Translation:
0bama!
You absolute FUBAR!
You didn't read the bill!
Posted on 03/17/2009 10:44:34 AM PDT by wrrock
Voiding contracts by government fiat is the first break in the chain in the Rule of Law.
Voiding the Rule of Law is probably not conducive to either the economy or freedom. But it’s a great first step to despotism.
Be careful what you wish for. This manipulated outrage serves the One’s purpose.
Sending to Drudge.
PING!!
Tucsonican, the Govt SHOULD be able to set limits on comp when using our money (notice I didn’t say Govt $). But in the contract between the Govt and AIG it should be clearly stated that they have this ability.
If AIG says no, then the 2 can negotiate.
IMO, this is all political theater on both the Govt side and the Private Sector. AIG, GS, JPMorgan etc are all in bed with Congressional powers at be. Faux outrage is sickening.
I just get bent out of shape when posters here on FR are all too willing to make excuses for Wall St., as if it is part of being a conservative. No different than Dems who will never blame liberal Govt. no matter if facts or voting records expose them.
Thanks for posting this.
Also take a look at this.
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2207793/posts
This whole thing seems planne from way back. Look at the list of sponsors. This didn’t just spring up 2 days ago ... this has been in the works a long time.
We’re being played.
What does the bonus contract say? Lose a billion, get a million? Lose 100 billion, get 100 million?
As it is we've kept the company afloat and there is no reason why we should be funding payments to profligate banks but not to foolish employees. If it is outrageous to save anyone from the consequences of an AIG collapse then the payments to counterparties on credit default swaps are at least a thousand times more outrageous than the bonuses.
This bonus business is just misdirection. The Obamunists want you to obsess about the minor outrage so that you will forget about the big one. Keep your eye on the shell with the pea under it.
This was typical pay for play. After Obama got his 100G check from AIG, he signed the stimulust bill into law with the language AIG needed to ensure their bonuses would be paid.
I agree with what you wrote. But if you read what I have written in my last 2 posts, I clearly stated that this was all Political Theater for the masses and both Pres/Congress AND Wall St. are all laughing.
bttt
At this point, you drag a few execs in front of Congress, wag a stern finger at them, do nothing substantive so as to ensure they still get paid their bonus, and then everybody can laugh about it together in a few months at some DC cocktail party paid for by the suckers paying everybody's salary.
God Bless America.
I tell you NONE of them read it..... These Idiots are the most incompetent group in government ever....
Next thing you know a bunch of Trial Lawyers will be represting AIG against the government (the taxpayers) and we wont get a penny of our money back...
Obama the train is off the track, Please resign immediately and take Plugs Biden with ya.
Translation:
0bama!
You absolute FUBAR!
You didn't read the bill!
Glenn Beck doing a great job on this right now.
To discover that AIG gave out bonuses with bailout money is as shocking as finding out that people are using Food Stamps and welfare money to buy booze, cigarettes and lottery tickets.
It isn't unusual at all for the government to put restrictions on how taxpayer funds are expended. In fact, it's prudent to do so and, as a taxpayer, I expect my representatives to take such a stance EVERY time they hand some of my money to someone I don't know. However, these restrictions are supposed to be in place BEFORE the money goes out the door. Such was not the case with this current so called "scandal".
I'm not here to make excuses for AIG or anyone else. They all did their fair share of stupid stuff. What I AM here for is to make sure that all this hyperventilation over these bonuses doesn't create MORE problems.
When we allow government to dictate specific compensation for a private sector firms we're setting a pretty bad precedent.
When we allow the government to take measures such as they are proposing once the horse is already out of the barn we're just being vindictive and that helps nobody.
When we allow such measures without acknowledging that this wouldn't even have been an issue if the people that were DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE for the care of their charge wantonly and frivolously disbursed taxpayer funds without proper restraints in place we are hiding our heads in the sand as the spectre of a "planned economy" looms above us!
When we allow the government to make a huge issue out of these bonuses when we're talking about less than 1/100th of a percent of the total money these thieving, incompetent, self dealing barbarians in congress have doled out we're being played for suckers.
Yeah...until some poor basta&d gets killed for simply working at AIG. This is how Hitler ramped up the anger in pre-war Germany that lead to Krystalnacht. Every tyrant needs a whipping boy...welcome to Brack's America.
Atlas Puked...
I agree in principle, although obviously that's hard to do when they don't even bother to read bills they pass. I think "our" government should stop all bailouts until they at least understand exactly what the bailee's liabilities are (all of the liabilities) and what the bailee can do with the money.
Looks like good old hypocrite Christopher Dodd went beyond just being negligent: Link: Congressional lawmakers are scrambling to think up creative ways to recover at least some of the $165 million in bonuses that bailed-out American International Group is paying executives -- but they could be their own worst enemy. Though Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., is among those leading the charge on retrieving the bonuses, an amendment he added to the $787 billion stimulus bill last month created a roadblock to getting that money back.
In any case, looks like the Dodds' attempt to tax the bonus money is unconstitutional. He may know that but wants to grandstand until this tempest blows over:
The Constitution of the United States, Article I, Section 9, paragraph 3 provides that: "No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law will be passed."
"Bills of attainder, ex post facto laws, and laws impairing the obligations of contracts, are contrary to the first principles of the social compact, and to every principle of sound legislation. ... The sober people of America are weary of the fluctuating policy which has directed the public councils. They have seen with regret and indignation that sudden changes and legislative interferences, in cases affecting personal rights, become jobs in the hands of enterprising and influential speculators, and snares to the more-industrious and less-informed part of the community." James Madison, Federalist Number 44, 1788.
Meanwhile:
WE? speak for yourself and the liberals. The government has no business deciding who gets paid and how much in a private company. The government shouldn't have been giving them money anyway. But even so AIG can claim the source of the bonus money is not from the feds but incoming revenues.
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