"Oh crap! I didn't mean ... wait ... I call 'do over'"!WASHINGTON – Joining a wave of public anger, President Barack Obama blistered insurance giant AIG for "recklessness and greed" Monday and pledged to try to block it from handing its executives $165 million in bonuses after taking billions in federal bailout money. "How do they justify this outrage to the taxpayers who are keeping the company afloat?" Obama asked. "This isn't just a matter of dollars and cents. It's about our fundamental values."
Um ... pardon me, but wasn't it recklessness that got AIG into this mess to begin with? How does he expect them to change their behavior merely because the government gave them a sack full of money? And while we're at it, what are those "fundamental values" of which you speak? Do you mean the fundamental value of taking responsibility for your actions or being held accountable for your mistakes? That's what I thought you meant.
It sounds to me like the federal government (our federal government) was duped into giving a pile of money to people who couldn't keep track of the money they already had. Now that they're recklessly spending our money, we suddenly want them held accountable. Apparently, it was OK to be reckless before.
He said he had directed Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to "pursue every legal avenue to block these bonuses and make the American taxpayer whole."
Later, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the administration would modify the terms of a pending $30 billion bailout installment for AIG to at least recoup the $165 million the bonuses represent. That wouldn't rescind the bonuses, just require AIG to account for them differently.
Later, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the administration would modify the terms of a pending $30 billion bailout installment for AIG to at least recoup the $165 million the bonuses represent. That wouldn't rescind the bonuses, just require AIG to account for them differently.
Uh-huh. Now that the president (and our federal government) fell for the old misdirection play, he's sending his boys in to modify the terms of the loan. I'm no lawyer, but that doesn't sound like it stands a snowball's chance in Hell of happening. Meanwhile, they get to keep the bonuses.
They win.
It looks to me like we (they) got swindled by the oldest swindlers on the planet - an insurance company. Didn't see that one coming, did you?
2 comments:
Forget about Bernie Madoff..the all of Wall Street are Ponzi schemers.
If'n I could open up a can-o-whoop-azz I would -- on all those fools... SHEESH Bernie, AIG..Wallstreet -- they're all fat and happy (ok, I'll say Bernie might not be that happy right now... LOL) but dag blast-it...they're doin' ALOT better than you and I... FRICKERS!!!
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