Why all the noise about the bipartisan outrage at AIG’s bonuses?
“There are a lot of terrible things that have happened in the last 18 months, but what’s happened at AIG is the most outrageous,” said Larry Summers, chairman of the White House National Economic Council, appearing on ABC’s This Week.
But Summers painted the Obama administration as largely powerless to stop the cash rewards. “We are a country of law. There are contracts. The government cannot just abrogate contracts. Every legal step possible to limit those bonuses is being taken by Secretary Geithner and by the Federal Reserve system.”
Because the outrage has no value. It’s utterly empty. It’s just a lot of hot air. The bipartisan outrage is to AIG’s bonuses what Howard Schultz’s outrage was to Clayton Bennett’s maneuvering.
It’s time that someone had the courage to stand up and say “I’m against those things that everybody hates.”
I like your analogy. Unfortunately it will end the same way, AIG employees will take their ball (of our money) and go home.
Got a contract?
Tough.
There’s a new game in town.
No court would convict them from banning your Socialist “bonus” payments to your CEO comrades.
Then what about this?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/17/us/pol…
The best solution I’ve heard is saying, “You can take your bonus, but if you do, don’t bother coming in to work tomorrow.” The government owns AIG. We may still have to give out the bonuses, don’t have to keep employing these jackasses.
Make them all employees of the FDIC. They don’t pay as well.
@5, Word.
if your contract says you get a bonus even when you crash the planet’s economy, then it’s not a “bonus”, is it? it’s more like SALARY.
Gee, contracts can be voided by eliminating one of the parties.
So let AIG go bankrupt. Don’t bail them out. Problem solved. Then nationalize and restructure AIG as a new entity. The new owners (you and me) won’t be bound by the old contracts. You and me already own 80% of AIG anyways.
Either way, Obama needs to step up (and stop his recent game of Bush blaming. We get it, duh.). It’s what we elected him for, he’s already had months to think about what to do, and what are we getting now? Quarter-measures, and repeated trips back to the well for more money, and disastrous responses like Geithner’s press conference a month ago.
How about we just avoid giving them bailout money at all…let AIG collapse, then, they’ll be out of jobs, their contracts will be broken (by AIG’s incompentence), and we can then spend the bailout money to help everyone affected by the collapse.
I agree with Barny Franks…they may be entitled to bonuses because of contracts…but this does not garuantee them a job!!! I think most of the top exec’s of these companies asking for bailout money should be made to step down! not fired..then they would be eligeable for unemployment benifits…make them give up their positions, with no chance of getting it back! take your bonus and give back the keys to the bank! you no longer work here! or as stated before…let AIG go under…no contracts, no bonuses, and then our Government can restructure and bring AIG back as a different entity!
I’m with Charles. Everyone has to adopt the posture of being shocked and horrified by it all, but those people are getting those bonuses anyway.
AIG may not be able to stop these contractual bonuses but they can lay those same peole off. And in this market when thousands of financial types have been laid off there are plenty of people quailified, ready and willing to take their places. You don’t need retention bonuses to keep people because there are others out there who can step in and do the job better.