WAdem

Bonus-Tax Stocks Get Whacked

I think we are missing the important points of this issue. First, many of these AIG bonuses were put in place to retain certain employees in order to unwind the toxic assets. If this is so, then taxpayers are being held hostage to the same unethical people who created these financial instruments. From what I have gleaned, their initial actions were not illegal. Their implied threat to sabotage efforts to mend the World's capital markets unless they receive large bonuses is criminal and we should not accept anyone using the current meltdown for personal enrichment. Also, it seems obvious to me that Hank Paulson was part of the problem while trying to find a solution last year. He encouraged Geithner to allow these unconscionable bonuses since they are routine for Wall Street. Paulson treated LEH much differently than BSC due to his personal animosity for Dick Fuld stemming from their longstanding professional conflict on Wall Street. Allowing LEH to fail was the single largest mistake made in trying to resurrect the economy and Paulson blew it. The systemic risk was far worse than it needed to be. Paulson could have found a partner for LEH just as he did for BSC if he wanted to.