100% Tax?

the bonuses are specifically for the very people that helped tank the economy with derivatives business.

I'm all for justice :P.

that said, there does seem to be a bit too much of the torch mob mentality towards anyone making ANY kind of money lately just for having money... i'm not so up on that.

the bonuses are specifically for the very people that helped tank the economy with derivatives business.

I'm all for justice :P.

that said, there does seem to be a bit too much of the torch mob mentality towards anyone making ANY kind of money lately just for having money... i'm not so up on that.

I got no problem with people making money - even making lots of money. I do have a problem with people bearing absolutely no risk in doing so due to a manipulation of the market system or for making tons of money as a reward for makng bad market decisions.

At this point, and as others have pointed out, Congress' indignation is somewhat hollow given that the money was given with basically no strings attached.

Ah well, we'll just keep printing money until we get out of this mess. Of course, at that point the money supply will be so flooded that we'll have hyperinflation. I guess we'll just deal with one economic crisis at a time.

Did someone mention that half our debt trillion dollar debt is owed to Chinese. Better start learning Mandarin.

I found this instructive:

Political Punch: Obama Administration: We Didn't Find Out About AIG Bonuses Until This Month (http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/03/obama-adminis-1.html)


"Three days later, on March 5, New York Fed officials forwarded to the Treasury Department a summary of AIG’s bonus and retention payment issues, including details of the retention program for officials of the Financial Products. This information included that $165 million in payments were expected that very month, as well as the fact that the contracts were in place in the first quarter of 2008, and so not covered by the limitations in the stimulus bill as articulated by an amendment to the stimulus bill offered by Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn.
As ABC News' Capitol Hill Correspondent Jonathan Karl reported (http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2009/03/how-congress-pr.html), in February, the Senate unanimously approved an amendment restricting bonuses over $100,000 at any company receiving federal bailout funds, but during the closed-door House and Senate negotiations the provision was stripped out and replaced with a measure by Dodd exempting bonuses agreed to prior to the passage of the stimulus bill on February 11, 2009."

I found this instructive:

Political Punch: Obama Administration: We Didn't Find Out About AIG Bonuses Until This Month (http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/03/obama-adminis-1.html)


"Three days later, on March 5, New York Fed officials forwarded to the Treasury Department a summary of AIG’s bonus and retention payment issues, including details of the retention program for officials of the Financial Products. This information included that $165 million in payments were expected that very month, as well as the fact that the contracts were in place in the first quarter of 2008, and so not covered by the limitations in the stimulus bill as articulated by an amendment to the stimulus bill offered by Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn.
As ABC News' Capitol Hill Correspondent Jonathan Karl reported (http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2009/03/how-congress-pr.html), in February, the Senate unanimously approved an amendment restricting bonuses over $100,000 at any company receiving federal bailout funds, but during the closed-door House and Senate negotiations the provision was stripped out and replaced with a measure by Dodd exempting bonuses agreed to prior to the passage of the stimulus bill on February 11, 2009."
Funny that Dood is the one making the most nois about AIG so I guess he is trying to cover his a$$. Didn't I ask the question in another thread about what goverment actually work and performed well. No one listed the bail outs or this stimulas bill. This is what happens when you have to have a 800 billion bill passed in a week. Ok, maybe to weeks and Obams inexperience is showing more and more every day. He is not fixing anything just making it worse.

Funny that Dood is the one making the most nois about AIG so I guess he is trying to cover his a$$. Didn't I ask the question in another thread about what goverment actually work and performed well. No one listed the bail outs or this stimulas bill. This is what happens when you have to have a 800 billion bill passed in a week. Ok, maybe to weeks and Obams inexperience is showing more and more every day. He is not fixing anything just making it worse.


The thing that's infuriating is that no one seems to be owning up to who actually changed the bill in conference. You may recall that there were complaints about changes being penciled in to the margins at the last minute. If Dodd (or any other Senator for that matter) says to some flunkie, "cross out that section", does that give Dodd deniability? Can he then say to the press "I don't who made that change?"

I know as the Warpath's reactionary in residence I'm completely biased, but I think it's time for the Senator from CountryWide to hit the bricks. The Democrats would be better off without him and Barney Frank (http://www.businessandmedia.org/printer/2008/20080924145932.aspx)but again, not really for me to say.

This AIG thing continues to gather steam:

OpenSecrets | Before the Fall, AIG Payouts Went to Washington - Capital Eye (http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2009/03/before-the-fall-aig-payouts-we.html)

Dodd, Chris (D-Conn) $280,238
Bush, George W (R-Texas) $200,560
Schumer, Charles E (D-NY) $111,875
Obama, Barack (D-Ill) $107,332
McCain, John (R-Ariz) $99,249
Baucus, Max (D-Mont) $90,000
Kerry, John (D-Mass) $85,000
Johnson, Nancy L (R-Conn) $75,400
Sununu, John E (R-NH) $69,049
Clinton, Hillary (D-NY) $59,515
Lieberman, Joe (I-Conn) $57,900
Rangel, Charles B (D-NY) $53,582
Giuliani, Rudolph W (R-NY) $50,250
Lazio, Rick A (R-NY) $48,600
Ensign, John (R-Nev) $44,569
Bayh, Evan (D-Ind) $43,700
Larson, John B (D-Conn) $43,000
Biden, Joseph R Jr (D-Del) $41,350
Baker, Richard (R-La) $41,032
Torricelli, Robert G (D-NJ) $39,000
D'Amato, Alfonse M (R-NY) $38,750
Carper, Tom (D-Del) $37,213

Everyone is on the Roster. Chuck Schumer is a weasel, always has been and will always continue to be. I'll reserve judgment on Dodd until we know more for sure.

The thing that's infuriating is that no one seems to be owning up to who actually changed the bill in conference. You may recall that there were complaints about changes being penciled in to the margins at the last minute. If Dodd (or any other Senator for that matter) says to some flunkie, "cross out that section", does that give Dodd deniability? Can he then say to the press "I don't who made that change?"

I know as the Warpath's reactionary in residence I'm completely biased, but I think it's time for the Senator from CountryWide to hit the bricks. The Democrats would be better off without him and Barney Frank (http://www.businessandmedia.org/printer/2008/20080924145932.aspx)but again, not really for me to say.

you're probably right on that. there's some good congress critters, and some really bad ones that need to go.

I've been following politics since I was but a child and this has all the "earmarks"* of a full blown press feeding frenzy. When they get like this they won't let up until they have exacted their pound of flesh and that means somebody loses their job. Dodd is the frontrunner from where I sit, but Geithner is a possibility too. Nobody knows him. Nobody will even miss him. Dodd is a cave-dweller in Washington-speak so he has some reserve of good will that might save him.

It's an old-fashioned populist tar and feather job and by gar it's been a while. Twain was so dead on with that scene from Huck Finn with the Duke and the Dauphin. The American people are pretty naive and they'll put up with a fair amount of bullshit, but when they've had it, they've had it and someone's going to get rid out of town on a rail.

*smug laughter

Now I just heard on the radio some of the companies that received bailout money owed back taxes to the federal goverment. If I heard correctly several companies owed over 100 million in taxes.