America screams "AIG-ggggg!!!!"
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America screams "AIG-ggggg!!!!"
This will go down as the weekend that America collectively screamed "AIGGGGG!!!!!" For a long time, outrage over the multi-multi-billion dollar black hole that was once a powerful insurance company AIG simmered rather than boiled because a) other bailout recipients like Citi and Bank of America are more visible and b) most average people have a hard time wrapping themselves around what AIG did (although blogger John Marshall has been quite good -- as always -- on this.
But news of large bonuses to AIG execs -- especially in the unit that lost all the dough -- has changed that. Now everyone is talking AIG, and it seems like the "free market" Republicans (and some of their corporatist Democrat allies) are flailing the most:
On ABC's "Good Morning America" Monday, Sen. Richard Shelby said Congress must do everything it can to make sure the government money going to AIG is handled appropriately.
"We ought to explore everything that we can through the government to make sure that this money is not wasted," the Alabama Republican said. "These people brought this on themselves. Now you're rewarding failure. A lot of these people should be fired, not awarded bonuses. This is horrible. It's outrageous."
Basically, the heads of people like Shelby are about to explode as they try to reconcile their supposed free-market-anything-goes-Wild-West-get-the-government-off-their-backs approach with the awfulness of the real life people they've turned over our free markets to. I don't think it's that complicated....
Fire all the morons at AIG, Citygroup, B of A, et cetera, who got us into this mess, or they don't get a dime of our tax dollars. It might make for a few awkward moments down at the Capitol Grille, but it simply needs to be done.
Depressing? Here's the lighter side of the AIG fiasco.
Comment removed.
Will, who's going to fire them? It sure sounds like an obvious solution, but who, exactly, is in the position to fire them? The people you want to be fired are the bosses. Basically, all you can do is call on them to resign. And then, who is going to hire the replacements, and who would even be the replacements? Sure, besides those little details, fire 'em all!!!!— SteveMG- Comment removed.
- The government's billions could give it a majority stake in the company, to appoint new directors who could bring in new executives from outside to run the company... I know that's crazy talk, but...— will
We need to do something about these greedy, incompetent, out for themselves companies like AIG!! Who's best for that job? Well we have to know our enemy, so let's get the greediest, most incompetent, out for themselves organization of them all: The Government! If you want to fire the morons who got us into this mess, you could start with Barney Frank and Chris Dodd.— jmc- There should be a stipulation that bailout money will only go to companies who agree to a 25 to 1 ratio for their executive pay relative to their average worker pay. Even if the existing contractual arrangements are binding - this garbage has to stop. It's time to put the myth that there is anything fiscally viable about paying execs 350 times more than what the average worker gets. These salaries are a reflection of a circle-jerk system between execs and board members working in collusion to feather each other's beds. Let shareholders determine exec pay on a one vote per shareholder basis.— Talking point sleuth
- Comment removed.
- ---}}} Well we have to know our enemy, so let's get the greediest, most incompetent, out for themselves organization of them all: The Government! {{{--- Astounding that anyone can look at the economic meltdown that has resulted from irresponsible behavior by obscenely rich corporatists, and trot out the same tired apologies for failures of the "free-market."— Talking point sleuth
- From what I remember, the government has been making loans to AIG (to be repaid by divesting fragments) instead of buying an interest.— SteveMG
- Daily activities of an ART: (1) whine about socialism, because it puts relies too much on incompetent "big government," (2) whine about how much danger we're all in from terrorists, (3) whine that we need to pump more money into incompetent "big government" so it can protect us from terrorists— Talking point sleuth
- So they're not perfect, but I would rather have John Thain and Ken Lewis running a company than Barney Frank and Maxine Waters. Just a thought.— Echo
- Comment removed.
- not everything in the world can be broken down into an R vs. D issue, Will. It's not only annoying that you insist on seeing the world this way, it's also sad.— Bud Fox
- And what's wrong with the bonuses? Isn't that what capitalism is all about, maximizing profits for the owners? Anyone who opposes the managers and executices at AIG getting every dime they can is obviously a socialist-pinko-commie-fellow traveler disciple of Karl Marx. Every so-called republican/conservative who utters a word opposed to this shows their true colors. So what if the government bailed them out? A good capitialist uses every possible opportunity to increase their income. If the government helps, hey, so be it. Take advantage of it, like a good capitialist should. Like Newsweek said, "We're all socialists now."— what is truth?
- "But news of large bonuses to AIG execs...." As distasteful as it may be, those bonuses were part of legally binding contracts long before the bailout.— legatus
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