New York state attorney general Andrew Cuomo has details on those bonuses at A. I. G. that have been causing such a fuss. He's sharing what he knows and it's not pretty. Unless you're one of the seventy-three.
"A.I.G. made more than 73 millionaires in the unit which lost so much money that it brought the firm to its knees, forcing a taxpayer bailout," Mr. Cuomo wrote in the letter. "Something is deeply wrong with this outcome."Gee, ya think?
Oh, hey, look: Eliot Spitzer checks in.
I've started to wonder if this isn't all mainly a smokescreen. I mean, sure, it's annoying--but it's like 0.1 per cent of the bailout money AIG received.
Thing is, there are essentially zero strings on that bailout money. And there are been basically no re-regulation of the markets. So these guys getting the bonuses, who are the ones controlling where the money goes--is anyone willing to bet me that by insider trading and other methods, they aren't pocketing *A LOT MORE* than 0.1 per cent, one way and another?
So while everyone's all "The bonuses, the bonuses", everyone's too busy complaining about these above-board, if odious, perks to investigate what's probably going on below the water line.
Personally, I think this whole bailout scam is just to protect the profit of the shareholders and the Bonus Hungry managment. You will note, I did say profit, not prevent a loss. Yes the shares have sunk, but how else can they justify the need for billions?
If those same billions were earmarked for the assistance of every middleclass employee that gets 'restructured' out of a job, and not to prevent the personal impact on the decrease in million dollar bonus', then I think things would be a little different on top.
If you get a pink slip, show up at the 'help' office with your current bills in hand, and recieved a 'loan' (zero percent, because in reality it is your money) to cover those bills, while you are retrained, or find alternate employment. How much would it cost? It would still need to be repaid, say an additional 25% of your payable income tax until the repayment is complete. Then let those that made all the bad decisions, and the million dollar bonus' figure it out on their own.
There, now the tax payer is rescuing the needy, the fat cat needs to trim a bit (a lot??) and tax payers are only paying for what's needed, not saving the rich, and paying for the poor too. We already pay for the rich due to their ability to hide from the tax man, and when the banks and insurance companies go to market, the competition is such that the price is what the market will bear. It's one of the most basic of things. GREED.
To dispute that, explain to me the ability of the sucessful institutions to have decades of 'Record Profits' every quarter.
Just my opinion, but if more people were responsible to themselves, and held responsible by others, we wouldn't be in this mess to begin with.
I'm not gonna argue with that.
This is such a miniscule amount of the total bail-out package AIG received, you wonder why all the fuss. Is this to distract us from knowing where the rest of the money went? I understand about 60 per cent of it has gone off-shore to banks in Germany, Switzerland and the UK.
American taxpayers helping to prop up foreign banks. Is that what they don't want Americans to notice? Another huge dollup went to US banks who are have received bail-outs of their own.
I can't blame the US legislators who crafted this no-strings-attached boondoggle for wanting to focus public attention on a few greedy executives who, if they had any sense of shame, would hand those bonuses back.
Maybe we will finally get some wage equity on the tables.