World-News

Eliot Spitzer, Slate Magazine: "Everybody is rushing to condemn AIG's bonuses, but this simple scandal is obscuring the real disgrace at the insurance giant: Why are AIG's counterparties getting paid back in full, to the tune of tens of billions of taxpayer dollars?"

http://www.truthout.org/031809R



Recession-Weary Americans Outraged by AIG Bonuses

Andrea Hopkins, Reuters: "While US President Barack Obama tries to claw back bonuses paid to AIG employees, Americans facing pay cuts and job losses are outraged that some refuse to share the pain of the recession."

http://www.truthout.org/031809LA

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Perp walks, not bonuses

The Nation
by Robert Scheer

03/18/09

There must be a criminal investigation of the AIG debacle, and it looks as if New York’s top lawman is on the case. The collusion to save this toxic company in order to salvage the rogue financiers who conspired to enrich themselves by impoverishing millions is being revealed as the greatest financial scandal in US history. Instead of taking bonuses, the culprits should be taking perp walks. I’m not just referring to the swindlers in the Financial Products Subsidiary of AIG who devised and sold those insurance policies on derivatives that brought the world economy to its knees. They do seem deserving of a special place in h..., and presumably the same divine power that according to Scripture labeled usury a high moral crime and threw the money-changers out of the temple will consider that outcome...

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090330/scheer



Government could’ve easily prevented AIG bonuses

Fox News Forum

by Ken Klukowski

03/18/09

The debacle over the AIG bonuses proves that opponents of the bailouts were on to something. There are at least three ways the federal government could have avoided this debacle, and now taxpayers are stuck with the bill. Insurance giant AIG is paying $165 million in performance bonuses (a stunning thought, given the circumstances). AIG says that these are legally binding contracts, so it has no choice but to pay them. Since AIG is living off government money right now, these bonuses are really being paid directly by American taxpayers. The reaction from our leaders in D.C. has been to howl in protest, and then suggest this could not have been prevented. Wrong. First, if AIG had been forced into bankruptcy, this latest outrage would not have happened...

http://foxforum.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/03/18/klukowski_government_aig/



The real AIG conspiracy

CounterPunch
by Michael Hudson

03/18/09

Regarding qui bono, what does Sen. Schumer, Rep. Frank, Pres. Obama and other Wall Street sponsors gain from this public outcry? For starters, it depicts them as hard taskmasters of the banking and financial sector, not its lobbyists scurrying to execute one giveaway after another. So the AIG kerfuffle has muddied the water about where their political loyalties really lie. It enables them to strike a misleading pose — and hence to pose as ‘honest brokers’ next time they dishonestly give away the next few trillion dollars to their major sponsors and campaign contributors...

http://counterpunch.org/hudson03182009.html



AIG: Sinking money in a hole

Economics Junkie
by Nima

03/17/09

It’s time for our dear politicians to act surprised again. It’s time for Congress again to complain about the results of false policies that they themselves recklessly approved, against all warnings. It’s time again for Ben Bernanke to fire off mindless blather, platitudes and predictions that will, as always and without exception, turn out to be abysmally false. The AP has a shocking surprise for us, Taxpayers unlikely to be fully repaid in AIG mess …. Of course the taxpayer won’t get any of this money back. Is there a living creature with more than one brain cell that seriously expected the taxpayer would ever see this money come back?

http://www.economicsjunkie.com/aig-sinking-money-in-a-hole/



How the scam works

CounterPunch
by Michael Hudson

03/29/09

Newspaper reports seem surprised at how high banks are bidding for the junk mortgages that Treasury Secretary Geithner is now bidding for, having mobilized the FDIC and Fed to transfer yet more public funds to the banks. Bank stocks are soaring — thereby bidding up the Dow Jones Industrial Average, as if the ‘financial industry’ really were part of the industrial economy. Why are the very worst offenders — Bank of America (now owner of the Countrywide crooks) and Citibank the largest buyers? As the worst abusers and packagers of CDOs, shouldn’t they be in the best position to see how worthless their junk mortgages are?

http://counterpunch.org/hudson03272009.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



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