Comments | ontd_political: Geithner says he should have known about bonus problems sooner

quadruplify in ontd_political

Geithner says he should have known about bonus problems sooner

Mar 19, 2009 17:19

(CNN) -- Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Thursday that he takes responsibility for knowing the stimulus legislation had a loophole that would allow bailed-out insurance giant American International Group to keep its bonuses.
( Read more... )

timothy geithner, bailout

Comments 30

radname March 19 2009, 21:26:39 UTC

I will openly admit that this administration has made some blunders, but what astounds me is they admit these blunders and then try and fix it.

quadruplify March 19 2009, 21:37:31 UTC

Agreed. I wasn't expecting a perfect administration, and with a situation like this there's bound to be screw-ups, but this is definitely a step up.

shirozora March 19 2009, 21:40:54 UTC

Someone please explain why limiting bonuses can result in legal challenges, which seems to have been the reason why the loophole was there which then led to the AIG being fucktards which has now led to all kinds of explosions and implosions here and there?

dwer March 19 2009, 21:53:16 UTC

the bonuses are contractually guaranteed. "Perform this well, and you get this much bonus. Perform this much MORE well, and you get this much more bonus."

The president can't just abrogate those contracts.

Furthermore, the Bush administration okayed all these contracts back in October. Geithener didn't feel that he could change that. I suppose we'll see what happens.

shirozora March 19 2009, 22:03:39 UTC

...the Bush administration did this?

Oh FFS.

I'm having trouble wrapping my head around all the finer details of the economy, so thanks for the simplified explanation.

dwer March 19 2009, 22:08:15 UTC

AIG had the bonuses written into contracts when the TARP funds were first spent, and the Government bought a majority of AIG. Bush's administration could have done something about it then. They chose not to. In part because of that decision, Geithner felt that he could not force AIG to change the contracts.

Thread 12

bord_du_rasoir March 19 2009, 21:44:07 UTC

This hundreds-of-millions-in-bonuses issue is such slight-of-hand distraction from how tens of billions of the AIG TARP funds are being used to pay off what are essentially gambling debts to companies that do not need the money to stay afloat.

http://washingtontimes.com/weblogs/potus-notes/2009/Mar/17/the-potentially-larger-aig-problem/

empath_eia March 19 2009, 21:44:32 UTC

Listen, I'll take responsibility. I'm the president

Be still, my beating heart.

Uygur speaks for me on this bord_du_rasoir March 19 2009, 21:52:28 UTC

"When you see Barack Obama's talk, he talks the talk perfectly well. I love what he said there. If you've been paying close attention, that's exactly what I've been saying on the show for weeks now. So, as I heard it, it was music to my ears. But the question is when are you going to do it? And, do you really get it? It's one thing to say it, it's another thing to get it. To understand it and to execute it. And does your Treasury Secretary understand it? [...] Going forward, in the next days, weeks, months ahead, will Geithner and Summers actually change? Will they continue to protect the banks and the bankers and not the American taxpayer or the economy overall? If they don't shift on those goals and priorities, as President Obama has indicated here, they have to go; they have to be fired. We're going to judge them based on their actions, and not just their words."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnmTx8jFO9I

Re: Uygur speaks for me on this dwer March 19 2009, 21:54:05 UTC

I agree. It's great to hear our leaders say "this is a mistake we have to fix" -- but then they have to, you know, FIX it.

Re: Uygur speaks for me on this empath_eia March 19 2009, 22:00:40 UTC

Oh, of course. That's obvious. I was more speaking as someone who lives in another place where personal responsibility is some sort of taboo. I'm sick to my heart of the blame game, so the words are heartening no matter who they come from or what they're about.

If I could find one man in this city who had the courage to say something like that I'd marry him in a heartbeat. ^__^

bord_du_rasoir March 19 2009, 21:59:52 UTC

"The bill had included a measure from Dodd to limit executive bonuses. But slipped inside at the last minute was an exemption for bonuses agreed to "on or before February 11, 2009." That allowed AIG to go ahead with its controversial extra pay. For days, no one would say who was responsible for the loophole that let that happen. On Tuesday, Dodd denied that he had anything to do with adding the language. "When I left the Senate, it was not in there. So when I wrote the language, there was no such language like that," he said then. But, saying his previous comments had been misconstrued, Dodd said Wednesday that he added the exemption after getting pressure from the Treasury Department."

I understand Geithner's got just about the most difficult task in the word right now, but it sounds every day like he's making moves to favor Wall St. on the down low while berating Wall St. publicly.