More Outrageous than Bailout Bonuses? Nonstop Printing of Money

Everyone seems surprised and upset about the AIG bonuses, but are some government officials of our banana republic just acting?

From CNBC:

In a stunning development, Sen. Christopher Dodd said that Obama administration officials asked him to add language to last month's federal stimulus bill to make sure the controversial AIG bonuses remained in place.

Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, told CNN that Obama officials wanted the language added to an amendment limiting bonuses that could be paid by companies receiving federal bailout money. He said they were afraid that without it, the government would face numerous lawsuits from employees who were promised bonuses.

Washington Post:

Senior White House officials said last night that President Obama did not learn that bonuses worth $165 million were to be paid to executives of American International Group until Thursday, one day before they were issued and two days after his Treasury secretary was informed that the payments were going forward.

But how could that be if the administration was asking for language to be added to the "stimulus" bill last month? Besides, CNN reported on the AIG bonuses on January 28th.

Where's the surprise?

And the funniest thing is Geithner's proposal to get the $165 million in bonus money back: reduce AIG's bailout by that amount! Genius! How does that work? You beg me, "please, please, please, lend me some money so I can feed my kids and pay the rent." I give you the money, knowing that I'll probably never see it again, but hey it's for a good cause. Then find out that you subsequently bought everyone drinks at a bar. Geithner's solution is that I take what you've spent on the booze from you, reducing my loan by that amount. Does that change anything? I'm still the one paying for the drinks.

Geithner is either not very smart or is shameless (maybe after he resigns Obama will follow Bush's example and give him a medal). It could be both. That's what it takes to advance in Washington these days.

But we're not so bright ourselves.

They are stealing our money right in front of us. It's not just the bailout of their Wall Street friends. (For instance, most of the AIG bailout is going out the back door to Goldman Sachs (GS) et al, for crap that AIG insured. Billions of those dollars will probably be paid out as bonuses at those firms at the end of this year. Paying off Goldman by giving money to AIG is supposed to save our financial system.)

And it's not just the previous bonuses. Are we still angry that around three fourths of Bank of America's (BAC) most recent bailout was paid out as bonuses? I think we've forgotten. That's billions of dollars, and here we are livid over AIG's $165 million, which is, incidentally, about $5 million cheaper than Obama's inauguration.

Everyone seems so angry about the bonuses, whether main street's real anger or Washington's feigning. I'm not especially.

The real outrage is the nonstop running of the printing presses. The Fed just announced that it will print an additional $1 trillion plus. I've lost count of how much money is floating around out there. This is a far larger theft than the bonuses.

The silver lining, for all you angry people, is that eventually the bonuses you're upset about won't be worth anything anyway.

I say when everything fails (and it will, as our foundation is rotten), we get out the torches and pitch forks, clean up DC and Wall Street, and start over fresh.

Comments

[DONE_SONZ:]

Got gold?!

Mar 19 06:13 AM

[grbn:]

amen. the obama strategy is to keep the people stirred up and angry to justify more govt. regulation and more control over our lives. the bonuses are no big deal, just consider it part of the bigger wasteful "stimulus spending" program. now watch our incredibly stupid congressional people try to tax the bonuses or pass some law to control compensation. As simple minded as it sounds, the solution is to "vote all the bast**ds out"!

Mar 19 07:10 AM

[robert99:]

With every day that goes by, it seems more and more likely that a fresh start is what is necessary, and is the only way to solve the US's horrendously massive problems in DC.

Mar 19 08:28 AM

[logicalsinger:]

It's the lawyers against the MBAs. The lawyers (Obama, Congress, etc.) are having a field day while the MBAs (Wall Street, corporate America) are on the defensive. It's a battle of the elites. The populist sentiment is just a tool, in this case in the hands of the lawyers. The media is full of people consumed with envy and they are also mad at MBAs for making so much money.

Many MBAs don't create any wealth but many do! No lawyer creates any wealth but most redistribute it.

Mar 19 08:38 AM

[jaxon:]

You are right, it's a big mess.

If you thought it couldn't get any worse than Bush. The dems are spending more and making mistakes of the grossest incompetence. Here is the latest
(quite shocking) of their trillion dollar blunders:


www.butasforme.com/200.../

Mar 19 09:27 AM

[I weep for ...:]

The real genius here is the architect of this outrage residing in the current adminstration. They were able to turn the country's attention to these bonuses (which they knew about for months and endorsed since AIG's Board is unable to take any action without running it by the Fed) and away from the billions that went to the counterparties, i.e., Goldmen, etc... They were the ones bailed out, not AIG. They were the ones who created the mortages not AIG. The day the identity of the counterparties were released the outrage from Washington was created.
It is obvious, but still the sheep all waive their pick signs and our upset that these folks got bonuses because they are trying to unwind accounts that could cost the taxpayers way more than they have paid so far!
_
The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was getting the world to believe he didn't exist!

Mar 19 11:11 AM

[fireball:]

look at the nasty bonuses, pay no attention to the flood of u.s. tax dollars going to foriegn banksters. please do not mention the amercan banksters bailout bonuses. busines should be able to pay as much earnings as they choose if they earn it and stockholders will stand for it. tax funded bonuses? i don't think so.
i hate to see a financial restart as that is obamamama's plan/promise from the gate. destroy what is left of america and install the socialist utopia. that is many years of hard work and responsible living down the toilet right in to the bottomless political cesspool.
oh well i guess i can make it back by starting a rope factory. should need miles of it as the treasonous come to trial.
got gold? got silver? please get some if you haven't.

Mar 19 12:31 PM

[Econ 101:]

Yes, the politicians are almost all crooks and liars. Grandstanding to take away your liberty. While they screem about AIG bonuses the real theift is happening right in front of our eyes. The congress is paying off their contributers via AIG and the other bailouts. One of these AIG bonus babies should come out and explain how our tax dollars are being sent to europe to bailout them.

Constant crisis is just a political ploy to pass more laws to strip away your liberty. The AIG "bonus crisis" is just that

"Those who woulld trade essential liberty for a little transiant security deserve neither."
Franklin

Mar 19 01:35 PM

[Gedankonomist:]

No doubt Congress will choose to give itself a bonus too. The hypocrites.

Mar 19 06:06 PM

[TeresaE:]

A large percentage of the bonuses are going to foreign employees. What the "pot stirrers" and politicians don't tell you is that it will cost us twice, or more, times the bonus to fight foreign employment law.

Reid and Franks wrote the bill for AIG, now they are posturing as if they wrote it in Bush's words.

And the sheep buy it hook, line and sinker.

The real outrage is the FACT that we are importing millions of legal foreigners, many of them new graduates with bachelors degrees, to take jobs that former TAXPAYERS need to pay their debts and feed themselves.

The real outrage is the FACT that Congress is getting ready to tax the few remaining jobs left for the masses into oblivion. All in the name of environmental safety and health care.

The real outrage is the FACT that we have so dumbed down our population while spending the most per student, that the sheep either can't see, or can't be bothered to see, that their children and grandchildren are being sold into slavery so that a few lucky elite and the politicians can live a great life.

We are watching the demise of the great American standard of living. Well, those of us that can be bothered to open our eyes and look beyond page one of the data that has been accumulating for 15 years.

Nah, just keep thinking that more debt to solve a too much debt problem is going to work out just fine.

Mar 20 12:44 AM