A.I.G. to Pay $100 Million in Bonuses After Huge Bailout

Get your best 10 IRS auditors and go back 7 years on each bonus recipient. With a fine tooth comb. You could probably recoup the 2008 bonuses and then some.

As we found out during the Obama administration vetting, there is a lot of low-hanging tax revenue fruit with the people who make a lot of money.

 

1. Why is anyone surprised?
2. When do we secede and start the revolution?

 

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/03/sevnty-three_aig-ers_got_more_than_1_million_each.php?ref=fp1

They paid "retention bonuses" to 11 people who had -- wait for it -- ALREADY LEFT THE COMPANY!
I think, when they finally get a look at the books, there's going to be a line-item entitled, "Stuff We Stole And Got Away With."

 

You could not make this stuff up.

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/17/cuomo-reveals-details-of_n_175865.html

Looks like Virgil Sollazo Jr., er, Andrew Cuomo is pissed.

 

Go get 'em, Sonny.
Bada-BING!
Brains all over your nice Ivy League suit.

 

Fire em all.. take em out back and disappear them...

 

A columnist in the NY Times today argues that we have to pay the bonuses because...

wait for it...

if we don't, they'll go work for other companies and use their intricate knowledge of how their awful financial products are infecting the system to trade against the interests of the U.S. Government.

Un-freaking-believable. These people really think of themselves as a ruling class, divinely appointed by God to live better lives than everyone else.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/17/business/17sorkin.html?em

 

Reminds me of ESPN, when one of the jackass talking heads like Cowherd or Bayless takes the contrarian point, no matter how ridiculous.

 

It's amazing that AIG -- through no official channels, or even some random employee -- has had absolutely nothing to say about this for DAYS. That alone is infuriating.

I understand the argument that the government deciding which contracts get upheld or not is not the greatest thing in the world, but the government does own the company and also has the privilege of making the laws, so AIG really can't win on this one. Ergo, you'd think they'd show some sack and cooperate, or say something, anything.

I think for many of us, this just reinforces our pre-bailout desire for AIG to go bankrupt. What I can't wait for is when the government imposes their 91% excise tax, or whatever, and some fool at AIG files a lawsuit to get his money back.

 

it must be real nice to be rich. you get paid great coin for being a fuck up and can give the entire american working class the middle finger at the same time.

 

The clown who wrote that piece was grilled (relatively speaking, anyway) by Meredith Viera on the Today Show this morning. You know something's full of shit when Meredith Viera doesn't buy it and hits back.

If you want to argue that the government shouldn't have taken over AIG in the first place and should have just let the free markets do their thing, that's fair. But now that the government has essentially taken it over, they should be able to put the kibosh on these bonuses for the people who caused this mess to begin with.