AIG Bonuses: Dodd Cracks, Geithner Knew
Jennifer Rubin at Commentary magazine’s blog rounds up the latest info on who knew what about the AIG bonuses. It’s not pretty, but, of course, we knew it wouldn’t be.
The bottom line: Dodd, after denying it, now admits he and the administration cooked up the language which afforded AIG some protection ( until the firestorm hit) to grant the bonuses.
Time magazine also reports:
Although Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told congressional leaders on Tuesday that he learned of AIG’s impending $160 million bonus payments to members of its troubled financial-products unit on March 10, sources tell TIME that the New York Federal Reserve informed Treasury staff that the payments were imminent on Feb. 28. That is 10 days before Treasury staffers say they first learned “full details” of the bonus plan, and three days before the Administration launched a new $30 billion infusion of cash for AIG. [Emphasis mine.--EDF]
It’s such a relief to have the “best and brightest” running the show, isn’t it?
clown festival in DC? Only explanation I can come up with
Holy Smoke, this guy is more incompetent that GWB.
Oh, let’s not write this off as mere “incompetence”. TAO and the rest of the filthy democrats are also lying through their teeth about what happened, what they knew, and when they knew it. They are now persecuting as untrustworthy, greedy and corrupt the very executives who received billions of dollars from them for taking a piece of the pie for themselves even though the dems not only KNEW this was happening, they even gave it a legislative blessing.
Assuming our country is here in ten years, our descendents will rightly curse us for electing this pack of morons and thieves. We have “The Greatest Generation” that survived the Depression and won World War II. Any bets on what historians will call us?
Anyone who has studied bureaucratic governmental politics would not be surprised. As Graham Allison notes, quite often the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. This is typical, made worse by the early staffing problems inherent in a new administration. The real story behind AIG is, I argue, symbolic. It is symbolic of the greed and avarice that has defined Wall Street and corporate America, and this portends major new regulatory efforts on executive compensation and corporate behavior. In my blog today I compare it to the Berlin Wall — the AIG bonuses symbolize the collapse of the kind of corporate climate and deregulated capitalism of the last quarter century. It’s about time!
“Hey, look — the ‘real story’ is this red herring!”