Un ‘f*&#*ng’ believable.
Insurance giant AIG, which has received $170 billion in tax-payer funded bailout, is paying out over $700 hundred million in bonus and retention payments to its employees, according to the Washington Post.
The feeble excuse – AIG is contractually obligated to pay the money.
But U.S. courts have routinely thrown out contracts on pay and benefits for ordinary workers during difficult times for a corporation.
So, why didn’t the U.S. administration declare the contracts void.
We are beginning to lose faith in the Obama administration.
Here’s an excerpt from the Washington Post story:
Insurance giant American International Group will award hundreds of millions of dollars in employee bonuses and retention pay despite a confrontation Wednesday between the firm’s chief executive and Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner.Â
….About 4,700 people in the company’s global insurance units are receiving $600 million in retention pay. In addition, about $121 million in corporate bonuses will go to more than 6,400 people, for an average payout of about $19,000, according to AIG.
The New York Times is reporting that $100 million in bonus money will go to the folks in AIG Financial Products unit, which is at the ground zero of the company’s disaster:
Despite being bailed out with more than $170 billion from the Treasury and Federal Reserve, the American International Group is preparing to pay about $100 million in bonuses to executives in the same business unit that brought the company to the brink of collapse last year.
An official in the Obama administration said Saturday that Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner had called A.I.G.’s government-appointed chairman, Edward M. Liddy, on Wednesday and asked that the company renegotiate the bonuses.
Administration officials said they had managed to reduce some of the bonuses but had allowed most of them to go forward after the company’s chief executive said A.I.G. was contractually obligated to pay them.
Shame: AIG Idiots get $721m in Bonus, Retention Pay added by SearchIndia.com on
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http://indiablogs.searchindia.com/2008/11/03/if-commonsense-prevails-obama-will-crush-mccain/
Me: “I’m banking on [Obama] falling on his face if he gets into office and a severe backlash by the end of 2009.”
Perhaps I was being generous by giving him 12 months instead of 2.
Interesting spin put on by Rahm Emanuel here, paired with the tidbits in the first article about McCain.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/410-billion-bill-passes-cnnm-14600388.html
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/03/01/budget-chief-obama-sign-spending/
Gora, on a different topic, pls revisit Incredible India 15.
Yup… dis is really unbelievable.
Economic recession will continue ….irrespective of what Obama or others do …..this spending money when none exists ….just by printing notes ….in the hope that demand will rise …..hence everything will be back to good old days ……will not help ….
world has to move towards a savings pattern ….like Indians save ….simultaneously spend a part of what they have …..this means it will take some time ….before things come back to normal ….but atleast in future ….there will be a certain degree of stability ….
SearchIndia.com Responds:
You write above: this means it will take some time ….before things come back to normal
It’ll be quite a while before this recession/depression is vanquished.
Gora: “I’m banking on [Obama] falling on his face if he gets into office and a severe backlash by the end of 2009.â€
————-
I kept on hearing repeatedly …that Obama is black ..Afro-American …so if he becomes President ….it shows/proves something ….to that extent …. that if you say otherwise …..that means you would be branded as a racist ….
I kept on asking what this guy has done in terms of performance / potential to perform …vis a vis M’Cain …..Very little info came through …. now Americans will see it in action ….
Merit has to be respected …..learn from India ….what happens if you do otherwise …..
Hear that Michael Jackson song from Dangerous …Black or White
SearchIndia.com Responds:
For context, here’s that original comment from Gora containing the above excerpt (i.e. first sentence of above comment).
After eight years of Bush Mis-rule, people here were desperately hoping for radical change. Unfortunately, Obama does not seem to be making a complete, radical break, which is the strong medicine urgently required now. The time for incrementalism has long gone by.
Now we can understand the argument of critics of bailout. Many, including Amartya Sen (of india) felt that the steps (bailout) taken by the government is not going to change anything, rather would aggravate situation, and we see exactly the same. End of the day, all the government has done is to reduce (or eliminate) the losses of individuals of few companies due to the economic slow down, the irony is these individuals are the architects of this mess. This is bullshit.
I am really afraid that Obama too falling as a typical american prez. very disappointing.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
We are beginning to lose faith in Obama. He was elected to usher in radical change not incremental change.