Outrage I Can Believe In

[guido911]

I guess I've just developed Obama fatigue.


Who is John Gault?

You are right about overly hammering Obama and I am going to cut down. It's just that the media is so in love with him and his muscle-bound wife that it refuses to fairly and objectively report on him. Seriously, do you think the public knows that a "cap and trade" policy going to increase everyone's (not just those evil wealthy people's) monthly utility bill?  

[guido911]

Guido, we all know this was a softball to try to say that you don't hate Obama that much because he said something you liked

First of all, who is "we"? Second, this is not a softball issue. I am departing from how I normally consider government interference in and regulation of business as wrong. Speaking as someone (like many) who pays a crap ton in taxes, I do not want to, in the words of Santelli, "reward bad behavior", which is exactly what paying these bonuses is doing. 

Also, I do not "hate" Obama, I detest in large measure what he stands for.

[Gaspar]

You are right about overly hammering Obama and I am going to cut down. It's just that the media is so in love with him and his muscle-bound wife that it refuses to fairly and objectively report on him. Seriously, do you think the public knows that a "cap and trade" policy going to increase everyone's (not just those evil wealthy people's) monthly utility bill?  

Those that don't understand will learn.  

Those who cannot learn through words, will learn through experience.

Several things are taking place that will have very very interesting outcomes.  President Obama has left no room to exit.  All the measures being passed will have direct and measurable outcomes that the administration, and the party, will own completely.

The control of the production of wealth is the control of human life itself. – Hilaire Belloc

To control wealth is to enslave.

[FOTD]

With all due respect Guido.  I am getting fatigued by your constant grasping for controversy.  It's almost as bad as FOTD.  Plugging this news source, and that news source.  We can all read Drudge.  

Please. Do not use the devil's name in vain but in vein, perhaps.

[Hoss]

Someone's been given the keys to their cage....

[Gaspar]

Please. Do not use the devil's name in vain but in vein, perhaps.

Welcome back. 

Was it 50 lashes, or do you have to do someone's laundry for a month?

So tell us, what's going on over at Huffington?

But seriously, welcome back.

[Gaspar]

So I guess we won't be hearing from RipTout any more.

[cannon_fodder]

FWIW, the people actually in charge (Congress handed the purse to Treasury) said there were contracts already in place to pay out said bonuses.  If they did not pay them out litigation would have ensured and the result would have been legal fees AND paying out the bonuses.  Congress should have conditioned the money on many things including the ability to rework compensation packages (as they should do with the automakers) in such a way as to make it fair but NOT drive away quality labor.  Unfortunately, getting people that can run a multi billion dollar company is expensive.  Since I own a stake in the company as a tax payer, I want qualified people.

Not that I'm defending the bonus structure.  I'd also want performance bonuses and a rational basis for compensation.  If your company goes into receivership (basically) odds are at least SOME of the executives didn't do their damn jobs. 

I'd love to see companies restructure their entire bonus packages.  Make them stock of which you can sell no more than 10% of the original allotment in a given year (minimum 10 year holding).  Something to make them long term liable.  Most these guys are not at the same job for more than a couple years, an acquittance of mine that works as a high level executive says if you are at the same job for more than 3 years your career has stagnated.    Hard to get a long strategy with people like that I imagine . . .

So I guess we won't be hearing from RipTout any more.

And here I thought I was clever for figuring that out.  New forum, new chance I guess.  Behave yourself AOX, I enjoy the, ummm, the discussion you bring to the forum.

[Chicken Little]

Obama Asks Geithner to Find Way to Rescind AIG Payouts

It was unclear what legal options the government can pursue to stop the bonus payments. Monday afternoon, a White House official said the Treasury Department will use a planned $30 billion infusion into AIG to compel the company to repay the bonuses promised to employees of its financial-products group, which is responsible for selling the exotic financial instruments that brought the company to near-collapse.

Now if he'll just include "Fire all those A-holes" as a stipulation.  That's retribution even Guido can believe in!

[guido911]

Obama Asks Geithner to Find Way to Rescind AIG Payouts Now if he'll just include "Fire all those A-holes" as a stipulation.  That's retribution even Guido can believe in!

You better believe that. Also, those that gave the bailout money without knowing that it would be used to pay bonuses must also go.

[Gaspar]

You better believe that. Also, those that gave the bailout money without knowing that it would be used to pay bonuses must also go.

Ahh, that would be slobbering Barney, and he will never go.

[Chicken Little]

(New York AG) Cuomo To AIG: Give Me Information Or Face Subpoenas, Court

UPDATE 4:28 P.M.: As New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's 4 P.M. deadline has not been met, he will be issuing subpoenas. "Four o'clock has come and gone and we will be issuing subpoenas immediately," Cuomo said on a conference call. "I believe in transparency and disclosure ... this is taxpayer money ... We do want fairness -- we don't want absurd use of taxpayer money."

"The whole notion of performance bonuses is oxymoronic when it comes to AIG," he added. "It's adding insult to injury." He questioned why AIG claims their hands are tied. "Then let me see the contract, and let me see when you signed it and what the expectation was when you signed it," he said. He is looking into charges of fraudulent conveyance.
* * * * *

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is demanding detailed information as to who at AIG will receive controversial bonuses and whether those individuals were involved in any way with the insurance giant's meltdown and subsequent need for taxpayer bailout funds.

[guido911]

(New York AG) Cuomo To AIG: Give Me Information Or Face Subpoenas, Court

Good.

[Chicken Little]

File under, uhhhh.....

GOP Opposes Pay Limits On Bailed-Out Bankers

Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) said that he is "one of the chief defenders of Obama on the Republican side" for the president's efforts to reach across the aisle. But, said Inhofe, "as I was listening to him make those statements I thought, is this still America? Do we really tell people how to run [a business], and who to pay and how much to pay?"

This was a month ago.  Somebody better ask him to revise his statement.

[guido911]

I am hearing that Dodd and a congressman are thinking of taxing those bonuses at some ginormous rate (98%). Probably unconstitutional, but I am squarely with them on this conceptually. Still, somebody in the government at some point really dropped the ball as well by not getting some strings attached to the bail out money and needs equal disparagement.