BEYOND AIG BONUSES (why let the Constitution get in the way of a little grandstanding?)

NY POST ^ | 3/23/09 | VOX POPULI

[Liz]

CLOWNS ON CAPITOL HILL

*** Wouldn't it be a fine gesture if Barney Frank, Rangel and Chris Dodd retroactively returned campaign funds from banks that are now wards of the government? NAMES REDACTED Palm Beach, Fla.

*** The American electorate has its own method of judging right or wrong. It's called Election Day.....Flushing

***.....the people who set the collapse of the financial markets into motion had the audacity to take AIG's Liddy to task for a bonus payout that they themselves legislated......treating us to the sleight of hand of Dodd, who received more AIG campaign contributions than anyone in 2008. Manhattan

***.....Congress writes legislation to tax "bonuses" at a confiscatory rate in a matter of days, while it takes the ethics committee several months to look into the tax irregularities of Chairman Rangel of the House tax writing committee? Skillman, NJ

*** ...the ex-post facto nature of Washington's bonus-taxation scheme comes under the definition of a bill of attainder....the Constitution prohibits such schemes. But why let the Constitution get in the way of a little grandstanding? State College, Pa.

[Son House]

*** ...the ex-post facto nature of Washington’s bonus-taxation scheme comes under the definition of a bill of attainder....the Constitution prohibits such schemes

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Include Øbama, they had to get their political campaigns funded first

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A Democrat’s greed, runs a World to economic ruin

[InABunkerUnderSF]

The Stalinist show trials over corporate bonuses were just a poly to distract the ignorant proletariat from the fact that 0bama and crew are destroying our economy in order to create true socialism.

[Dahoser]

These 85 Republican dopes are quite happy to run over the Constitution to make sure they pander on bonuses and negate their vote on the porkulus bill:

Aderholt Alexander Barton (TX) Biggert Bilbray Bilirakis Blunt Bono Mack Boozman Brown (SC) Brown-Waite, Ginny Buchanan Calvert Camp Cantor Cao Capito Cassidy Castle Crenshaw Davis (KY) Dent Diaz-Balart, L. Diaz-Balart, M. Duncan Ehlers Emerson Fleming Forbes

Fortenberry Frelinghuysen Gallegly Gerlach Goodlatte Guthrie Heller Herger Hoekstra Johnson (IL) Jones Kirk Lance Latham Lee (NY) Lewis (CA) LoBiondo Manzullo McCaul McClintock McHugh McMorris Rodgers Mica Miller (MI) Moran (KS) Petri Platts Putnam Rehberg

Reichert Roe (TN) Rogers (AL) Rogers (KY) Rogers (MI) Rohrabacher Rooney Ros-Lehtinen Roskam Royce Ryan (WI) Schmidt Schock Shimkus Smith (NJ) Smith (TX) Stearns Tiberi Turner Upton Walden Wamp Whitfield Wittman Wolf Young (AK) Young (FL)

[gargoyle]

...Distraction? A LIE and an ILLUSION, from clowns, not even good magicians...

[Kent C]

Some especially disappointing names in there:

Cantor, Blunt, Heller, McClintock, Putnam, Reichert, Rohrabacher, Royce, Young (AK).

McClintock’s reasoning:

http://mcclintock.house.gov/2009/03/statement-by-congressman-tom-mcclintock-regarding-hr-1586.shtml

[Alberta's Child]

Good point, but it’s kind of hard to argue that the “bonus taxation” scheme is unconstitutional when the whole freaking government acquisition of AIG was as unconstitutional as anything we’ve seen in our lifetime.

[dajeeps]

Why let the constitution get in the way of anything at all? If our policy makers are so willing to go running around with their hair on fire in such a public way over a problem they themselves created and trample all over the constitution in such a blantant way, I think we should all be worried about how far that kind of thing will go.

[Non-Sequitur]

Legally the government can’t legally do anything like tax these bonuses. But as an 80% stakeholder in the company I would assume that we can make sure it doesn’t happen again and fire all these people who’s actions cost the company billions.

[Dahoser]

No argument here. It’s a daily stomach turn what these clymers are doing.

[Dahoser]

I'll give McClintock credit for at least having some logic to his vote, but very few companies learn lessons like he suggests. Instead, they learn how to work with the system because they see an advantage. That means the payoff haggling lobbying will begin in earnest, leading to the bonuses being quietly slipped into a bill somewhere down the line so that the companies continue to get their government cheese while making sure the execs do also.

[McGavin999]

The more I think about it the more I like the idea of making politicians give back any campaign cotributions from cmpanies getting taxpayer bailout funds.

[Kent C]

I'll give McClintock credit for at least having some logic to his vote...

Yep. At least there was some thought behind it, but he's a Club for Growther and they all take a 'no tax' pledge. I contributed to his campaign because of that and while I understand the 'backward logic', that would be like voting for all of Obama's programs 'just to show people how bad socialism is.' I know it's not an exact analogy but your follow up:

but very few companies learn lessons like he suggests.

... shows how well that doesn't work ;-) One thing about businessmen in general - the amount of saavy that they use to win in business is the same saavy they use to get around gov't, rather than standing up to and stopping gov't from intervening. And that 'trait' is not only well known by the liberal socialists... it is _relied upon_ by them.