Obama and his team knew about AIG?!

[SRCivic98]

SPIN METER: Shocked, shocked! Washington knew AIG details for months, rises in anger only now Tuesday March 17, 8:25 pm ET By Julie Hirschfeld Davis, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Cue the outrage. For months, the Obama administration and members of Congress have known that insurance giant AIG was getting ready to pay huge bonuses while living off government bailouts. It wasn't until the money was flowing and news was trickling out to the public that official Washington rose up in anger and vowed to yank the money back. Why the sudden furor, just weeks after Barack Obama's team paid out $30 billion in additional aid to the company? So far, the administration has been unable to match its actions to Obama's tough rhetoric on executive compensation. And Congress has been unable or unwilling to restrict bonuses for bailout recipients, despite some lawmakers' repeated efforts to do so. The situation has the White House and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on the defensive. The administration was caught off guard Tuesday trying to explain why Geithner had waited until last Wednesday to call AIG chief executive Edward M. Liddy and demand that the bonus payments be restructured. Neither Obama nor Geithner learned of the impending bonus payments until last week, senior administration officials told The Associated Press late Tuesday, speaking on condition of anonymity about internal discussions. Publicly, the White House expressed confidence in Geithner -- but still made it clear he was the one responsible for how the matter was handled. "I do know that Secretary Geithner last week engaged with the CEO of AIG to communicate what we thought were outrageous and unacceptable bonuses," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said. Gibbs declined to provide a timeline that would show when members of the administration -- including the president and others at the White House -- became aware of the bonuses. In an interview with The Associated Press, Obama's chief economic adviser Lawrence Summers said: "In the context of what we're doing, Secretary Geithner was notified, he has said, last week. As he reported to the rest of us, he moved aggressively and immediately, aggressively and immediately, to recoup whatever could be legally recouped. He recognized that you can't just abrogate contracts willy-nilly, but he moved to do what could be done." The bonus problem wasn't new, as many lawmakers and administration officials knew only too well. AIG's plans to pay hundreds of millions of dollars were publicized last fall, when Congress started asking questions about expensive junkets the company had sponsored. A November SEC filing by the company details more than $469 million in "retention payments" to keep prized employees. Back then, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, D-Md., began pumping Liddy for information on the bonuses and pressing him to scale them back. "There was outrage brewing already," Cummings said. "I'm saying (to Liddy), 'Be a good citizen. ... Do something about this.' " Around the same time, outside lawyers hired by the Federal Reserve started reviewing the bonuses as part of a broader look at retention and compensation plans, according to government officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. The outside attorneys examined the possibility of making changes to the company plans -- scaling them back, delaying them or rescinding them. They ultimately concluded that even if AIG's bonuses were withheld, the company would probably be sued successfully by its employees and be forced to pay them, the officials said. In January, Reps. Joseph E. Crowley of New York and Paul E. Kanjorski of Pennsylvania wrote to the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department pressing the administration to scrutinize AIG's bonus plans and take steps against excessive payments. "I at that point realized that we were going to have a backlash with regard to these bonuses," Kanjorski said in an AP interview. In a meeting with Liddy later that month, he said he told the AIG chief that "all hell would break loose if we didn't find a way to inform the public ... and that we should take every step to put that information out there so we wouldn't have the shock." Around the same time, Congress and Obama's team were passing up an opportunity to put in place strict laws to revoke bonuses from recipients of the $700 billion Wall Street bailout. In February, the Senate voted to add such a proposal to the economic recovery bill that cleared Congress, but in final closed-door talks on the measure, that provision was dropped in favor of limits that affect only future payments. "There was a lot of lobbying against it and it died," said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who proposed the measure with Republican Sen. Olympia J. Snowe of Maine. He said Obama's team is sending mixed messages on what will and won't be tolerated on bonuses, with the president coming out strongly against excessive Wall Street rewards but top officials not following through. "The president goes out and says this is not acceptable, and then some backroom deal gets cut to let these things get paid out anyway," Wyden said. "They need to put this to bed once and for all." Last Wednesday, an apparently tense conversation between Geithner and Liddy brought the matter to a head. Geithner had learned of the bonus payments the previous day, said a Treasury Department official familiar with the government's dealings with AIG. Liddy, in a letter to Geithner on Saturday, referred to their "open and frank conversation" over the retention payments on March 11. "I admit that the conversation was a difficult one for me," Liddy wrote. On Thursday, as Treasury lawyers scrambled to find a way to cancel the payments, Geithner informed the White House of the situation, and senior aides there relayed it to Obama, the administration officials said. Meanwhile, the administration moved to get ahead of what was certain to be an embarrassing story. Unprompted, officials leaked news of the bonuses to select reporters late Saturday afternoon, highlighting what Geithner had done to try to restrain the payments. The story quickly became fodder for the Sunday news talk shows. Then on Monday, the president himself came out strongly on the issue, calling the payments "an outrage" and publicly directing his team to look for ways to cancel the payments. Questioned repeatedly to explain this in light of the fact that the administration had already scoured its options and come up empty -- and that the bonuses had already gone out the door to their recipients -- Gibbs said that the president wanted his aides to make sure "to exhaust all legal remedies." That's done little to quell the expressions of outrage that were blasting about by Tuesday. "It's shocking," said Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the minority leader, that "the administration would come to us now and act surprised."

Associated Press writers Ieva M. Augstums, Jeannine Aversa, Martin Crutsinger, Ben Feller, Jim Kuhnhenn and Jennifer Loven contributed to this report.

there's the article folks. and if you don't believe me, here's the link to this article and another one too.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/090317/aig_what_did_they_know.html

http://money.aol.com/news/articles/_a/bbdp...-bonuses/384861

[The Silver Thong]

Lou Dobbs did a great piece on this tonight and yes he did criticize Obama big.

I am trying to find a vid, but it was only a couple hours ago. hmmmm I'll post one when I can find it. He is not holding back...

[Michelle]

Lou Dobbs did a great piece on this tonight and yes he did criticize Obama big.

I am trying to find a vid, but it was only a couple hours ago. hmmmm I'll post one when I can find it. He is not holding back...

It's about time someone holds Obama's feet to the fire...

[Lt_Ripley]

Obama knew months ago ??? and how long has he been president ?? that doesn't make sense.

now , it's reported Obama found out last Thursday. What makes more sense , that cons don't seem to have , it that AIG agreed to one thing and did another. But hey , cons gotta twist . What I want to know is why didn't cons get mad about this when the same thing happened under Bush ??

US Treasury to reclaim AIG cash

Timothy Geithner, 16/03

Mr Geithner has come under criticism for his handling of AIG

Huge bonuses paid out by ailing insurer AIG will be deducted from the firm's next bail-out payment, the US treasury secretary says.

In a letter to congressmen, Timothy Geithner said $165m (£116m) would be taken from $30bn the firm is due to get as part of its government bail-out.

The plan comes after Mr Geithner faced heavy criticism for his handling of the increasingly controversial issue.

Republicans said he should have done more to stop the bonuses being paid.

Channelling public anger

Frustration has been growing over the bonuses, and reports say that AIG offices have received hate mail and even death threats.

On Monday President Barack Obama called the AIG bonuses "an outrage".

The BBC's James Coomarasamy, in Washington, says these are uncomfortable times for Mr Obama.

Obama 'outraged' at AIG bonuses

US media homes in on AIG

The president is trying to channel public anger over the bonuses without becoming the object of that anger himself, our correspondent says.

Republicans have raised questions about when Mr Obama was told about the bonuses - and also criticised Mr Geithner for not preventing the payments before they were paid.

In a letter to Congress leaders, Mr Geithner outlined the measures he had taken to try to stop the bonuses being paid.

He then confirmed that the bonus payments would be deducted from the next instalment of AIG's $180bn bail-out package.

"We will impose on AIG a contractual commitment to pay the Treasury from the operations of the company the amount of the retention awards just paid," Mr Geithner's letter said.

"In addition, we will deduct from the $30bn in assistance an amount equal to the amount of those payments."

Democrat threat

Politicians have been anxious to criticise the bonuses - with one congressman even suggesting that AIG executives receiving bonuses should kill themselves before swiftly retracting his statement.

On Tuesday, the politicians' anger was stoked by a letter from the attorney general of New York state, Andrew Cuomo, revealing more details of the bonuses.

If these contracts are not renegotiated immediately, we will take action

Democrat letter to AIG

Chorus of anger over AIG

He said that 73 AIG executives - including 11 who no longer work for the company - were each last week given bonuses worth more than $1m.

Before Mr Geithner's announcement, Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House of Representatives, had said several committees were looking at passing legislation this week to reclaim the money from AIG.

And Senate Democrats wrote to AIG Chief Executive Edward Liddy on Tuesday calling on him to hand over the bonuses.

"If these contracts are not renegotiated immediately, we will take action to make American taxpayers whole by recouping all of the bonuses that AIG has paid out to its financial products unit," the letter stated.

The financial products unit, the letter stated, is seen as being primarily responsible for the "near-failure of the company".

Mr Liddy has said the bonuses were paid to honour contracts AIG agreed to before the firm's value plummeted when the financial crisis set in last year.

He is due to testify before a House sub-committee on Wednesday. Analysts predict he will face a tough set of questions.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7949729.stm

Edited March 18, 2009 by Lt_Ripley

[The Silver Thong]

It's about time someone holds Obama's feet to the fire...

Hey Michelle you knew that I backed Obama to a point and had hope, high hopes maybe. Obama does need a smack up side the head. What he was befor is not what he is now. However it's out of our control now and only time will tell.

Just so I don't get jumped, I miss Bush

[AROCES]

Obama knew months ago ??? and how long has he been president ?? that doesn't make sense.

now , it's reported Obama found out last Thursday. What makes more sense , that cons don't seem to have , it that AIG agreed to one thing and did another. But hey , cons gotta twist . What I want to know is why didn't cons get mad about this when the same thing happened under Bush ??

Who control Congress that was so in a hurry to pass the bailout?

And who was so in a hurry to sign it?

Edited March 18, 2009 by AROCES

[The Silver Thong]

Who control Congress that was so in a hurry to pass the bailout?

And who was so in a hurry to sign it?

Same question so I posted it to your same damn question lol

http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum...=149457&hl=

[Michelle]

Hey Michelle you knew that I backed Obama to a point and had hope, high hopes maybe. Obama does need a smack up side the head. What he was befor is not what he is now. However it's out of our control now and only time will tell.

Just so I don't get jumped, I miss Bush

One is no better that the other as far as I'm concerned.

[The Silver Thong]

One is no better that the other as far as I'm concerned.

I know, I was hoping though. *sigh*

[SRCivic98]

Hey Michelle you knew that I backed Obama to a point and had hope, high hopes maybe. Obama does need a smack up side the head. What he was befor is not what he is now. However it's out of our control now and only time will tell.

Just so I don't get jumped, I miss Bush

yeah because who else could you make fun of all day and everyone laugh including him? expecially those red socks his mother made him one year for his birthday.

[ninjadude]

Lou Dobbs did a great piece on this tonight and yes he did criticize Obama big.

Is this the same lou dobbs that ran a show yesterday criticizing St Patricks day and wanting an "American day" blithly ignoring all the ones we have now??