The Obama administration is highly critical over the recent AIG executive bonuses controversy. The administration is once again trying to blame the Bush Administration for its faulty bailout which enables AIG to pay out such bonuses using tax-payer funds.
Reality Check: Obama and his administration need to look in the mirror! Last fall, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner not only consulted with then-Secretary Hank Paulson, it was Geithner, not Paulson, who put together the original rescue plan for the American International Group!
Bloomberg reports:
American International Group Inc., barraged by criticism on how it’s using $173 billion of taxpayer money, faces demands from President Barack Obama to rescind or repay $165 million in bonuses.
“It’s hard to understand how derivative traders at AIG warranted any bonuses, much less $165 million,” said Obama at the White House speech today. “How do they justify this outrage to the taxpayers who are keeping the company afloat?”
"These people may have a right to their bonuses but they don't have a right to their jobs forever," Barney Frank said on NBC's "Today" program.
"The federal government now is the 80 percent owner (of AIG)," Frank said. "These bonuses are going to people who screwed this thing up enormously ... Since the federal government ... now essentially owns that company, maybe it's time to fire some people."
Well let's revisit something: Timothy Geithner, Obama's own whiz kid WROTE THE AIG BAILOUT PLAN!
Mr. Geithner's involvement in several ultimately ill-fated efforts to buttress the American financial system is the very reason some Wall Street C.E.O.'s -- a number of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of piquing the man who regulates them -- question whether he's up to the challenge.
''We have only two things to say about Tim Geithner, who we do not know: A.I.G. and Lehman Brothers,'' said Christopher Whalen of Institutional Risk Analytics. ''Throw in the Bear Stearns/Maiden Lane fiasco for good measure,'' he said.
''All of these 'rescues' are a disaster for the taxpayer, for the financial markets and also for the Federal Reserve System as an organization. Geithner, in our view, deserves retirement, not promotion.''
''He was in the room at every turn of the crisis,'' said another executive
who participated in several such confidential meetings with Mr. Geithner. ''You can look at that both ways.''
Behind the scenes, Mr. Geithner was the point person for weeks of sleep-deprived Bailout Weekends. It was Mr. Geithner, not Mr. Paulson, for example, who put together the original rescue plan for the American International Group.
And, of course, Mr. Geithner also oversaw and regulated an entire industry whose decline has delivered a further blow to an already weakened American economy. Under his watch, some of the biggest institutions that were the responsibility of the New York Fed -- Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and most recently, Citigroup -- faltered. While he was one of the first regulators to smartly articulate the potential for an impending disaster, a number of observers question whether he went far enough to stop the calamity.
Now, Obama even has the guts to ask Geithner to punish AIG!
Noting that AIG has "received substantial sums" of federal aid from the federal government, Obama said he has asked Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner "to use that leverage and pursue every legal avenue to block these bonuses and make the American taxpayers whole."
Geithner and Obama are both in over their heads and the consequence may be severe! As Dick Morris said on "Hannity" tonight, Obama is not only a socialist, but incompetent!
An incompetent socialist running our country and over-seeing our economic crises -- what a recipe for disaster!
But remember, we were all told to over-look Geithner's tax cheating "hiccups" because he is a "uniquely" qualified super-genius!
If this is genius, then I'll settle for stupid, but responsible government.
I believe the bonus payout excesses at AIG are just the tip of the iceberg of what is happening with the other Wall Street bailouts including Bank of America. Working productive Americans are bailing out the same crooks that destroyed our economy along with 45% of the wealth in the world. Now the American taxpayers and our posterity will be forced to live a far lower standard of living with reduced prosperity and opportunities due to the accumulated national debt to fund the bailouts and once again we will pay the price.
ReplyDeleteWashington has bailed out the banks, Wall Street & their Washington special interests and much of the cost is added to the national debt to by paid by this and future generations while real estate and investments continue to fall. I believe Washington plans to monetize the debt in future years while they tax and destroy our remaining wealth by depreciating the dollar.
To stop this wealth attack, the Campaign to Cancel the Washington National Debt By 12/21/2012 Constitutional Amendment is beginning now in the U.S. See: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=67594690498&ref=ts
Rock on!
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