Treasury Officials Blame Dodd for What They Did - and Lapdog Media Helps
Glenn Greenwald sums it up nicely:
There is a major push underway -- engineered by Obama's Treasury officials, enabled by a mindless media, and amplified by the right-wing press -- to blame Chris Dodd for the AIG bonus payments. That would be perfectly fine if it were true. But it's completely false, and the scheme to heap the blame on him for the AIG bonus payments is based on demonstrable falsehoods.
Jane Hamsher (who's really been on fire lately) breaks it all down, step by step. A well-placed leak to the New York Times (who's always oh-so-grateful for any story they don't have to actually investigate) was all it took to finger Dodd as the bad guy.
But, as Glenn says, it's just not true.
It was Dodd who did everything possible -- including writing and advocating for an amendment -- which would have applied the limitations on executive compensation to all bailout-receiving firms, including AIG, and applied it to all future bonus payments without regard to when those payments were promised. But it was Tim Geithner and Larry Summers who openly criticized Dodd's proposal at the time and insisted that those limitations should apply only to future compensation contracts, not ones that already existed. The exemption for already existing compensation agreements -- the exact provision that is now protecting the AIG bonus payments -- was inserted at the White House's insistence and over Dodd's objections. But now that a political scandal has erupted over these payments, the White House is trying to deflect blame from itself and heap it all on Chris Dodd by claiming that it was Dodd who was responsible for that exemption.
From a Feb. 14th article in the Wall St. Journal:
The most stringent pay restriction bars any company receiving funds from paying top earners bonuses equal to more than one-third of their total annual compensation. That could severely crimp pay packages at big banks, where top officials commonly get relatively modest salaries but often huge bonuses.
As word spread Friday about the new and retroactive limit -- inserted by Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut -- so did consternation on Wall Street and in the Obama administration, which opposed it.
Lots more, go read.
..failing to appoint a special prosecutor now that the Red Cross has determined the USA committed war crimes and now the administration deflecting blame on a member of the Senate..I'm still not sorry for who I voted for but my patience is running out.
Mickey: "It was an epiphany. Do you know what an epipany is?"
Keoni: "NOT NOW MICKEY!"
I hope that gown that ties up the back keeps his tookas covered.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Time to toss someone over the cliff.
Dodd just did what "Obama" wanted, insofar as "Obama" was working through the person of Geithner and the banksters at Treasury.
It's clear that he got "jobbed" by Treasury, and given Geithner's background it should come as no surprise.
Geithner has got to go.
It's called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it.
-George Carlin
I'm paraphrasing, but I've got this at least 95% right:
1. The money was given to AIG by the Bush Administration before Obama and his team took office.
2. When Obama and his team came in, the question arose whether they (she called it "the Democrats") should try to undo what Bush did and get back the bonuses.
3. Geithner believed that it wasn't worth reopening the issue and raising a big legal problem [lawsuits over the bonuses, which, after all, were written into employment contracts]. He believed it was better to move forward. It was "probably the wrong call" [I think she meant the wrong call politically, not legally or Constitutionally], but it seems like a legitimate decision to move forward.
I think Rosen is correct, and, while the media and the people are in a frenzy over who is to blame for not taking back bonuses that were already put into employment contracts, we should remember that this happened under George W. Bush.
and I can hardly wait.
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
to be just wonderful when most of the population "snaps".
How convenient, ahem ahem, well you know people in our offices were talking back and forth, and I don't recall. Was Gonzo in the house?
Goodnight, Frau Blücher
Geithner would be the fall guy.
are the insiders implying that he is an innocent bystander?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l3a7lsEgFM
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
The shit's getting ready to hit the fan...
vicious mobs hoisting flaming brands to the window treatments of a hedge funder's McMansions?
not that I would EVER condone such activities...;)
When Obama takes the low rode and blames Chris Dodd, he shows right out in front, he's a bought and paid for shill for corporations.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0aW8IXdAjA
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Then the short attention span of Americans will forget all about it as a new issue is fed to us by the corporate media. What are we going to do about it when we really didn't do anything but complain about Bush. This is our guy Obama, are we going to push for impeachment for his involvement in the grand robbery of the United States Treasury. Are you going to actually take to the streets this time, or sit at home and type on your computer. Until we the people take real action in consistent perpetual civil disobedience, nothing is going to change. No matter who is in office, and how smooth their tact is. I can already feel how most of you are wondering what we voted for. I know I am.
Can't really get anywhere to do any protesting...I have no car, no money to spend on going to where any protests might be goin on.
And in the Keys there ain't no AIG offices to be picketing.
I don't really know what to do about this to be perfectly honest.
People all across the country must see the outrage. As learned in prior mass protests during the Bush years, we don't get coverage by the press. Thus the protest is ineffective as it doesn't get noticed by those that don't realize the outrageous crimes being committed. This means that small groups in many communities across the nation must set the example. If we all march to Washington, it just looks like the crazy hippies are at it again. But organized efforts accross the country on the other hand, will get people thinking, and hopefully acting in their community. It's a good theory anyway.
Thanks!
did that quite well --- with pots and pans!
"Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of Stupidity" - Frank Leahy
Yeah, I'm getting the same feeling about our "new" prez too.
That we voted for just another politican with a fresh coat of slick?
Or is it that we had no idea how badly f--ed up the whole shebang was?
Or maybe even BOTH. It's a mess that we're only now beginning to see the extent of, and we picked another smooth-talking snake-oil dude to fix it.
None of the above. Could it be that we have the best president we've had for a long time, but some of us have totally unrealistic expectations about what he's up against, and how much of the mess he can clean up in less than two months?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090319/ts_alt_a...
I do however then believe that Geithner should resign or be released from public service.
About how the media and most everyone else forgot about the sneaky stuff the White House lawyers did during the first bailout rounds (in 2008, still bush's term) that made these wonderful bonuses possible. Damn this country's short memory!!
I had the best solution to the bonus question. All these wastrels should be paid their bonuses in the stock of the company or bank they work for with each share assigned a nominal value of it's peak price. Let them collect thirty cent shares that used to be sixty dollar shares and they might just realize what putzes they are.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
The May Cocoa contract—a great trade in Friday’s session with the contract rallying right up to that 2445 sell point, which we had recommended shorting at before. We sold the contract away at the 2440, taking $50 out of the contract. You see this wonderful short trading pattern in the Cocoa, and we expect that pattern to continue.
them sneaky short traders.
The media slept through this crisis as it developed, and they just woke up cranky.
Perhaps a stressed-out and impoverished public might be induced to not go apeshit if they give us another Red Carpet extravaganza to feast on.
I'm partial to red heads too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJi8xd38zwE
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Glad to hear the guy who stood up for us on telecom immunity isn't responsible for this.
Hopefully humanity will one day learn to be humane.
So lets destroy some dems for what Bush's admin did.
Good going, Limbaugh, Hannity.
Even CNBC has gone so over the top that their slogan for the show is “In Cramer We Trust”
this was not a bush admin screw job, it was an obama treasury dept screw job...
that SHILL...Paulson and Bush.
No oversight. No transparency.
"Give $700 billion to all my golfing buddies on Wall Street, or we all die."
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
but this thread, "Treasury Officials Blame Dodd for What They Did", is referring to the obama treasury
I hope that every redneck, blue collar union worker that started this debacle by electing flag waving, bullshit artist Republicans...beginning with that frog faced bastard, Ronald Reagan...rues the day when they are unemployed, can't get food stamps, has no retirement funds, no Social Security, no education assistance for their children, no healthcare, no unemployment insurance...and spends the rest of their lives wandering the deserted streets of once booming manufacturing centers of this nation.
Fuck em ALL. MORONS!!!!
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
That they won't, they'll STILL blame liberals.
yet, there is a scary possibility:
the rise of american fascism (like REAL fascism), as the rightwing tries to corral the raging populism of labor to its own nefarious ends. the rightwing has decades of experience at, and incredible skill of, deflecting their real goals and agenda.
to the majority of Americans as anti-American pro-corporate jebus freaks.
And for the record...I think the fascist coup may already have taken place, and we are slowly waking up to that fact.
...necessary. I don't think anyone would have allowed these bonuses to be given had they known what AIG was going to do.
Get the fucking money back from these greed addicted bastards and chalk it up as a lesson learned.
RESPONSIBILITIES imply CONSEQUENCES FOR FAILURE.
If someone says "I accept responsibility" they had either come up with a jiffy quick solution to the mess, or leave.
A kid knocks over a glass of milk. He accepts responsibility. He cleans it up. If he refuses to clean it up, he is sent to his room - he is to be punished.
Obama, like Roosevelt, is working for the ruling elite. He's trying to keep a lid on the mess to prevent an actual socialist (from the left) or fascist (from the right) revolution that would (in both cases) sweep away the status quo and seriously erode the class differences (socialism would reduce/eliminate the plutocrats, fascism would eliminate the middle class by hardening the differences between the Inner Party and the proles.
It's called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it.
-George Carlin
okaaaaay....
We All Know there are socialists and fascists hiding under the bed (provided the terrorists left them any room).
I mean, Glenn Beck Told Me So. I Looked Into His Eyes And Saw He Was Sincere.
on how they exposed the Dodd news is truly nauseating-- "OOhh, look at us, we're a news organization."
Not so much so...
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
corporation owned governments against the rights and freedoms of us suckers.
..W and Co. to invade Iraq, authorize torture, piss away a budget surplus and otherwise ruin the economy. They've admitted guilt and the agency responsible to the world has told us war crimes have been committed.
Why is it SO HARD for Pres. Obama to say, "Today, we've appointed a Special Prosecutor to investigate the war crimes allegedly committed by the previous administration." There, I typed it in a matter of seconds. It can be repeated easily enough. It couldn't hurt this country any more than we've already been wounded.
Mickey: "It was an epiphany. Do you know what an epipany is?"
Keoni: "NOT NOW MICKEY!"
I love the smell of genetically modified, breakfast foods in the morning! While I’m looking out the window, I can merge together the sounds of the Rice Krispies crackling in the milk from the Monsanto-enhanced cows with the sonorous oratory of our great leaders!!!
ICRC has determined that the bush admin tortured detainees... as KO said, let the prosecution begin
America to be renamed, "ItsAboutMe".
Our new flag will look like this;
http://media.photobucket.com/image/limbaugh+o...
My favorite celebrity understands!!!
to hold the weight of that one. I doubt a crappy cost-cutting Chinese one would do the trick...
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
Especially when people are faced with a no win situation.
Current U.S. Birth Rate = 14.18 live births per 1,000 population
U.S. Population 2008 = 303,824,640
14.18 x 303,824.64 / 365 = 11,803 current live births per day, about 8 every minute.
And all of them named Jesus.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
...or Rush, same thing.
"Dropped out in ninth grade and makes $11 an hour at a truck part store, shell out most of his $5,000 tax refund on a leather sofa that won't fit in the apartment he shares with his 21-year-old girlfriend and their infant daughter while he borrows food stamp money from his sister."
n/t
...because he bought those mexican felt Elvis paintings for his singlewide mobile home and he's broke."
tie the room together...
....for Senator Dodd and Keith Olberman or Rachael Maddow to have a nice long on the air chat. Just to clear the air.
"We're not gonna take it anymore!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-jsgousZcA
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
in our living rooms!
and my TV and my Windows Vista, and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone!"
I mean, you're not doing anything wrong in there, right? Why do you need a lock on your door and drapes on your windows? Why can't we read your mail and listen to your phone calls and see what web sites you visit and which eBay auctions you track and what books you buy on Amazon.com ...?
After all, we're doing this to keep you
dumbsafe.These goons are torpedoing Barack Obama. Destroying his credibility. They won't stop until he gets rid of them and hires somebody relatively honest.
In Krugman we trust.
He's as helpless to pull us out of this mess as the rest of them.
It's a confidence game and there's NO CONFIDENCE.
... because they were acceptable to the Wall Street crowd.
It's the same bullcrap as 'bipartisan' compromises that weaken a bill. You compromise, you get it in the ass.
Our founding fathers were very clear on what needed to be done, if this were to occur.
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
but will the people rise up?
I'd throw the bums out in a hot second if I believed we could replace it with something workable that wouldn't end up just as corrupted inside of a year.
Step 1: Forget the $100K cap. I think legislators need to be taken down to a salary of $50-$60K, which is 50% over the median income for the average American. No more voting yourself pay raises.
Step 2: Enough finger-waggling and fake outrage. Congress needs to do its fracking job. Each and every member of Congress, save those newly-elected and sworn in recently, bears responsibility for our economic crisis.
Step 3: The media needs a spanking and a time-out. It's one thing to complain about Rush Limbaugh, it's another thing to stand on the sidelines and cheer like you're an innocent bystander. When the media lets their colleagues get away unchecked, unaccountable for their slant and cherry-picked facts, the institution suffers as a whole. Want someone to blame for the 'mainstream media' concept? Go look in the frackin' mirror. You got beaten at the game because you were playing the game.
Step 4: Oh, the bonus is a retention bonus? Fine. We don't need to retain you. Good luck finding a new job when your resume includes, "Part of the management team that fucked up AIG."
Step 5: No, your buddy Jesus ain't coming down to save you. Really. Fuck that noise - look at you, especially you flag-pin wearing, 'Christian nation' bunch. Who's putting the screws to Mr. & Mrs. Middle America? Yep, your heroes like George Worthless Bush and Dick Buckshot-in-the-Face Cheney. You really think ol' Dick gives a rat's ass about you and your double-wide trailer? That you're busting your ass on an assembly line for minimum wage and crap benefits? Ha.
At least Christ had the good sense to toss the moneychangers out of the temple square (for which he was ultimately tortured and executed).
Step 6: Enough with the fear parade. This is the country that faced down Imperial Britain? That conquered the West? Helped Europe defeat the Nazis when Hitler was winning? Sent a man to the moon? Builds aircraft carriers? Waaaaaaaah. Commies. Socialists. Muslims. Liberals. Gays. Pagans. Waaaaaaaaah. Stand up, America, and throw off the mental shackles that Limbaugh, Dobbs, Beck, Malkin, and other paranoid wackaloons would have you wear.
Step 7: 2-4-6-8, Time to Educate. No more 'intelligent design' crap. The subject material of a basic (and solid) education can't have changed THAT much from my childhood. Math, spelling, grammar, the basics of critical thinking need to be taught. Languages, too, so we have an advantage in trade/diplomacy. Teaching little Georgie to memorize answers ain't working.
I'm sure there's more, but that'll do for now.
I needed it.
The names of the people involved in the closed door meeting to de-claw the stimulus bill...
http://openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=12313
really cares about his reputation...then he should name names...and decorum be damned.
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
I could give a fuck about a politicians reputation...He should name names because it's the right fucking thing to do!
I'm not cussing at you L&P...I'm just PISSED OFF about this shit.
to play here in Vegas...
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
i guess few were listening to the democratic debates if thats what you want to call them, i did and thiers nothing surpriseing here, obamas right of center just like the repigs ,
The repigs are not right of center...they're FAR right...waaaaay out there!
well im not a dude , but i allso didnt use a measureing stick so if the shoe fits or what ever ,
Thought you were a guy for some reason.
As for the rest of your post...huh?
a dudes what a jasper calls yah straight out of the 80s culture , maby i might clarify my post , obamas a bought and paid for corporationist . sold to you as a liberal in his first stage before he won the right to be the nomination of the democrats and then morphed hiself into a righty lite stage when we had no choice [left]
Given the Republicans a great tool to bash them with and are now doing that on the floor of the House. And Barney Frank is acting like a fool. But what I want to know is do the Dems really support the tax payers paying the AIG crooks their bonuses. And if OB believes in transparency and if he takes the cloak of responsibility, then he should speak up on this travesty of thievery and let us know TODAY.
I learned a new word yesterday - PLUTOCRACY. I think that the Dems are all about that form of aberrational government.
From Washington Post by way of MSNBC:
How the Fed failed to tell Obama about bonuses
When will government of the people, by the politicians, for the corporations perish from this Earth?
Not soon enough!
I agree with the current proposal.
Pay these guys $250,000 per year (I think I could live on that) and tax them 90% on any bonuses over that.
When will government of the people, by the politicians, for the corporations perish from this Earth?
Not soon enough!
So the Obama Administation dumped on one of their own. As a progressive liberal I've already had enough of Barrack. He can go back to Chicago anytime. People can't face up to the fact that our man " looking forward for change " is the same old shit. The Corporate Cabal owns this guy just as they own our political system. Just another lying politician. Keep the faith in this guy and you will get fucked.
However, I'm of the opinion that American politics is becoming more and more like Tolkien's One Ring ... it doesn't matter how pure your heart, or how much good you'd like to do/intend to do. Once you take up the damned Ring, you're screwed. There's evil, malicious power behind the Ring, and it will warp every thing you do, turn friends into foes, darken your outlook, corrupt your spirit, drive you insane.
then you can hold off the powers for a bit longer than most...
Seriously though...I'm HOPING that Obama's not been corrupted....
I think he's tougher than most, including myself are giving him credit for.
get ALL the facts
________________
common sense matters as much as truth
and keeping boosh holdovers and corporate cronies.
________________
common sense matters as much as truth
..just another little "dust-up" to keep the masses busy wringing their
hands. What's $160 million??? The amount of money that has already been lifted out of our IRS, pension, and pockets is in the thousands of trillions!!!!!
My friends, we live in the Matrix...and things are not as they seem.
What we are witnessing is just one more giant step in the takeover by the corporate-fascist-elites.....
"Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of Stupidity" - Frank Leahy
... where's my payoff, damnit?
I mean, here I am, working for a media conglomerate, and *I'm* not getting any million-dollar bonuses for fucking up!
Oh, wait, I'm union. I'm one of the great unwashed.
Maybe you should try bathing regularly and applying a little talcum!!
"Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of Stupidity" - Frank Leahy
thier are allways apolligists willing to offer lame excuses!
AIG lavished campaign contributions on key Senators and Congressional members.
#1 recepient of AIG Campaign funds, Sen Chris Dodd, over $103,000. #2 Then Sen. Barack Obama, over $100,00, #3 was Sen. John McCain, just over $50,000.#4 I believe Bush received 200k
Draw your own conclusions!
Bush. Was President in 2008 when the package was signed.
The bonus contracts were tendered 11 months ago.
George W was president 6 months ago when the bailout was implemented.
Dodd wrote the amendment on these bonuses /change came after his staff spoke with staffers from Treasury.Obama's Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner actually helped come up with these bailouts last fall. AIG, in particular, was his baby.
Gethner's job since 2003 was head of the NY Fed, and it was his responsibility to oversee the stability of the financial markets and Wall Street.(yeah)
Obama signed the bill into law.
And if he didn’t know he should have known.
That is his job.
The lines are getting blurry here and something stinks………We won’t have full accountability until our politicians cease to be employed by groups like AIG.
(1) Top recipient bonsus of $6.4 million
(2) 22 employees that received $2 mil or
more
(3) 73 employees that received $1 mil
or more.
(4) 7 employees that received $4 milion
or more.
Its has been reported that 11 of those employees have already resigned after receiving their bonuses.
We own 80% of AIG.
This is our money . . .give it back.
Follow the money and it will show you who really runs the United States govt.
Our entire congress needs an overhauling.
It is quite clear that, as in this country, the greedy SOBs are not going to give up all the privileges they have enjoyed over the years, without a fight. ...
LuLu
have been part of or owned by the corporate elites for nigh on to a century, now.
Who's going to overhaul the Congress? They're the ones who make the laws; the laws that allow the corporate fascists to rape our nation (and others), put money in the politicians pockets and keeps them in office.
"Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of Stupidity" - Frank Leahy
You'll get no argument from me there...
LuLu
What I mean by Greenwald being wrong is that Dodd did not in fact do everything possible to restrict bonus payments in the stimulus bill. Here is CNN yesterday: "Senate Banking committee Chairman Christopher Dodd told CNN Wednesday that he was responsible for language added to the federal stimulus bill to make sure that already-existing contracts for bonuses at companies receiving federal bailout money were honored."
In other words, Dodd admitted he weakened his own amendment under pressure from Treasury officials under Geithner (if not himself directly) and did so because of the same legal issues - and fear of possible lawsuits by these would-be bonus-deprived millionaires, I presume - AIG/Liddy and others are claiming is the reason the retention bonuses had to be paid out March 15.
And here's the link to read for yourselves:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/18/aig.bo...
This isn't the end of the story to be sure, but Dodd's only saving grace now is that Geithner looks at language in his amendment to the Stimulus bill that says the Treasury Department can reevaluate these contracts if they are deemed not good for "the public interest."
You see, Dodd's amendment is ambiguous: It has a cutoff date for bonus restrictions (Feb. 11) and also language that gives the Treasury head freedom to decide if these bonuses have merit. Which language is stronger will no doubt be up to some good lawyers.
I don't know who to blame more here for these bonuses being handed out without restrictions but there's enough blame to go around, starting with the AIG execs who knew damn well last Fall during the bailout negotiations that these bonuses would be paid out in March of 2009.
But the Treasury Department needs to come clean: either they forced Dodd to weaken the bonus restrictions in the stimulus or they didn't; this morning I heard on MSNBC that Treasury officials claim they didn't force any change to Dodd's legislation. If that's the case then, why did Dodd say yesterday the WHOLE amendment would've been dropped from the Recovery Act if not for these "modifications" Treasury officals wanted? Inquiring minds want to know. I just hope Dodd isn't lying (again) about this - the threat of the amendment being dropped from the stimulus altogether.
In other words, Dodd admitted he weakened his own amendment under pressure from Treasury officials under Geithner (if not himself directly) and did so because of the same legal issues - and fear of possible lawsuits by these would-be bonus-deprived millionaires, I presume - AIG/Liddy and others are claiming is the reason the retention bonuses had to be paid out March 15.
agree...dodd's not a hero here. part of the gig. blames process; didn't initiate, but went along. imho.
CNN tried to create a "Dodd got the most A.I.G. money than any other Senator" = "Dodd provided a "loophole" and "protection" for the A.I.G. bonuses" talking point for Dodd's inevitable Republican challenger in next year's midterm elections.
Therefore, CNN had no interest in indicting the Treasury Department in the Obama administration. Obama isn't facing a Republican challenger next year. Dodd is.
Remember, the "liberal biaed" mainstream media tends to want more Republicans to win elections than Democrats. They would be delighted if the number of Democratic Senate seats declines from 59 rather than increases above 59 next year.
I guess it's fine to have a squabble, ginned up by the Republicans and pushed by the "liberal" media, between the Democratic White House and Democratic Senator Dodd, over who failed to remove the bonuses after the fact. But shouldn't be blame be placed on the AIG top management who established the bonuses for themselves and their top executives in the first place? Have any of you ever been offered such a sweet deal? Shouldn't we be looking at whether it was fraudulent or otherwise unlawful for a company that was running itself into the ground to the point where it had to request billions of our taxpayer dollars, yours and mine, simultaneously to create bonuses in the form of contracts that had to be paid no matter how the employee or the company performed?
"But, as Glenn says, it's just not true."
Since when does the truth matter? We have no one with any balls in the Democratic party to push back against this type of shit.
The truth is on our side? How's that working out for you? Bush is kicking back with his feet up and Codi Rice is on TV lying about Iraq. The radio is packed wall to wall from sea to shining sea with propogandists lying to the american people.
We're fucking doomed.
Alan Grayson
U.S. Representative, Florida’s 8th District
CSPAN
Just spoke on the floor a few minutes ago on CSPAN, stating he read the 500 page 10-K filing. I wish I could have recorded it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOdpbNfa-Rk
PS. The repubs are pushing the crap on the floor now...
Study the symptoms not the virus...
The Fed crew is getting sloppy, mixing their cronies into our house! That goes for "Geithner" as well. Besides the retreads who is recommending these people?
Study the symptoms not the virus...
Thu, 03/19/2009 - 12:23 — MWing
I was thinking more "Oompa Loompas."
_________________________________________________________
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw0zZttfUaw
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Thats perfect--hahaha
LuLu
Timothy Geithner would want to appease business, and President Obama has gone along with them as his closest advisors on this. Unfortunately, in this case, Chris Dodd has the back of the American tax payer, and he is not the closest advisor to the President and did not have the President's ear on this very important legislation when it was first proposed. He presented a chance for Congress to get it right out of the gate. But we have the principle advisors in the WH and their influence to blame for it not working out that way. So, now, after the public uproar, Congress has had to take this action to double back and tax these bonuses in order to retrieve those funds in bonuses that should never have been allowed to begin with. Maybe the law should be based more on what Congressional leaders like Chris Dodd have been trying to do on behalf of the American tax payer rather than listen to and allow the ideas of Summers and Geithner to dominate. The country would have been better off to let Dodd work out that legislation and go with it since it puts tax payers and protects them from incompetent and inappropriate business practices that have gotten us into this mess to begin with.
Geithner, fessed up today. :-)
Study the symptoms not the virus...
Obama can’t fix this mess unless he works to address the root of the problem: lack of accountability (which breeds corruption). And honestly, Obama doesn’t have the authority or power to fix this mess himself... he needs to work with congress to fix it. He needs to work with the very people that are benefiting from the flawed system that we have.
By giving up your ability to hold corporations responsible and giving it to someone else, your values are no longer used to ensure accountability... some other persons values are. And due to our flawed system, this person (your representative) is going to be constantly wined and dined by special interest groups with large sums of money and questionable business opportunities. Even though when you put them in office, they appeared like they were going to represent you, over time, they succumb. They succumb because there isn’t an equal and opposite power there to keep them honest.
So why on earth are you people surprised when we find out that people in washington are more interested in looking out for themselves and their lobbyist buddies than the people they are supposed to represent!
Voting out the republicans and putting in more democrats was doing nothing more than rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic. Not that it wasn’t necessary, but that in itself won’t fix anything.
The whole R vs. D is just to keep you distracted from seeing the real problem. It is about divide and conquer.
"Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told CNN Thursday his department asked Sen. Chris Dodd to include a loophole in the stimulus bill that allowed bailed-out insurance giant American International Group to keep its bonuses".
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Obama_Treasury_...
that Dodd is innocent in all of this, but that doesn't answer the question of why the hell he lied in the first place. Something like this isn't something you just 'forget' you did. If that's the case, he's as incompetent as Berto Gonzo!
What's with Connecticut? They seem to breed two-faced, double-talking Senators! It's time for a new pair!
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