Quotes of the day
posted at 10:35 pm on March 16, 2009 by Allahpundit
“I suggest, you know, obviously maybe they ought to be removed, but I would suggest that the first thing that would made me feel a little bit better towards them if they would follow the Japanese example and come before the American people and take that deep bow and say I’m sorry and then either do one of things: resign or go commit suicide.”
***
Blowback
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When will they start? Fall on the blade, all of them.
Offshore_Drilling on March 16, 2009 at 10:39 PM
Would that incompetent and pandering and ultra-partisan hacks in the media would do the same.
profitsbeard on March 16, 2009 at 10:39 PM
*applause*
RightOFLeft on March 16, 2009 at 10:39 PM
I thought Brit had retired? I miss him, along with President Bush and VP Cheney.
carbon_footprint on March 16, 2009 at 10:40 PM
I agree. Eh…he is talking about the Obama administration, right?
genso on March 16, 2009 at 10:40 PM
Damn! I thought it was going to be Frank, Schumer and Dodd — and it’s a bunch of blather about AIG execs.
cthulhu on March 16, 2009 at 10:42 PM
Quick!
Guillotine the Senate before they molest any more children!
TexasJew on March 16, 2009 at 10:43 PM
One might as well expect rivers to run backwards.
Hinmahtooyahlatkek on March 16, 2009 at 10:45 PM
I prefer them resigning and then putting them in Stocks in a public area. Preferably in a back alley in Harlem.
Guardian on March 16, 2009 at 10:46 PM
I strongly disagree here. The execs might be a bunch of greedy pigs, but it our government who is to blame here. Why? They should never have given the bailout money to a failing company. The best revenge would have been for the company to go under, therefore depriving these incompetents their bonuses by that manner. (Though they probably would have gotten them anyway) We are outraged, yet our government is feeding the system, and then “crying wolf” about it. And let’s not forget who crafted the AIG bailout, our tax cheat in the Treasury department himself, TGeithner. He was the guy who put it together.
catlady on March 16, 2009 at 10:46 PM
The world may be ugly, but each man must do what he must
Give in pretty dear, in a year you will be pretty dust
Now come let our lady possess you
In her breathtaking, hair-raising bed
She will tingle your spine
As she captures your heart and your head
PercyB on March 16, 2009 at 10:50 PM
cthulhu, my thoughts exactly. I was very disappointed when I found out who this quote was directed towards. It’s far more aplicable to Frank, Dodd, and the rest of the slimy liberals who created this whole mess to begin with.
Zetterson on March 16, 2009 at 10:50 PM
I dislike greed in any form, but I am tired of people vilifying corporate executives. Especially corrupt members of congress who fly around on private jets for “fact finding” trips. Hey, if the CEO makes a profit , let him use the damn jet, cause if he doesn’t he is out on his a$$ in normal circumstances. A true free market environment is very darwinian, and failure to produce profit is not tolerated. It’s when we get this bailout crap that we let these guys off the hook.
catlady on March 16, 2009 at 10:52 PM
catlady, any link to the above, or any way to verify. If this were truly the case, this would be an unbelievable set of circumstances that a sitting President criticize the very plan his SecTreas had responsibility. Remember, he was “sold” as the only person who could get us out of this mess.
Neo-con Artist on March 16, 2009 at 10:52 PM
To some extent I agree with Grassley: the behavior of bailed-out executives has been worse than shameful. Those who approved the so-called “bonus” plans should, simply be fired. No one is owed a bonus if they screw up, particularly when it comes out of public money.
But…I find the spectacle of incompetents like Osama Obama and Boy-Toy Barney Frank just as disgusting. The notion that people with no notion of what the hell they’re talking about have any right to set themselves up as “experts” on what should be done is nauseating.
The child-president has never had to work for a living, and I’m afraid to think of what Frank was doing before he started sucking on the government teat.
D.C. has injected itself so deeply into the business world that it will take years, and a totally new executive and Congress, to repair the damage.
If the AIG execs and others who have accepted the government’s counterfeit money are to stand before the nation and apologize before slipping into humiliated obscurity — never mind the suicides — then Obama and Congress must be made to do the same.
MrScribbler on March 16, 2009 at 10:52 PM
In an interview with CNBC, Representative Barney Frank says he wants to push for prosecution of the people who caused the country’s financial meltdown.
A September report from the Business & Media Institute suggests one possible target for investigation: a senior member of the House Banking Committee. This congressman is “a recipient of more than $40,000 in campaign donations from Fannie since 1989″ and “was once romantically involved with a Fannie Mae executive.” The same congressman “was and remains a stalwart defender of Fannie Mae.” We won’t mention his name–oh wait, come to think of it, we already did.
In other news, O.J. Simpson has gone undercover in a Nevada prison in search of the real killer.
- James Taranto
MB4 on March 16, 2009 at 10:54 PM
Does Grassley not see the irony in him suggesting something that many Americans think Members of Congress should do, rather than or in addition to corporate CEOs?
Congress has zero credibility left when it comes to talking about fiscal responsibility. Zero.
So, they better call QVC, they’re gonna need a lot of swords.
CP on March 16, 2009 at 10:57 PM
Neo-con Artist on March 16, 2009 at 10:52 PM
Yes but you will have to give me a few minutes, I am not very good at posting links, This was discussed today all over talk radio, and I have some links I need to dig out. Give me a minute….
catlady on March 16, 2009 at 10:59 PM
Neo-con
Here is one blog spot that has some good links to all this back story I hope this works. http://freedomeden.blogspot.com/2009/03/geithner-aig-bailout-and-bonuses.html
catlady on March 16, 2009 at 11:03 PM
Many thanks! Also, you don’t have to link it if it’s too much trouble. I would like a few spots to research to make my search a little less time consuming…
Neo-con Artist on March 16, 2009 at 11:03 PM
PM
Yep. You are correct on all counts.
TN Mom on March 16, 2009 at 11:08 PM
http://www.finfacts.com/irishfinancenews/article_1016207.shtml
You have to wade through to the end of the article on this one. The point being that Geithner was in the room and IN FACT was the architect for the AIG bailout, NOT Paulson. The Tax Cheat was the whiz kid behind the scenes crafting the AIG deal. Seems like a pretty stupid deal to me.
catlady on March 16, 2009 at 11:09 PM
What many don’t realize is how BIG AIG is…
and some part of that company remain profitable.
So, you would punish those who may very well be making money for AIG, staving off doom?
Questions is WHO are these bonuses going to? and why?
I’ve worked jobs where half of my compensation was considered “bonuses”… and it was depenedent on bringing work into the company…
Romeo13 on March 16, 2009 at 11:09 PM
The last time I heard a politician calling for suicide,
was Democrat Tom Lantos,in his remarks to Craig Livingston
over the filegate episode!
The price seems a tad steep tho!!
canopfor on March 16, 2009 at 11:11 PM
Again, many thanks. I was wondering if Geithner’s role at the NY Fed Res Bank would ever come back to bite him. Looks like it just did.
Neo-con Artist on March 16, 2009 at 11:13 PM
Come to think of it,didn’t the Japanese go through a lot
of suicides when their economy tanked,years ago!!
canopfor on March 16, 2009 at 11:13 PM
http://seekingalpha.com/article/126139-aig-geithner-s-outraged-he-should-be-embarrassed
Ok here is one more, but there are article from when the deed was done last fall clearly showing the Geithner was the dude in charge, or make that dud in charge. Shame on Paulson for not catching this at the time, shame on Geithner for thinking this up. This administration proves yet again they have NO practical administrative experience. Any business / finance manager worth their salt can tell you what type of provisions to put into something of this nature. And if they can’t they shouldn’t be doing it. There I have said my piece for tonight, ya’ll have at it…
catlady on March 16, 2009 at 11:15 PM
Quick action last week when Bear Stearns was going under contrasted sharply with the normally lugubrious pace of the US federal government. Ben Bernanke, Alan Greenspan’s scholarly successor as Federal Reserve chairman, of course approved the bailout (as did Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson).
But the initiator was the 46-year-old Geithner, who as head of the New York Fed maintains a traditional intimate relationship with Wall Street. Neither a banker nor an economist, Geithner left Kissinger Associates in 1988 at age 27 to work at the Treasury and begin an uninterrupted career in government service (promoted in 1999 by Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin to under secretary for international affairs).
Geithner’s plan to open the Fed’s discount window for the first time to non-banks stunned the financial community but received little attention from a Congress in recess, including presidential candidates preoccupied by Iraq. John McCain was traveling in Iraq, while Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama exchanged barbs over who was more antiwar.
An influential statement of support for the bailout came from Sen. Charles Schumer, who heads both the Joint Economic Committee of Congress and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Although Schumer is not known for non-partisanship, he is a New Yorker who is close to the securities industry
from new york post: 3.20.08
TN Mom on March 16, 2009 at 11:18 PM
Well, AIG to get bipartisan outrage. Fake outrage from both sides?
Wondering where all those billions went?
This thing stinks to high heaven.
Way too many billions are lost?
Yeah right.
getalife on March 16, 2009 at 11:18 PM
romeo13
Excellent point. Why should a profitable division suffer for the incompetency of some other division? My understanding was that the bonuses were given in the division that was causing this massive company melt down and that was why the hue and cry went up. That said, I could be wrong there. But still, if you performed and brought in the big bucks LEGITIMATELY, why shouldn’t you expect to have your contractually agreed upon bonus. Now if you did some shifting of numbers, that is another matter….
catlady on March 16, 2009 at 11:19 PM
Well that sucks.
I was hoping it was referring to House and Senate committee chairs.
notropis on March 16, 2009 at 11:20 PM
I hope people understand what AIG going under would mean. Some economists think that if AIG or any other major linchpin should fall that will start a cascade effect which could see a quadtrillion of bad debt hit the market at the same time. It would wipe out our entire economy and the world’s economy. this is what the “elites” have allowed to happen with the New world order. Bush Clinton Bush and Now Obama are all idiots and have gotten Americia into a major mess because they forgot what the consitution says. This unlimted federal power has got to be stopped. These 535 idiots in Washington DC have messed up a great and proud country for their thirst of power. They must be stopped. Vote all the bums out every single one of these idiots I don’t care if they are dems or reps they are all part of the problem. We need to place power back in the hands of local and state govs and take it away from the federal gov. They have shown over the last 20 years that they do not deserve that power or that trust. We should also stripe from them their ability to borrow and to tax.
unseen on March 16, 2009 at 11:20 PM
…still too busy with other endeavours…
Obama’s honeymoon is over. Theirs will end soon, too.
Entelechy on March 16, 2009 at 11:21 PM
I was wondering when getalife was going to show up.
catlady on March 16, 2009 at 11:21 PM
Brit doesn’t sound good.
Maxx on March 16, 2009 at 11:25 PM
You know all those Federal Regulations in the Community Reinvestment Act that FORCED banks to loan money to those who could not afford it under Liberal Democratic Social Engineering policies, that were blocked from regulation by Barney Frank and Chris Dodd that started this whole mess……………..
…………………… they’re still in place.
Throw $100 Trillion dollars at the problem, it won’t fix anything.
………. what could go wrong?
A slow down in the economy, $4.00/gal for gas, and Billions being sold short right before an election (George Soros)as the ultimate “October Surprise”.
Except no one was keeping an eye on the size of the problem, and as panic set in……..
…….. we have Mr. Teleprompter in the White House, a tax cheat as head of the Treasury with no plan yet to fix it other than throwing Trillions at the problem, and those responsible for the mess, Barney Frank for one, on TV telling us that AIG is the problem.
…………. nothing has changed, except generations yet to be born will be paying for the Democrats Social Engineering experiment that went horribly wrong.
Seven Percent Solution on March 16, 2009 at 11:27 PM
Thanks again.
Also, the fact that AIG has other profitable divisions futher supports the case for bankruptcy. Carve off the bad, retain the healthy.
At least this bad debt would be spread across many economies. With the way this is being handled, the US economy is taking the brunt of this bad debt since we’re paying AIG’s obligations to foreign financial institutions.
Neo-con Artist on March 16, 2009 at 11:33 PM
All of you who want to adopt Chairman Mao’s Red Guard and the Cultural Revolution, and make those practices standard here in the United States, hold up your red flag in your right hand. As many of you remember, it was during the Cultural Revolution that party members who failed to achieve the great successes demanded of them, or who were found to be corrupted public officials were held up to public ridicule, and forced to do unskilled, manual labor as penance.
Senator Grassley, I have you, anyone else?
Skandia Recluse on March 16, 2009 at 11:34 PM
The arrogance of the Golden Child. Going rabid over the AIG bonus for the abuse of public funds, after he signs a budget bill that includes 9,000 earmarks. PeBO knows about political capital, but he doesn’t seem to care too much about economic capital.
Mallard T. Drake on March 16, 2009 at 11:41 PM
As long as we are using Japanese examples, then who’s gonna call Obama out on his Kabuki dance of running the country.
Kini on March 16, 2009 at 11:45 PM
I think it should be congress who should appologize and resign, they’re the ones who forced the banks to loan money to high risk borrowers, and the ones who destroyed the housing market,
Rode Werk on March 16, 2009 at 11:47 PM
No, sepuku would be too easy. I’m for hanging. But then, I’ve got $9K reasons for wanting them to go this way. Quite honestly, it won’t help my 401k, but it will make me feel better. And isn’t that what we’re all about today? Feelings?
GarandFan on March 16, 2009 at 11:50 PM
You’re on a roll tonight catlady, keep it coming. BOR was all over this tonight in his talking points, and he also brought another issue I hadn’t heard about or maybe missed here at HA.
BOR was saying that the Detroit public schools was given $500+ million bucks in the stimulus package, but that they (Detroit school system) were already missing $50+ million bucks before the stimulus money came in.
Anyone else heard this as I sit here and weep for my country?
Knucklehead on March 16, 2009 at 11:53 PM
Yeah, stick it to the corporate execs. They’re an easy mark.
But these windbag senators – why not set the example first, and fall on their swords. Of course, we’d end up with a nearly empty senate chamber and they couldn’t get any work done…
Perfect!
av8tr on March 16, 2009 at 11:53 PM
Wondering where all those billions went?
This thing stinks to high heaven.
Way too many billions are lost?
Even a broken clock……how’s all this upcoming spending supposed to look like when China tells Obama to take a break on the generational
threattheft.Rovin on March 16, 2009 at 11:59 PM
I wish Chuck Grassley had some balls to say such things of the Democrats.
If he does, I issue my apology in advance.
Chaz706 on March 17, 2009 at 12:02 AM
Class Warfare 101
To be followed by Advanced Redistributionism.
hillbillyjim on March 17, 2009 at 12:04 AM
Fixed it for him.
Christian Conservative on March 17, 2009 at 12:06 AM
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Be the first on your block to own the Odiferous Zephyr! This state of the art wheelbarrow is guaranteed, by the Federal Government, to haul more money then either the Walmart, Wall Street, or Warhol brands on the market today!
Call 1-800-Pork4us today. ($3,995 + S&H, tax depending on State but certainly some).
Limerick on March 17, 2009 at 12:06 AM
Terrible truth: bad guys have reached critical mass situation beyond reversal.
Power corrupts. Our elected leaders take power and top Executives take power. The price of liberty is eternal vigilance. The Main Stream Media too busy playing liberal games to be vigilant. Oversight people paid off and the Main Stream Media too busy playing liberal games. General population seeing if they are smarter that a 5th grader. Educators too busy dumbing down curriculum so everyone can get a degree in dumbing down something. Just not a recipe for success.
rsl775 on March 17, 2009 at 12:09 AM
I’m in agreement with the seppiku idea. I will also go along with the chinese model of putting the execs on their knees in a public square and dispatching the whole bunch. However, the Roman model may be most enlightning and merciful. Let’s decimate them in a public square. Say line up 30 and randomly remove 3.
http://www.newson6.com/global/story.asp?s=10007463
This is to answer the comment from seven percent solution
If you can get to this link, even manually, you will see that we were all hoodwinked, even the oil companies. The $4 gasoline (which resulted in higher prices of all sorts and people demanding immediate drilling) was just a conspiricy of a few wall street speculators that were ping-ponging the oil futures. These people get rewarded, while the victim company execs who were trying to keep oil prices down go to jail. Think of all we went through, some congressmen staying in session to get drilling opened up, people losing jobs; not going on vacation; energy prices so high the mortgages couldn’t be paid. All the while these wall street speculators were laughing at us poor saps, while they raked in the dough. You don’t think decimation is appropriate???
Old Country Boy on March 17, 2009 at 12:21 AM
Gaius Limerick listens closely………..
Limerick on March 17, 2009 at 12:24 AM
PercyB on March 16, 2009 at 10:50 PM
Reading AP’s diary huh? Which girl is he talking about, KP or MMc?
or…is it the Guillotine your talking about?
FontanaConservative on March 17, 2009 at 12:26 AM
I am shocked, Allah. I thought you would put up Dennis Miller goofing on Glenn Beck…guess that’ll come tomorrow.
Emily M. on March 17, 2009 at 12:32 AM
It’s so easy to blame free markets and evil greedy companies but really it’s the greedy politicians that have created the conditions for these companies to become so corrupt. Best bet is to grab your guns and practice YOUR 2nd Adm. rights and limit the terms of your State’s Congressmen/Senators. The country HAS already turned to socialism….what are any of us going to do about it?
saltyrover on March 17, 2009 at 12:34 AM
Well Gee. That is disappointing. I guess I just don’t get it anymore.
kahall on March 17, 2009 at 12:37 AM
Populist bullobama
- The Cat
MirCat on March 17, 2009 at 12:37 AM
Sure, he’ll change it, if we let him, into a mediocre dump.
Entelechy on March 17, 2009 at 12:38 AM
Take heart. Not all of us have closed our eyes or resigned ourselves to AirSoft.
Limerick on March 17, 2009 at 12:39 AM
One more comment, not so nasty.
Those of you who are old enough, remember the break up of ATT. A lot of us moaned about the breaking up of a business just because it was successful. However, that breakup fostered the communications revolution we have now (and ATT was awfully arrogant). Maybe we ought to think about a concept of: If a company is too large to fail, and we have to bail it out, maybe we should break it up (the same way they did ATT) into failable sizes. Maybe banks, brokerages, and mortgage companies should not be related.
Of course Oscar Brand sang it best from “Our parents forgot to get married.”: “The banker, the broker, the washington joker, three prominant bastards are we.”
Old Country Boy on March 17, 2009 at 12:42 AM
The whitey went to school on da tacthes. The whitey stayed in school on the tacthes. The whitey got a job. The whitey got a credit card in da mail…the whitey took the card! Spend, spend, spend, now da whitey got ta bill!!! WTH!!! I aint goinna pay dat! F No!!!!Gimme another card, or I’ll pop a cap into yo head, iga!
AZCON on March 17, 2009 at 12:43 AM
Old Country Boy (12:21)
There is one problem with your news story.
How do you explain this sentence? It is key to why SemGroup went bankrupt, but that sentence makes no sense.
If you ‘bought oil’ you are not short, you are long. If you sell oil you do not have, expecting to buy oil at some time in the future you are short. (and naked). If you sell oil now, oil that you already have, with a delivery date in the future, you are ‘hedged’ against a falling price. Or if you buy oil now, at today’s price, with a delivery date in the future, you are also hedged against rising price.
If SemGroup went bankrupt because they were naked short in oil, they didn’t buy oil, they sold something they didn’t have. Also whats this bit about buying oil on credit, and expecting the price to come down before they have to pay for it? When you buy oil, the price is negotiated at the time you buy it, not some later date.
If they were caught in a ‘short squeeze’ it means they were committed to delivering oil they didn’t have, and had to buy oil, along with everyone else on the planet. Not market manipulation, just bad strategy.
Your news reporter has the story jumbled up.
Skandia Recluse on March 17, 2009 at 12:53 AM
I just googled the barroom ballad above and got a complete exposition of todays problems by Buckminster Fuller, written many years ago. The problems were the same in the ’30s and the comments apparently were the same also. Fun Reading.
http://books.google.com/books?id=2rPqFvn3nocC&pg=PA93&lpg=PA93&dq=our+parents+forgot+to+get+married&source=bl&ots=reatAG7FjB&sig=H6GwNucXQGysW2QSoBqgFKQ87As&hl=en&ei=wSy_SfP0KIikNdL7rKsN&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result
Old Country Boy on March 17, 2009 at 12:57 AM
Well, that has happened in the past. Although it took a big earthquake to change its course back in 1812.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Madrid_Earthquake
Maybe it’ll happen again in 2012, two years later, only this time a different earthquake in favor of Republicans?
Kokonut on March 17, 2009 at 12:59 AM
When Barney Franks and Chris Dodd just to name the first two fall on the sword then I’ll agree AIG should follow. . . Maybe.
Texyank on March 17, 2009 at 1:01 AM
I really don’t think that any American company makes swords any longer. Falling on a foreign sword seems so tacky.
Limerick on March 17, 2009 at 1:11 AM
Skandia Recluse: That is the “it’s just business” arguement. Semgroup are the oil delivery people. They did own (physically and in their tanks in Cushing) oil. They were trying to maintain a stable price of oil. You are right, they didn’t have to do that and they probably weren’t very smart in doing that, just like the airlines didn’t have to do that, and farmers don’t have to hedge their crops. However, they did that to keep oil prices stable, which is why many business, except speculators, hedge commodities. This is not really a “business game” that you can destroy a country by speculating oil artificially high to nail a company doing what sem group did. Many companies have legitimate reasons to hedge oil – airlines, railroads, and the oil storage and transfer people. To destroy a country and harm innocent people to make a buck speculating, when you neither produce, refine, or transport the product is criminal. Did you read the part where the speculators drove the price up, unnaturally through collusion, from $40/bbl to $140/bbl? Isn’t that a little more than “that’s just business” Of course, the wall street speculators did let the blame fall wrongly on the EVIL oil companies. Or do you have a memory problem?
Old Country Boy on March 17, 2009 at 1:13 AM
I don’t give a rippin rats ass about Republicans, however I do care about conservatives. Can we please focus on one or two Congressional or Senatorial seats for the next couple of months/years???
To move forward, we must crash and start anew. So, let’s crash. Give up. Prepare. Go back and decide what it is you stand for. And if there are enough of us, we can do what we need to do. If not, F it, we’re done! Time to hide the shit and plan for the future!
I for one do not see any progress to be made with either Dem or Pug these days, it is all the F’n same and you have been HAD! How does that feel MoFo???
AZCON on March 17, 2009 at 1:16 AM
Meh…the ranks grow daily. Dyed in the wool Obamabots are cussing the hell out of the new cigarette tax. Wait until they get their IRS bill for not buying health insurance.
Limerick on March 17, 2009 at 1:21 AM
I’ll give you a concrete friggin’ example: Move! If Collins and Snowe have upset your conservative world, then please move to Maine, register as a good conservative,and vote them out! I would much rather support my vagabond friends than send more money to the “Repugnants” to flush down the toilet of Socialism (McCai….etc).
No Rino’s in my world, period.
I will no longer listen to you as you sell me away. F You!
AZCON on March 17, 2009 at 1:24 AM
Nah, I’ve got Texas stink on my boots. The boots stay and what is in them too.
Limerick on March 17, 2009 at 1:30 AM
Understood. What is your plan then? Hide, assimilate, or fight?
AZCON on March 17, 2009 at 1:34 AM
Thank you for clearing that up.
Just one more question. If SemGroup already had the oil how did they go broke selling it?
Skandia Recluse on March 17, 2009 at 1:40 AM
Knock me in the dirt and I’ll get up to let you try again.
My wife in the same. Never give up. We might have to advance retrograde style once in awhile but as soon as we get our breath back it’s full speed ahead.
Limerick on March 17, 2009 at 1:43 AM
Check out the post at AoSHQ looks like the mobs are getting ugly with AIG. If Geithner was the one who screwed this whole deal to begin with, Obama was covering with the outrage. People need to calm down and concentrate on making it known Geithner was central to this flawed bail out.
msmveritas on March 17, 2009 at 1:44 AM
Like hell Barry will. He’ll point his finger straight at you as he farts.
Limerick on March 17, 2009 at 1:46 AM
Has a President ever commit suicide before?
petunia on March 17, 2009 at 1:48 AM
.
It is full speed ahead, brother! Bless the wife, and keep the faith, and enjoy the fight!
I love Texas, BTW, and will be back in the long term plan.
Kiss my Blarney ass, Commies!!!
AZCON on March 17, 2009 at 1:51 AM
“Has a President ever commit suicide before?”
Not officially.
notropis on March 17, 2009 at 2:12 AM
:)
And then he’ll promise that he will bring an end to perpetual farting that has too-long plagued Washington DC.
TMK on March 17, 2009 at 2:15 AM
skandia recluse: They were in the business, like farmers and airlines. It was their product. They had a valid business reason for being in that market, unlike the speculators who were manipulating the market out of sight. I didn’t say the sem group people were smart, or smart enough to successfully do what they tried. I don’t know whether the wall street people were named Mortimer or Randolph, But this wasn’t frozen orange juice, this was the lifeblood of the country. This wasn’t funny , but I’m sure in your ethical business judgement, there was no controlling legal authority, so it it had to be all right. The same ethical delimma as AIG et. al. Maybe, what this is all about is that we need to think about a controlling legal authority, since that is the only way to keep this stupid, but completely legal, moral, and ethical thing from happening again.
Old Country Boy on March 17, 2009 at 2:46 AM
In a Free Market your theory works…………
……. but when you have the Government pushing Liberal Democratic Social Engineering policies and regulations with threat of fines, regulation, and the threat of the IRS to FORCE you to do what you know is wrong,
………. then you have the recipe for the disaster that we face today.
If the World would see that we understand that, hold our politicians and policies accountable and remove them from power………..
……….. Then, and only THEN will this stop, we can pick up the pieces, and our currency will mean something again.
But don’t think it will be just because we said so……….
We will have to start drilling and processing our own Energy resources and flood the market with inexpensive Energy to grow food, support industry, and take the control out of the hands of countries that want to do us harm to give our currency value, you have to have a product ot sell in order for someone to buy it ………..
………. drop taxes on those who want to invest in the United States and create jobs, secure our borders so we are not housing, feeding, schooling, and giving tax dollars to illegal immigrants, especially those infesting our prisons, and help our neighbor south of the border take their country back as we do ours.
Yeah…… time for some truth, time for some accountability, I don’t care which party, as far as I am concerned for things to get this bad, the only way to figure it out is to look at the voting records.
This whole crisis was Government induced, and the continuation is Government political survival ……….
………… this didn’t need to happen. Trillions have been lost by hard working Americans.
The actual truth has to come out……..
Seven Percent Solution on March 17, 2009 at 4:15 AM
.
It would help your 401k, to remove the Obama administration, and its enablers.
.
.
There are other economists that believe that AIG failing would strengthen the economy by putting the assets in the hands of the competent. Stripping power from governments usually requires military force; it is why the right to bear arms was enshrined in the constitution.
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The lessen here is stay away from government involved activity in the market.
darktood on March 17, 2009 at 4:32 AM
Forget AIG. If every hack journalist and politician all of a sudden turned honerable, global warming would end, and theoceans would fall.
Lonetown on March 17, 2009 at 5:11 AM
If they have a leg to stand on taking the bonuses back (I’ll bet they don’t) the wise thing to do would be to turn give it back as stock options, with exercise dates spread out over the next six years. This will give the people a stake in the continued health of the company, and not in the balance sheet of any one year. If the company does well, they’ve earned it; if not, they’ve lost it. And meanwhile the government holds the cash.
njcommuter on March 17, 2009 at 6:03 AM
AIG in Mr. Malleable’s Convoluted Globe
Link that AIG insurance thought to Obama essentially removing the Department of Veterans Affairs, requiring veterans to get and rely upon 3rd party insurance for any health benefits.
COMPREHENSIVE REFORM, shudder the thought of what evil comes this way behind curtain #1, #2, #3.
maverick muse on March 17, 2009 at 6:20 AM
Grassley is distracting from the real issue that it is the politicians who stole our money and handed it over to these failures who should be guillotined and time’s a wastin’.
Buddahpundit on March 17, 2009 at 6:26 AM
Follow the BIG money as the bulk of our tax dollars granted to AIG went directly into foreign banks, but certainly without any benefits. Not as stock options. Not as savings accounts. Simply as coerced donations subsidizing foreign interests while America is floundering like fish out of water with Obama.
Germany is laughing all the way to the bank. Frozen fried chicken “Obama Fingers” for lunch, biting the hand that feeds them.
maverick muse on March 17, 2009 at 6:29 AM
Buddahpundit
My sentiments exactly, give them their just desserts, the end result of having their cake and eating it, too. Guillotines are entwined within Socialism and French diplomacy; to deny that is an exercise of futility. This Socialist President and Congress direct government against the Constitution that requires balance, and against the voice of the citizens who all voted for TAX CUTS.
With bail-outs, you can’t feed the beast and expect gratitude when the gravy train stops. AIG funneling megabillions of America’s tax dollars into foreign banks is not buying any affection other than disdain.
maverick muse on March 17, 2009 at 6:49 AM
A key strategy for the Obama administration has been to promote class warfare in order to make his huge leap leftward towards socialism seem more palatable.
The
MessiahMistake is going to redistribute us into permanent mediocrity if we let him.hillbillyjim on March 17, 2009 at 7:07 AM
I think that congress should set an example here and be the first!
jsanderssr on March 17, 2009 at 7:15 AM
He’s talking about the US Congress right? No?
Then it must be the Greenspan and his cadre? No?
Then it must be the race hustlers who intimidated banks? No?
Then it must be the people and brokers who submitted millions of fraudulent mortgages? No?
Then it must be the firms who created these complex securities? No?
Then it must be the institutions who bought these complex securities without understanding them? No?
Then it must be the ratings agencies who incompetently rated these securities highly? No?
Oh he means the people who sold insurance policies on these securities that were rated as investment grade. Got it.
TheBigOldDog on March 17, 2009 at 7:18 AM
The mantra of the Obama administration is business is bad, wealthy is bad, success by private companies is bad. Therefore the government should take the money from the rich and the government should control all the businesses.
Capitalism bad, socialism good.
albill on March 17, 2009 at 7:26 AM
Even the Wall Street Journal doesn’t get it:
TheBigOldDog on March 17, 2009 at 7:27 AM
How about publishing the NAMES of all the AIG execs who
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received the bonus money.
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Scorn them on the streets of their hometowns,
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at the country club, at the yacht club.
esblowfeld on March 17, 2009 at 7:29 AM
The conservative playbook is down to one play….the darn liberals are responsible for everything bad…..the party of no……the party of Jobba the Hut (Rush) and Dick “shooter” Cheney. The people in this country aren’t mad at Democrats, their mad at Wall Street and the banks.
athensboy on March 17, 2009 at 7:30 AM
Nothing more to say.
JellyToast on March 17, 2009 at 7:40 AM
Rinos like Grassly need to do likewise. He’s no conservative!!
grapeknutz on March 17, 2009 at 7:41 AM
The prerequisite for committing hari kari is honor, that is something in very, very short supply these days.
TheSitRep on March 17, 2009 at 7:50 AM
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