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AIG Bailout - Too Big To Fail, Or Political Payback Time?

Some of the same Congress members that sit on committees overseeing AIG were also major recipients of lobbyist monies form those they were watching over! That is pretty low if you ask me, and I would assume highly unethical. Recently the government just gave AIG more funds and these funds were the same funds that were paying bonuses wiht our tax monies. But hey, these are the same committee members charge with overseeing the same companies they are receiving lobbyist monies from. They were also the same members that were major recipients of lobbyist funds from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac! Can you spell C-O-N-F-L-I-C-T-of-I-N-T-E-R-E-S-T? Are you surprised? To read the lobbyist monies paid out and TARP Funds received you must read this article! You will not believe the connections. There are charts and names of those that received the funds and even those that contributed to the greedy politicians that are wasting our tax dollars for their own personal and political gain.

Lobbyist Monies and TARP Funds - An argument to stop lobbyist monies!

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Posted by Jim Crawford ~ Atlanta Real Estate-ABR E-PRO on 03/17/2009 07:13 PM

Comments (44)

AIG Bailout and Congressional Conflicts of Interests in the ActiveRain Channel

aig bailout, lobbyist funds, bailouts, government supervision, unethical behavior, bonus monies, aig failure, congress

Originally posted at: Atlanta Real Estate | Atlanta Housing News for Real Estate: AIG Bailout - Too Big To Fail, Or Political Payback Time?

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44 Comments on AIG Bailout - Too Big To Fail, Or Political Payback Time?

MAR

Shame on Congessional leaders for passing the tarp bill. Did you read the bill, some did and some did not. They stressed that they could not wait. The bonus is the tip of the iceberg. The 165 billion was going to protect someone. The bonus issue is a smoke screen to protect themselves. Its less than 1/10 of 1 % that we as taxpayers spent. It was a bad bill then and it still is. It was a party line vote for Louisiana. All Republicans against and Dems for.

Government has been in charge since and have failed to keep an eye on our money. Forget the millions, I would like the billions back.

Obama and Chris Dodd received the most contributions from AIG and they are some of the smartest in the land.

Jim - I agree with you. The whole thing makes me sick. In a previous post today, I listed the names of some of the top AIG executives responsible for this garbage. The backlash is just beginning.

Eric Bouler (Prudential Gardner) This is absolutely sinful, and yet congressional leaders and other elected officials do not even show shame for their actions.

John Mayer (Pytha Realty Corp) We need to pay attention to all of this. This should not be occuring!

What the government is doing by complaining loudly about the bonuses is divert attention from the billions funneled through AIG to foreign countries, 60 or so billion, and to many of the banks already receiving TARP money. AIG is the way Congress launders money, and Chris Dodd is right in the middle.

Jim, I was surprised not to see Barney 'The Banty Rooster' Frank on the list. Until Americans demand that some in our own government be held accountable I doubt we will see real change.

Gee, their ROI is amazing, wish I could say the same for all of us little people who have lost over half of ours.

I think that this money was just wasted and AIG lied.

Jim. It is way to easy for these elected officials to Start planning for re-election, or a comfortable retirement. the day they win their first campaign. And the same goes for management of all large companies that feel they are above ethical scrutiny

John Mulkey, Housing Guru (TheHousingGuru.com) Dodd was on the committee that oversaw this. He should have turned anything down because it was improper but instead he received at total of he received $854,200 from the companies in the 2008 election.

Tim and Pam Cash - Clarksville TN Real Estate Professionals (Crye-Leike (Sango)) Actually Barney Frank does not appear to be a major recipient of these funds. Dodd is.

Missy Caulk-Ann Arbor- Realtor(R)- Ann Arbor Real Estate (Keller Williams-Ann Arbor) It is amazing they have no concern how they throw away our tax dollars.

Sandy Childs (Keller Williams) Well it wasn't just AIG...the Congress lied to us! Now we know why there was a motive to bail them out. Payback.

i am totally disgusted. These AIG bonuses... make me want to throw up.

Steve Loynd, Alpine Lakes Real Estate Inc., Loon Mt, NH. This is like the story the "Wolves guarding the sheep!"

Erica Ramus, CDPE / Realty Executives / 570-622-6006 x301 Personally it is Congress that annoys me more. The bonus controversy is just a diversion of our attention to the root of the problem. Political corruption that is rotten to the core.

Jim...

And yet the solution to ALL of our problems seems to be throwing more money at them. Wow!

Yesterday, WSB TV here in Atlanta had a local Atlanta CEO on who said something to the effect that "At first, I was mad like everyone else. Then I thought for a moment about business. If they didn't pay the bonuses, the talent would leave." What talent? The company was in the dirt. I don't know anything about the "inner" workings of AIG, but I certainly think I could have done just as "good" a job as those guys or done nothing and achieved the same results. And they think they deserve bonuses for that. Too bad they're not kidding . . . it's certainly not funny.

The nuts are running the show, and unfortunatly, we're the losers. I never thought I'd live in a time where common sense was so un-common. Thanks for sharing your thoughts about what's so obvious to us but so hidden from them.

Richard Weisser Coweta Fayette Real Estate ERA United Realty Not much a solution it seems. Weening companies from the need of government funds is not going to be easy.

Jim I will keep saying it until the day I die. Unless it happens of course. Can you say term limits for everybody.

John W Walters Slidell LA real estate Slidell Louisiana Homes (7824 Real Estate of Louisiana,LLC) I agree or outlaw lobbyist contributions as bribes.

Jim,

It is such a mess. AIG should of not failed on it's obligation I suppose for the system sake, however they should be broken up sold off in pieces and closed. It display a warning to others for playing games with risk, far beyond the prudent man's expectation. Citi bank should also be closed and broken up. Who is bailing out the small businesses which are failing, no one and rightfully so. This is the world of risk we take. When you take away risk, they just will not fear the consequence.

Put the money in, don't let them fail but put them out of our misery.

I think that Citi Bank is probably getting broken up and I think this is a pre-requisite for AIG to get broken up. One day we will stop political donation, lobbying and put an end to this mess. I think if congress doesn't do it, they are going to get voted out. The movement for 2010 should be campaign reform!

Richard

The Golden rule at work again:

"He who has the gold, makes the rule".

It's time to start holding those Washington Chaps accountable. Enough is enough!

Even more amazing are reports that eleven of the AIG execs that were paid "retention bonuses" are no longer with the company! This whole situation is an embarrasment for Congress and the White House.

MAR

Jim,

Thank you for the great post!! I totally agree!

I thought you might find this clip interesting.

"Congress Using AIG as a Distraction"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPmOCqR6df8

Jim - the article link is broken unfortunately, But, I agree, if Congress had to abide by the same regulations that virtually all federal employees have to, regarding gifts, etc. these lobbying issues would go away.

Jim, and the Dodd agreement, which was to crack down on bonuses, but "then someone added the date Feb 11"? No one knows who added the language in conference committee. Give me a break. Once again playing us for fools.

How about reading a bill before you pass it. Or at the very least read the amendment that carries your name. Chris Dodd this and you have no credibility!

Jay

Richard Stabile Bergen County New Homes Builder Realtor (REMAX real estate associates) It is amazing the money being squandered. It is my understanding these bonuses were used to retain employees. Well 11 of those the received over 1 million+ dollars resigned after receiving the bonus.

Mirela Monte, Your Myrtle Beach Real Estate Connection Congress is not accountable at any level.

John Novak - Las Vegas and Henderson NV Real Estate (Keller Williams Realty The Marketplace) 11 left after reciving the 1+ million dollar bonus.

Alice Linahan (Keller Williams) Thank you for the video. I agree.

Mike Saunders (Keller Williams Realty - Greater Athens) Mike thank you for bringing that to my attention. It seems the entire site is offline right now. Check back later the article is very in depth. The Federal sector is to serve teh public only, members of congress their families need not be enrichjing them selves for paybacks at our expense.

Jay Williams (Countrywide Bank, FSB) Dodd is totally out of touch. Who would be stupid enough to sign something without reading it? Then again, it is our money at stake.

Jim: Of course they're all interrelated...that's how we got into this mess in the first place. One good thing to come out of this is that, hopefully, we, the average shmoos, will take the blinders off and realize what has been going on all these years. We were just too complacent to care, because we were benefitting.

Its like the curtain has been pulled back to expose the real Wizard of Oz.

Kim Southern - Blue Ridge Real Estate (Century 21 Professional Realty Group) I like your assessment "Its like the curtain has been pulled back to expose the real Wizard of Oz."

Talk about peeping the wizard....however, I'm a little concerned about this smoke screen. We are trying to get a hundred million back of our money but what about the billions of dollars AIG handed out to other entities instead of shoring up their own company first.

Don't worry, if we continue to peel back the skin it will also be revealed how these companies managed to usurp all oversight and manipulate their books. Check out the Mark-To-Market accounting system and its correlation to our financial woes. By the way, Bernie Madoff's accountant finally got arrested. It seems to me that a bunch of other folks should be given new residences at Club Fed.

Greg Saunders (RE/MAX Around Atlanta) Congress gave all of this money to AIG without AIG even having a plan as to how they would fix themselves or pay it back! Think of how Congress treated the big 3 auto-makers they demanded a plan, they demanded corporate changes, the demanded they get rid of corporate aircraft. To AIG they just basically gave them the money...because they were too big to fail! It doesn't even make sense.

If Congress doesn't do something about this, our country is worse off than I though. If we as individuals got away with this type of irresponsible actions, we would be punished and the repayment plan would be severe.

Astounding. I didnot notice this but I know this is true. It sounds like the whole system is at corrupt.

Kay Van Kampen, Broker, Springfield Missouri Real Estate (RE/MAX Solutions) I personally feel Congress is responsible. Someone had to sign off on the money that AIG recieved. They certainly don't ask the citizens of this country before giving away billions of our dollars.

Huiting Zhuang,Sell your business overseas (ReMax Post Road Realty) The system is broken. No internal investigations, no indictments, and a total lack of ethics.

not much to say that hasn't been said. Broken is the key word. My vote...payback.

Kathleen Frawley (Keller Williams) We need to be paid back!

MAR

Congress should have let them fail, then they could have gotten them out of bankruptcy and saved a lot of money. They being said the bonus were included and should be given.

AIG probably would have never accepted the bailout without the bonuses and that would have been fine. When Congress can pay a law affecting one group of folks, we need to get or militias ready. That is what the British tried to do.

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