As you watch this let the irony infuse you as you recall how much money Schumer has sucked off the taxpayer.
The notion that a government is so brazen as to scold citizens who have received bonuses and threaten them directly with confiscatory taxation as a punishment for supposed moral outrages dwarfed by the everyday actions of the very people inflicting this punishment – boggles. Boggles.
Remember, pay no attention to the government who is robbing us, our children, and grand children. Pay no attention to the trillions – trillions – wasted by our socialist government. Save all your outrage for the execs at AIG. Nothing to see here, look over there.
Regardless of what you think of these bonuses, the government has no right – NO RIGHT – to wield the power of taxation as a punishment. When a government can act like this – all liberty is lost. When all liberty is lost it is time to stock up on ammo and move to Texas ’cause things are gonna get ugly.
March 17, 2009 at 9:30 pm
Well, remember that the U.S. government is now, by far, AIG’s largest shareholder. I think that certainly gives them the right to criticize executive compensation, just like any normal shareholder group would do. Since the bailout of this company was paid for with money that my children and grandchildren will have to someday pay back, I am glad that at least someone is now watching the henhouse.
Also, “supposed moral outrages”?? Come on, Patrick! In a functioning free market, success is rewarded and failure is punished. That is clearly not happening here. The compensation system for the top 1% in this country is completely broken. There’s nothing “supposed” about that!
Is this whole tragic mess ironic? Well, yes, I suppose I will agree with you there.
March 17, 2009 at 9:38 pm
and where does gov’t get the power to void contracts between two parties?
March 17, 2009 at 10:33 pm
What happend to the home of the brave? You’re all letting the arrogant self-appointed “King” of the US tax without representation while you hold Ghandi-esque sign holding festivals.
You have degraded (like your credit rating) to a nation of wimps.
March 17, 2009 at 11:07 pm
You can’t criticize the government for intruding into the private sector when the only reason there are funds to pay these bonuses in the first place is due to the fact that government intruded into the private sector!
Matthew, if AIG was still a private entity I would agree completely; however the company is now, for all intents and purposes, nationalized. At that point, any outstanding contracts became open to modification, just as would have happened had the company been allowed to file for bankruptcy.
I’m sure the 5,500 laid off employees likely also had valid contracts with AIG, but I sincerely doubt they’ll be seeing any of their bonus moneys. AIG’s actions send a signal that those who control the purse strings get to play by a different set of rules.
March 18, 2009 at 1:03 am
“We will make you pay more taxes so that the money will be returned to the – (wait for it)- tax-payers…”?!?!?! Should not that mean that they want to take time and effort to take the money only to return it TO THE ONES THEY ARE TAKING IT FROM? Does that not mean that that was a totally pointless and wasteful use of time and energy to state?
March 18, 2009 at 3:39 am
Mr.Clean and Bounty — the Great Pickeruppers.
http://www.examiner.com/x-268-Right-Side-Politics-Examiner~y2009m3d17-Obama-Received-a-101332-Bonus-from-AIG
Obama Received a $101,332 Bonus from AIG
Examiner.com, by Dan Spencer Original Article
Posted By: gandolphxx- 3/17/2009 11:00:49 PM Post Reply
Senator Barack Obama received a $101,332 bonus from American International Group in the form of political contributions according to Opensecrets.org. The two biggest Congressional recipients of bonuses from the A.I.G. are – Senators Chris Dodd and Senator Barack Obama.
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If I hear another so called conservative wag preface his/her comments about this hustler in the White House as being basically a “good” person…
March 18, 2009 at 12:19 pm
Come on down, y’all. We’re seceding (for real this time) if Obama wins in 2012.
March 18, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Just because the US is a shareholder doesn’t mean it gets to void contracts. As absurd as these bonus payments are, the consequences of not paying them might be worse. Financial Products still has over a trillion dollars in guarantees, and some of these agreements are so bleeping complicated that it takes the drafters to figure out how to unravel them. If Financial Product employees leave, who gets to hold the bag? The U.S. taxpayer.
A 100% tax rate is unfairly prohibitive and reactionary. Heck, many of these employees are going to have a huge scarlet letter on their resumes for the rest of their lives, even if they see mere pennies of the bonuses. I’m sure most of them would gladly trade the money in exchange for this not having blown up.
The precedence factor also matters. If government can be outraged at this and punish, who says they can’t declare other categories of income to be “unfair” and therefore punitively tax them, too?
March 18, 2009 at 1:15 pm
It really bothered me when Schumer got a front row seat at the installation Mass for Bishop DiMarzio in Brooklyn several years ago. Do we really have to invite these guys?