[UPDATE: I'm Floored] Explosive: AIG will dispense more bonuses
By SusanUnPC on March 21, 2009 at 4:50 PM in AIG
UPDATE: Given the few comments this story has received, I guess that everyone here at No Quarter is mostly alright with AIG’s executives receiving two more rounds in millions of dollars of bonuses on July 15th and September 15th. Okay. You’re not presuming they won’t get those bonuses, are you? Or that Congress can pass an rational, constitutional law to prevent AIG execs from getting the July/September bonuses, besides the March ‘09 bonuses, that the Fed and Treasury — along with the former New York Fed chair, Tim Geithner — all approved in the original 2008 AIG bail-out?
Last night, I tucked this into my article, “The Cover-Up by All The President’s Men,” — below the fold and towards the end of the post — I did so somewhat on purpose, as a test, to see how many readers would spot this astounding news:
There are more A.I.G. bonuses to come:
On Friday, [A.I.G. CEO Edward Liddy told Congress] said he could not block the bonuses; he did agree to reduce executive bonuses set for July 15 and Sept. 15.
I’m searching around to see if I can find out more about those next two sets of bonuses, but am striking out so far. Can any of you help look for more details on the bonuses in June and September 2009?
As you all know from your own experiences, it’s fun to search just because you never know what you might discover! One can stumble on a site one has never heard of before and, once in a while, that accidental encounter can turn out to be truly hot find!
Here’s a site I discovered today, and one article at the site you’ll want to read:
“Liddy Says Geithner Knew About Bonuses,” Securities Law Blog (SECLaw.com — “Issues, news and commentary on the law of the financial markets.”) Here’s an out-of-context blurb to get your interest piqued:
Morgan Stanley staff gets paid salary plus bonus. Secretaries, IT folks, internal accountants, attorneys, all get bonuses as part of their overall compensation. It is almost guaranteed that most of those folks who are married with a working spouse make over $250,000 a year, combined. It’s relatively easy, given the cost of living in a major city these days. An in-house attorney makes something on the order of $200,000. Her husband probably makes over $100,000 and BAM, they get hit with a 90% tax on her bonus, and she has absolutely nothing to do with the bank’s current problems. Some of the IT professionals make over $200,000. Same situation. There are assistants who make significant amounts of money working at these firms, who get paid with a bonus, and the government is going to tax them too at 90%.
Congress cannot possibly justify this. They have created this mess and they are now pandering to the public. AND, they are too lazy to write a bill that actually addresses what they are trying to address. While I wouldn’t agree with it, if you want to get the bonuses that were paid to executives, use the power of additional TARP funds to do it, not the tax code.
If you want to use the tax code, then apply the tax to bonuses over one million dollars. I would still have a huge problem with that, but you would not be taking money from the innocent secretary, bookkeeper and IT guy.
Don’t believe it? Read it yourself, it’s only one page long – The House Bonus Bill
(Release: November 13)
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they will get their bonuses ,
potus.es biggest contributors..lol.
Don’t Know if this helps, but very interesting from September SEC Filing
Source:
http://www.mmc.com/investors/documents/10Q_3rdQtr_08.pdf
Investors
SEC Filings
Form 10-Q
2008 Third Quarter (PDF) (September 30, 2008)
Pg 22.
An Article From September
Source:
http://www.nysun.com/editorials/aigs-correction/86295/
Thanks Susan!
I saw one of the Republicans discuss the possiblity of a bank teller being caught in this tax trap, if she happened to be married to someone who would bring her income level within range of the 250,000.
During a replay of Mr. Liddy’s hearing, I felt that most of this was out of his control. He was brought in after the robbery was planned and executed, so to speak.
The last I heard, Senator Kyl was blocking this legislation, and even without him, I’m doubtful the Senate will approve this lemon!
This whole issue is just nuts. If these executives were decent Americans who cared about the country, they would simply say they reject the bonuses. This situation truly illustrates the divide between people who work for a living and the corporatists.
Lobbyists made sure the bonuses were in the stimulus bill. Olympia Snowe had them removed and then Chris Dodd put them back in. He said it was Gethner’s orders, but there is recorded testimony from March 3 confirming Geithner was aware of the bonuses.
I agree when your company is effectively owned by the government, you lose your million dollar bonuses (unless you work at Fannie Mae; then you might even get a job in the administration.) Bills of attainder and busing rent a mobs to harass families is unacceptable, though.
If I worked at AIG, I’d take my bonus, pack the car and the kids and get out of Dodge City.
I would like to see an ammendment added to the their taxing fiasco making it madatory that anyone who received any campaign cash from AIG or any other TARP recipient must return the $$ to the government withing 15 days of passage.
Then we could see some real outrage!
Excellent idea!
pd — right on. Chris Dodd and Obama got the biggest campaign contributions from AIG — let’s see them return that money.
The Govt should not have given out the names and addresses of these bonus recipients. They and their families do not deserve to be threatened. If The Govt wanted this money back they should have sued AIG to get it instead of grandstanding like this.
I think you you should run for Congress pd. Your idea rocks.
If they claim they cannot stop the bonus, than why don’t the Obama frauds just stop the bail-out funds and force them to pay back the tax payers equal to what they paid out in bonuses with tax payer money. All of this is about getting rich off the backs of the everyday taxpayer. Americans are really being screwed and too lazy or ignorant to join forces to make a stand…
I’d like to see some outrage over the Feds printing a trillion more in funny money and pumping it into Treasury or the Financial Accounting Board proposing rules that would allow companies to “report net-income figures that ignore severe, long-term price declines in securities they own. Not just debt securities, mind you, but even common stocks and other equities, too.”
Link here:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&refer=columnist_weil&sid=aGdxdLHUVGrs
Or the 3.6 trillion dollar budget that Obama wants us to cheer and hug him for [after the CBO has declared it unsustainable] or Geither’s decision [according to Paul Krugman] to embrace “zombie banks,” which means the taxpayers get stuck for the banksters’ greed.
As maddening as the AIG bonus x 3 waltz is, it’s small potatoes compared to what’s coming down the road.
This is same old, same old. The guys on top [Obama, Geithner, the whole crew] are protecting their own interests and them that brung ‘em to the dance.
They’re lying, all of them.
The O is very problematical here, but what we’re looking at, IMO, is a very strong Executive branch and a very weak Congressional branch of government. (I don’t need/want to think about the Judiciary at this point.)
Someone brighter than I could maybe make some sense of this: I’m stuck. But if Congress passes on something no one has read, that’s a problem.
Off Topic: I read print columnists snarling that the Internet subscribers/readers/commenters sign on only to those with whom they agree. I don’t see it that way. I’m an inveterate subscriber to print. BUT: It doesn’t meet my needs: I never can remember who is owned by whom. On the Internet, on the blogs, it’s very clear who owns what.
Someplace I ought to be saying Thanks to the blogs, especially NQ, for making newsgathering clearer.
Tess, I think it’s the opposite–stronger congress and weaker admin. I really think the “streagth” in the admin is coming from Rahm–working in concert with Pelosi. But who knows–I don’t trust any of them.
Has anyone asked BO outright if he read the stimulus package before it was passed?
I like you link to all points of view now. This past election taught me that lesson.
By the way, I did not vote for BO.
Tess, I think it’s the opposite–stronger congress and weaker admin. I really think the “strength” in the admin is coming from Rahm–working in concert with Pelosi. But who knows–I don’t trust any of them.
Has anyone asked BO outright if he read the stimulus package before it was passed?
I like you link to all points of view now. This past election taught me that lesson.
By the way, I did not vote for BO.
Source:2. American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of
2009 (D)
January 6, 2009
111th Congress of the United States of America
Washington, DC
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-
bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h1
enr.pdf
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h1
Pg 404 bottom of the pg(H. R. 1—405)
‘‘(IV) For any financial institution that received
financial assistance provided under the TARP equal
to $500,000,000 or more, the prohibition shall apply
to the senior executive officers and at least the 20
next most highly-compensated employees, or such
higher number as the Secretary may determine is in
the public interest with respect to any TARP recipient.
‘‘(iii) The prohibition required under clause (i) shall not be construed to prohibit any bonus payment required to be paid pursuant to a written employment contract executed on or before February 11, 2009, as such valid employment contracts are determined by the Secretary or the designee of the Secretary.
‘‘(E) A prohibition on any compensation plan that would encourage manipulation of the reported earnings of such.
Pg 406
‘‘(3) DEADLINE FOR RULEMAKING.—Not later than 1 year
after the date of enactment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the Commission shall issue any final rules and regulations required by this subsection.
‘‘(f) REVIEW OF PRIOR PAYMENTS TO EXECUTIVES.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall review bonuses,retention awards, and other compensation paid to the senior executive officers and the next 20 most highly-compensated employees of each entity receiving TARP assistance before the date of enactment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act of 2009, to determine whether any such payments were inconsistent with the purposes of this section or the TARP or were otherwise contrary to the public interest.
‘‘(2) NEGOTIATIONS FOR REIMBURSEMENT.—If the Secretary makes a determination described in paragraph (1), the Secretary shall seek to negotiate with the TARP recipient and the subject employee for appropriate reimbursements to the Federal Government with respect to compensation or bonuses.
‘‘(g) NO IMPEDIMENT TO WITHDRAWAL BY TARP RECIPIENTS.—
Subject to consultation with the appropriate Federal banking agency (as that term is defined in section 3 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act), if any, the Secretary shall permit a TARP recipient to repay
any assistance previously provided under the TARP to such financial institution, without regard to whether the financial institution has replaced such funds from any other source or to any waiting
period, and when such assistance is repaid, the Secretary shall liquidate warrants associated with such assistance at the current market price.
‘‘(h) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary shall promulgate regulations to implement this section.’’
Just posted one with actual content referring to the specific in H. R. 1,,it begins with
I believe it is in the rinse cycle.
Thnks
“Liddy said Geithner knnew about bonuses” – Of course Geithner knew about the bonuses. He has admitted (after Dodd squealed on him) that he was responsible for the removal of the clause in the bill that would have prohibited the bonuses.
When asked if Geithner offered to resign what would he say, Obama replied to the effect that he would not accept his resignation. Something to the effect – the job is yours buddy.
Of course he will protect the little Timmy, Obama’s mother worked for Timmy’s father in Indonesia. At the Ford Foundation, I seem to remember, something about micro loans for native women to start their own businesses. It’s all in the family, so to speak. Obama grew up in Indonesia. Could be that the two have been friends for a long time.
Turbo Tax Cheating Timmy is making big money decisions for this country, and it’s a sad day for America when a tax cheater is in control of Treasury.
Once a cheat, always a cheat. Once a liar, always a liar. I guess they expected Chris Dodd to cover for him indefinitely.
>>> and it’s a sad day for America when a tax cheater is in control of Treasury.
There have been over 1400 Sad Days for the US with a lying, draft-dodging idiot in control of damned near everything.
Not to forget little timmy’s background with sterns
http://www.portfolio.com/
NEW YORK FED CHIEF TIM GEITHNER
The Man Who Saved (or Got Suckered by) Wall Street
by Gary Weiss June 2008 Issue
The only people who got suckered are the foolish voters who put obama into office. Where the hell did they think he got all of his money from Malia and Sasha lemonade stand?
I find it amusing that Bremer and Geitner both work for / at Kissengers’ shop.
Geithner, Summers, and Obama are double-dealing f-ups. While claiming publicly that they’re working to fix our economy, they are instead operating clumsily yet deliberately to restore the elitist, financial system of Wall Street casinos at the public’s expense.
For Obama and his Wall Street pals, corporate bonuses are entitlements to be bestowed upon winners — the competitive players of the investment class, rather than as a reward earned for responsible management with sustainable outcomes.
Watch Bruce Fein on FOX lay waste to Wall Street talking points that the constitution prohibits the federal government from taking back taxpayer-funded bonuses.