How many of you folks out there know that the Government has known about these bonuses for over a year? "AIG disclosed its retention-payment program more than a year ago, and the amount of the bonuses had been widely reported. But as the payments were coming due in recent days, the White House began to express its indignation."
Again the WSJ is doing the work that MSM ignores:
"President Obama joined yesterday in the clamor of outrage at AIG for paying some $165 million in contractually obligated employee bonuses. He and the rest of the political class thus neatly deflected attention from the larger outrage, which is the five-month Beltway cover-up over who benefited most from the AIG bailout.
Taxpayers have already put up $173 billion, or more than a thousand times the amount of those bonuses, to fund the government's AIG "rescue." This federal takeover, never approved by AIG shareholders, uses the firm as a conduit to bail out other institutions. After months of government stonewalling, on Sunday night AIG officially acknowledged where most of the taxpayer funds have been going.
Since September 16, AIG has sent $120 billion in cash, collateral and other payouts to banks, municipal governments and other derivative counterparties around the world. This includes at least $20 billion to European banks. The list also includes American charity cases like Goldman Sachs, which received at least $13 billion. This comes after months of claims by Goldman that all of its AIG bets were adequately hedged and that it needed no "bailout." Why take $13 billion then? This needless cover-up is one reason Americans are getting angrier as they wonder if Washington is lying to them about these bailouts."
False indignation at best. Out and out falsehood?
3 comments:
Bush and Obama both knew about these bonuses well in advance of dishing out the cash. When you're right you're right, bro.
The whole clamor over the bonuses feels like a huge smokescreen even without doing any research. Politicians sure like to shoot for the "easy" targets that play quickly on people's emotions.
Thanks for taking the time to dig out the articles and linking them to help with the research process!
I'm just fed up. Our government, right or left, doesn't run the country. Big business does.
Your post is dead on my friend.
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