The cost of stupidity

Your stupidity knows no bounds

I'm sure justus determined the bad guys are all white!

So Justsus is a lawyer now?????

The comments here demonstrate how much of a puppet some of you are...How about commenting on the topic instead lashing the previous commentor, or is the topic too complicated for you? Now that that is said, good editorial; the problem with AIG is it's size, too big to be viable, yet necessary to keep smaller financial institutions from collapsing..The $70 trillion in Credit Default Swaps (CDS) that AIG backed caused AIG to be compromised, side betters that they are...I think this $ in question will be recovered, be it now or later...You just deduct the amount of this and any future bonuses from any future trounches..

Could the bonus's be a result of the capped executive salaries to people that were working under contract? The contract had to be met to maintain the integrity of the business and the government. Otherwise, who would ever trust AIG or the government guarantees again? Sure, you could shaft these relative few executives, but who would you replace them with? Less expensive and much less qualified people? These weren't performance bonus's. Why is that crazy and why would the editorialist call keeping a contract stupid? As this federal government takes over more and more businesses (ala Chevez) look for more and more excuses to nationalize more and more companies. Could this be another step of the ever encroaching socialism this administration represents?

Then again some of the bonuses are going towards rewarding AIG executives in the insurance divison of AIG, not the financial products division...Those executives in the insurance division had nothing to do with the CDS and derivatives meltdown...Sometimes the good suffer with the bad, but they honestly can claim immunity from the criticism and backlash...

They were performance bonuses, but I agree the people can't have it both ways...And the people at AIG aren't going anywhere, and the government is not in a postition to hire and fire at AIG, so what's your point? On one hand people say take more control, but doing so will cause some to cry "Socialism", on the other hand you do your best to keep out of inner workings of a private company like AIG, but by doing so you have no control over bonuses or payouts within...What's it going to be folks? btw, the AIG bailout was what "Country First" folks rushed back to DC to promote...So if socialism is a scarlet letter, brand it on the right people as you go about on your witch hunt...

justus and motormouth, sounds like contracts chiquita johnson would write and jerri sims would approve, doesn't it?

If the left had stayed out of the banking and insurance and real estate business, all of this would be moot.

This is the problem with government intervention, folks. When a company has to operate in the MARKET, and be concerned about whether or not it can attract capital and customers, then stupidly giving big ol' bonuses to execs carries its own penalty: the market SEES your company as being guided by stupidity, and therefore TREATS your company as one that is guided by stupidity. Stock value declines, stockholders rebel, board gets voted out... Or, stockholders stupidly stick with same board, and suffer the consequences of their actions. However, when the GOVT steps in, and you now have (a lack of) OVERSIGHT, rather than inevitable market forces, then the ONLY thing you need to be concerned with is, what is LEGAL? Forget about what is good business, good practice, promotes a good, responsible image and enhances shareholder value. Hell, the govt will either bail the company out indefinitely, nationalize it, or force it into bankruptcy no matter what the execs do, so shareholder value is no longer a concern. Better grab as big a chunk of that hopey-changey-stimulatey pie as you can get, as long as it's legal. But the govt will promise that, NEXT time, by God, we won't get fooled again...

"Those contracts can be voided because there is moral responsibility versus a legal one." Yep, justus, that's what we're all hoping for. A society in which you don't know the rules in advance, you don't sign a contract and expect to live up to it, a society in which the flavor of the day pol can come along after the fact and declare that your contract violates "moral responsibilities." What a crock of fertilizer, as usual from you. I am NOT 'defending' giving bonuses to anyone at AIG, or anyone else. I am making the point that if the govt (both parties) had not stupidly and illegally stuck its nose into business that it has no business trying to run, or bail out, or protect, or whatever it was that it was doing, WE WOULD NOT CARE what a private company chose to do with its funds. And you know what? We still should not care. If AIG is contracted to repay their hundreds of billion$, then let them do business. If not, if it was all a "gift" from the taxpayer, then you'd be better off writing letters to the [filtered word]hat politicians who are "representing" you, and who decided that a good use of your billion$ was to give it to people with a demonstrated inability to manage billion$

Now do you see why some of the states are saying no to the stimulus money? It's as bad as welfare. The f*g, the nag and the hag want to grab you by the short hairs and make you fall in line

From the WaPo (not exactly part of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/16/AR200903... I especially like the part about the bonuses being in the pipeline for over a year, approved by the Fed, SecTreas, and the Obama administration, but then they are all shocked--SHOCKED!--to learn that there are bonuses to be paid at AIG... "About $165 million in retention payments started to go out Friday to employees at Financial Products, after numerous discussions with the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve. Attorneys working for the Fed had been examining the matter for months and determined that the retention payments couldn't be touched because AIG would face costly lawsuits and be subject to penalties from states and foreign governments. Administration officials said over the weekend that they agreed with that assessment. AIG disclosed its retention-payment program more than a year ago, and the amount of the bonuses -- more than $400 million for Financial Products alone -- had been widely reported. But as the payments were coming due in recent days, the White House began to express its indignation. "

Yes, indeed...just as we were SHOCKED that they would spend "bailout cash" on a luxury retreat...SHOCKED that they would show up in a private jet to ask for welfare...SHOCKED that they would sponsor gala pavilions at sporting events...SHOCKED that politicians would add huge, frivolous spending amendments to unfathomably large federal spending bills in order to make themselves more popular with the people they spent the money on (lobbyists). This administration is, indeed, the most "capable" administration in living memory. No administration has shown the capacity for endless shock and dismay at the sight of pigs wallowing around in the muck. News flash: that's what pigs do. You don't get them not to do it, by feeding them a bigger ration of slops every time...

Ok, you kinda have to wait for this one. Here is Chris Dodd yesterday -----"I warned them this would be met with an unprecedented level of outrage," Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), the chairman of the banking committee and part of a group of senators who pressed Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner to stop the bonuses, said yesterday."----- And here is what Chris Dodd put into the stimulus bill last month-----"While the Senate constructed the $787 billion stimulus last month, Dodd unexpectedly added an executive-compensation restriction to the bill. That amendment provides an "exception for contractually obligated bonuses agreed on before Feb. 11, 2009," which exempts the very AIG bonuses Dodd and others are seeking to tax. The amendment is in the final version and is law." -----So, let's see if we can skin this cat: First, Dodd puts in an amendment that limits compensation, but that permits SPECIFICALLY the sorts of bonuses AIG is paying right now. Then, a month or so later, Dodd "warns" that these bonuses will cause some "outrage"? He must be counting on all citizens having a reading level on a par with justus, shivas, cain, et al.

PatriciaThomas, please note that most of the AIG bailout took place before Obama became President.

Did any of you read or hear on YouTube what Chuck Grassley, the GOP Senator from Iowa, had to say to the bumbling idiots at AIG? I loved it!

For once, I am with BimbObama and Chucky Schumer. Schuner told those getting the bonuses to voluntarily give them up or the government will do whatever to take them. This is the fault of STUPID Congressmen who put no strings on the bailout money in the first place.

JohnSmith, Dodd is being Dodd....A typical DIMocRAT.

Wharpine, I'm aware of when the bailout was okayed by the senate. After 2006 turnover and before today. Nothing in the bailout stopped the contractual bonus's from being paid. The bailout went where it was sent. Yes, Bush signed off on the bailout. What's your point.

What about bonuses going to employees of AIG who were not involved in selling derivatives. AIG is a big company. Not everyone working there was responsible for the problems.

I can't wait until we are discussing abuse of the the stimulus package that Obama signed off on. And it will happen. We will be able to say, "But Obama signed off on it."

PatriciaThomas, please note that most of the AIG bailout took place before Obama became President.
Posted by WHarpine on Tue Mar 17, 2009 11:51 AM....Nor do I forget that BimbObama voted FOR the baiout as a Senator and it was the DIMocRAT controlled Congress that gave them the money without any strings attached and KNOWING about the bonuses in adcvance.

Yes Jack, he had to make a beeline back to Washington to vote more than just "present."

What we, as the American people are finding out, is that none of those highly paid idiots we have elected know what the hell they are voting for. Their inflated staffs are not doing their jobs to read the material and keep the party goers and socializers informed. They have come to think that they are omniscient. They have attempted to accomplish the dumbing down of America and they wrongly think we have all sunk to that level.

Wow. Are you sure about that ksl? At least as it pertains to you?