humiliated right out of the industry.)
And Ponder:
The link you provided merely tells us that Paulson and Bernanke called Congressional leaders in to explain what had already been done: there is no indication whatever that they asked for permission or for any form of Congressional vote or approval. When Paulson and Bernanke met with leaders of the House and Senate at 6:30 PM, my understanding is that the AIG loans were already a done deal.

Here is a revealing comparison of the Paulson and Geithner positions and statements prior to and right up until the meltdown.
http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/paulson-geithner/

To answer a few posts:
I am a Republican and I think that taxing the AIG bonuses at 100% is an absolutely great idea.

I strongly disagree with AIG giving out bonuses when on life support with taxpayer money.
However, if the gov’t thinks they can just tax away bonuses, what makes you think they’ll just limit themselves to AIG or TARP banks?
I’m getting a bonus this year. Perhaps that’s unfair considering the economy. However, I’d be raging mad if the government took away my bonus. I think most people would.

Much better than taxing these bonuses: put any large bonus recipient through a good ol’ IRS audit, going back three years. I’d love to know what skeletons are hiding in the proverbial Wall Street closets and it might be the motivation some of these execs need to forgo taxpayer money.

How very fascist to singal out one group for higher taxes———what is to stop marxist Obama and flat out greedy congress from singaling out other groups one by one that decide they don’t like? Or that just want their assets for themselves? Hmmmm? Do not let the fascists lead down this slippery slope. Besides Congress knew about the scams—they were warned–Obama was part the congress and now the prez———the time to stop it was before handing over billions $$$ to them with no strings and NO commone sense.

i think now those scary evil aig executives relatives or family members will just be sitting in this blog .. with no work to write things like this is scary this bonus tax..etc..it is wrong etc
tax bailed out money has to be given back.

Thank you very much for this comments posting…
After AIG.. is said and done, the government knows AIG is in the government’s pockets and the government’s Go to Jail or We will be coming after you… is to save face. All the Congress’s people and Senate and Who Ever is in Charge ? of these failing Companies.. THEY know nothing is going to happen to them, because they will tell the rest of the story… regarding Who Done IT! As an example, Who’s who in Jail.. for this High Crimes and Treason.. for these companies, going so-call Bankrupt, if the government does not rescue them? Another reason, for the U.S.A.taxpayers… to help our country and let the working people help the rich get richer. When will the people stop being “Wage Slaves”, in the continuing story of “only in America” as they did to the American Indians and they have not paid them, for the monies they owe them and said to them, we do not have the money… but some day, the government will fix the problem.. How about another terroist problem, so everyone will forget, or another made-up-war, so we will be so proud, we helped another country, but do not help the people of the United States. That reverse goal.. would be a 1st !!!!!!!!!!!BUT no one believes that would ever happen!!! Where is the government, when you need them? After the fact and we will do better next time. Ha ha Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

If the people (Executives and CEO’S) who received all this bonus money did not commit a crime in the eyes of some people, it is only fair they pay the taxes on the money they received as bonus. These new laws will hopefully create better order on how bailout money is spent before handing it out to these large corporations and the abuse will not be repeated.

If AIG does not return every penny of my tax dollars this is what I and I pray many many others will do. I am retired and 67 years old living on a (very limited) fixed income. When I file my income tax this year i will not pay but will attache a note telling the
IRS to get the payment form AIG. I
think that is the Democratic thing to
do.

I had a T-shirt made here in Monroe, Wisconsin over a year ago and wore it up to Madison when Hillary Clinton was running for president. In a meeting she held at Monona Terrace, she pointed at me and said,”That man, wearing that T-shirt, “TAX HEDGE FUND DEALERS!” is right. They should be taxed.” I’ve been promoting that, along with the 57 articles I have on the Obama Blog, dating from July, 2008. I’m trying to find out if we have $7 trillion in TOXIC DERIVATIVES or is it $600 trillion? I can’t seem to get any answers. $7 trillion would mean that one stimulus would do the trick and $6oo trillion means that maybe even a dozen stimulus packages wouldn’t get the job done. Some one beyond Jon Stewart has to ask these questions and this issue is not funny any more.
Yours truly, Disgusted Middleclass Taxpayer and AARP Member, LaVern Isely

Oh and before someone tells me that AIG isn’t Government owned read this in the Wall Street Journal:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122165238916347677.html?mod=rss_whats_news_us
The Government took over AIG in September of last year….

If you bought 80% of a company and realized retroactively you didn’t like a decision to pay out bonuses, what authority would you have to get your money back? Maybe if we had put in the diligence that should be required for a ‘purchase’ this large we wouldn’t be in this mess. Congress is blaming those that got the bonuses to cover their own bad business decisions. If congress wants to play in the market on this kind of scale, then learn how to do it right!

I think Leno described the AIG mess perfectly last night during his little chat with the president. If the recipients of these bonuses want to sue the government (because these monies were supposedly ‘contractually obligated by AIG’to be disbursed out) “then let them…..the government is trillions of dollars in debt” and some pion greedy sob wants to sue uncle sam…go ahead. The government can tie up these law suits for years to come.

The AIG bonus tax–bad idea! If they can do it to them, they can do it to you and me.