Obama Blocking AIG Bonuses

To those that say that the government is going too far in blocking the formally half a billion dollars in bonuses[1] to derivative traders at AIG, I say they are wrong.

Think about this, without government aid AIG would now be but a memory and most people working for AIG would now be unemployed and looking for work. AIG is actually one of the main culprits in causing the downfall of our economy in the first place, and now they are acting as though they deserve a reward for managing to steal more money from the American people.

This is a company who has received billions upon billions in taxpayer money to revive themselves out of the death they had brought upon themselves through risky high return loans, mortgages, and meddlings in the derivative market. AIG executives, instead of being humbled by the generosity of their government and those taxpayers and their representatives who supported their bailout, are now acting just as cocky as before and going about business as usual.

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley was quite sharp and critical of executives at AIG, and you can read what he said here [2]. I was quite surprised at the level that he took his case, especially being a Republican. In case you haven’t heard or didn’t follow the link I put, I would just say he basically told executives to follow the Japanese way when they don’t do so well for their investors and or company.

Now I in no way agree with what Grassley said, but I do think that the way executives handle themselves and their companies should change. Especially when you are an executive of one of the companies that is being “bailed out” from certain doom.

Congress is probably going to vote on a measure set forth by Rep. Steve Israel to tax their bonuses 100% [3].

American families shouldn’t be forced to reward these professional financial failures with extravagant bonuses that could buy fancy cars and yachts,” Israel said in a statement. “AIG may not like it, but since they had to come to the federal government for help, the federal government now has a say in how they spend taxpayer money. -Israel