Pajamas Media

87 Comments

1. gordo 12:

Let us just blame all this economical crisis on “W”.

These banks donated to the “one’ for hope and change, stop corruption, stop the war, tax breaks for 95% of the american worker.

Sure they did.

With the omnibus bill, why could biden and Obama remove their pork projects?

Oh, this was Bush’s bill.

Corruption is far more blatant and at a economically painful with the “O”.

God bless us all.

Mar 17, 2009 - 11:47 am 2. vigilant:

Rise up and protest.

Hold a TEA PARTY on the steps of your Statehouse April 15 (or on Saturday when WORKING folks can attend).

Send pics to Glenn Reynolds of InstaPundit, because your local press won’t report.

Cancel newspapers, cancel cable TV until after 2010 elelction is over to take away the liberal press megaphone.

You won’t believe how much better you’ll feel.

Mar 17, 2009 - 12:06 pm 3. TexEd:

Do we yet know how much cash the recipients of the AIG bonuses have kicked back to members of Congress, their relatives or their campaigns?

Mar 17, 2009 - 12:07 pm 4. fear Obama:

Federal officials hope to keep current employees with the company. The senior executives whose decisions caused the company’s collapse are long gone. Most of those left behind are trying to unwind complicated derivative contracts.
If it is mishandled, it could expose taxpayers to billions of dollars in additional losses.

Now that Obamidiot has condemned the employees that are working on these projects-
They are in fear for their lives.
Many are not coming to work or have quit.
Armed guard are trying to protect the building and its employees.

He drove anger and hatred into these peoples office and now he wants them to work for him?

Obama should be fired!

Mar 17, 2009 - 12:15 pm 5. David Thomson:

Few Americans realize that there is a tacit agreement among those who graduated from the “best” universities. An understanding is reached to take care of each other. Much of the current nonsense is the result of this phenomenon. It also transcends political party identification. The fact that these individuals are Republican or Democrat is often of secondary importance. Never forget that both George W. Bush and Barack Obama attended Harvard University—and so did a high percentage of the executives of these investment and insurance institutions.

Mar 17, 2009 - 12:22 pm 6. Marie Claude:

all the banks are crooks and liars, American popol you’re invited to the 14 july garden party

Mar 17, 2009 - 12:26 pm 7. Scott:

I guess we now know why all the outrage by Democrats – their constituents are making them look real bad.

Mar 17, 2009 - 12:28 pm 8. AThinkingPerson:

vigilant…YES!! I’ve already canceled ALL of my newspaper subscriptions (they still call incessantly to no avail) and plan on finding a way to participate somehow on April 15! Hoping others see your timely post!

I’m still trying to figure out how Obama is going to back peddle on the AIG payouts. More soft shoe perhaps? He’s gotten so good at tap dancing around any questions of note. Maybe one of the “journalists” at a press conference will grow a set and actually press Gibbs on the issue. Of course Gibbs will bring it around to Rush or Cheney somehow but it would be nice to see him sweat a bit first.

Mar 17, 2009 - 12:29 pm 9. larry marcum:

As gullible as the american voter,especially the “Pie in the Sky Dreamers,” are, what in the hell did you expect.We have a idotic voter base and politians who are quite ready to lay on the B.S. to get in and stay in office. Did anyone with a brain believe that this guy was going to change anything? Did you really believe that the black messiah was going save the middle class and heal the nasty old goverment? NAFTA and the likes took care of the middle class and we are lumbered with just another politician. Worse than that, a Chicago trained politician.

Mar 17, 2009 - 12:38 pm 10. Vinny Vidivici:

David:

Not a ‘tacit agreement’ but more of an attitude of superiority by members of the Washington-Ivy League-Wall Street mafia — or, globally speaking, Davos Man. And they’ve gotten a good many proles (who’d never be let into their club) to buy into their over-validated credentialism.

Mar 17, 2009 - 12:44 pm 11. GW:

AThinkingPerson “Soft Shoe” “Tap Dancing” You hate Obama because you are a racist.

Mar 17, 2009 - 1:08 pm 12. GW:

My /sarcasm didn’t show up.

Mar 17, 2009 - 1:10 pm 13. drjohn:

Wow. Great piece.

Too bad only this audience will be exposed to it.

Mar 17, 2009 - 1:19 pm 14. Mike2:

Everyone is missing the point here. All this is okay because Obama is a Democrat.
—————————————
Who is John Galt?

Mar 17, 2009 - 1:28 pm 15. gianni:

Yes, cronyism is running rampant in the Obama administration. Geithner was not, as it turns out, the only person who could have filled the role of Treasury Secretary. Wrong, it was hooking up a friend of the family Obama-style. You see, Obama’s mom and Geithner’s dad worked at the Ford Foundation, and the mom who worked on microfinancing programs in Indonesia, Asian, and the Middle East. Here is a snippet from the article linked below:

“In an unusual twist of fate, the parents of Barack Obama and his pick for secretary of Treasury, Timothy Geithner, share a nonprofit connection: they worked at the Ford Foundation at the same time.

Indeed, Mr. Geithner’s father was head of the philanthropy’s Asia grant making for a period in the early 1980s and oversaw the work of Mr. Obama’s mother, who developed the organization’s microfinance programs in Indonesia.

According to the foundation, they met at least once in Jakarta.”

http://philanthropy.com/news/government/index.php?id=6453

Come on folks. Where is the outrage?

Mar 17, 2009 - 1:31 pm 16. AThinkingPerson:

GW…..Sarcasm appreciated. Everything a Republican utters can be called racist.

Obama sure can dance. = racist
Obama sure looks great after another jaunt in Hawaii. = racist
Obama really looks angry in his press conferences. = racist
Obama is raping and pillaging the National Treasure. = racist
Obama stole the election by stuffing ballot boxes with illegal votes. = racist

Funny how we can’t comment without being called racists.

Mar 17, 2009 - 1:54 pm 17. karlstro2u:

Do you believe in good vs evil? While the rest of working middle class America go to bed with sleepless nights and thoughts of what will happen to my job, children’s future, how to pay for new taxes, the President and Congress leaders party on into the night on St. Pat’s with not a care in the world!

Mar 17, 2009 - 1:54 pm 18. Don Quixote:

Isn’t the money paid to other banks what AIG owed them under various contracts and that, as an ongoing business, AIG was obligated to pay them?

Mar 17, 2009 - 1:56 pm 19. Malcom Z:

What is clearly disgusting about all of this is that the democractic Congress approved these bonuses in the stimulus plan and now are going to circumvent their law by taxing these in revenge. If these morons who voted for the bill read the damned thing, maybe some one could have caught the Dodd provision and brought it to light. This is why it’s so dangerous to pass laws without proper debate and time. This phony outrage is a distraction and more light needs to be shined on the Dodd amendment. I do not think that the bonuses should be taxed in such a juvenile reactionary way. This was completely preventable and the focus needs to be on prevention and writing thoughtful legislation. It’s a bad precedent when the president and congress can’t be held to the very laws they pass. It’s fascist!

Mar 17, 2009 - 1:59 pm 20. fear Obama:

“It’s going to blow up,” said a senior Financial Products manager, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak for the company. “I have a horrible, horrible, horrible feeling that this is going to end badly.”

Peoples lives are in danger!

Bambi will save them!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/16/AR2009031602961_pf.html

Mar 17, 2009 - 2:44 pm 21. fear Obama:

President Bush has been gone two months and it seems like two years.

The man had tacit and courage.

He studied the problems before he spoke and then tried not to offend,
especially here at home.

Terrorists feared him.

Obama is a joke.

Obama reads whatever his lip service teleprompter tells him.

Like Iowahawk said:

If his teleprompter ever goes on strike we are in deep Shiite.

Mar 17, 2009 - 2:54 pm 22. Detective Krum:

The bailouts appear to be pre-planned as a maneuver to bring about the globalists One world Money System see: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/recession/4986287/IMF-poised-to-print-billions-of-dollars-in-global-quantitative-easing.html

Mar 17, 2009 - 3:00 pm 23. Paul M Hupf:

We are being betrayed by the very representatives we elect. When they get to Washington they find themselves in a corrupt world and, regrettably, all too many themselves become as corrupt or moreso. “If you want to get along you have to go along!”

Mar 17, 2009 - 3:00 pm 24. Delia:

The corrupt reap
The Sheep sleep
The lucid weep

Oh what a wicked web we weave…

Meanwhile…

Green Beer for everyone!!!!!!!

Jesus LOVES YOUUUUUUU. Oh yes he does! *tickle-tickle*

Mar 17, 2009 - 3:20 pm 25. Oscar the Grump:

AThinkingPerson
It’s obvious you’re racist.

Mar 17, 2009 - 3:43 pm 26. Oscar the Grump:

58 Billion given to foreign banks by AIG. That’s criminal in itself. Money meant to stimulate our economy, heal our wounds given instead to foreign banks. I wonder how generous these foreign banks would be to us. And the Magnificent One, the Glowing Goy, just stands there and says nothing.

Mar 17, 2009 - 4:04 pm 27. John Skookum:

Over-valued credentialism is dead right. I spent two years in grad school at Dartmouth, and I can confirm that the place overflows with superciliously self-confident ivory tower ninnies whom I wouldn’t trust to walk my dog. From what I can tell, the rest of the Ivy League is even worse.

The Ivy League smarty pants drove us into this ditch. It will take a state school grad with a record of executive achievement to get us out. Someone from, say, the University of Idaho.

Mar 17, 2009 - 4:12 pm 28. bullwhacker:

Manufactured crisis. Cloward-Piven strategy is a living, breathing strategy. Invented in the 60’s, it has been adherred to repeatedly by the left, reaching critical mass in Sept. 08, then broken down into scattered crisis as each new socialist project comes into view. Go here to understand the nature of our adversaries, and be a part of the “push-back:”

http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/09/barack_obama_and_the_strategy.html

Mar 17, 2009 - 4:30 pm 29. Marie Claude:

this man said tha the error was to bail the banks and, instead of, population that had problems to pay back to the banks should have been bailed out… video in french for those who understand it

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/k3JrmUPdHG7sFDYQk5

Mar 17, 2009 - 5:32 pm 30. ohmmade:

Bush was president in August of 2008 when this happened.

This is one of the dumbest stories to ever grace the internets.

Mar 17, 2009 - 6:03 pm 31. srv:

John Cole actually bothers to read all the stuff you linked to but didn’t bother to understand:

http://www.balloon-juice.com/?p=18792

Mar 17, 2009 - 6:05 pm 32. Earl Hathaway:

Sigh.

From the linked businessweek article, here is the AIG press release:
http://www.aig.com/aigweb/internet/en/files/Counterparties_tcm385-153017.pdf

Navigating to page 3, one might read the bold type proclaiming “Use of Direct Support to AIG from 9/16/08-12/31/08″ Who, again, was president during that period?

Pro tip: Inauguration Day was 20 January… 2009.

Mar 17, 2009 - 7:01 pm 33. Delia:

30. ohmmade,

Who was in control of Congress in Jan. 2007?

Mar 17, 2009 - 7:08 pm 34. Joe:

and who were the # 1 and #2 in terms of political donations from AIG. 1. Chris Dodd, 2. Barack Obama and Biden and Hillary were also in the top 10….say it ain’t so Barack. Why don’t Barack, Dodd, Hillary and Biden set a good example and give back the AIG donations to us via the US Treasury. It wasn’t AIG’s money to give.

Mar 17, 2009 - 7:20 pm 35. Jim:

Who had veto power in Jan 2007, or did Obama control W via telepathy?

Mar 17, 2009 - 7:22 pm 36. Bob Owens:

I see Mr. Cole and his readers like ohmmade and srv have chimed in. Let’s see if we can type slow enough for them to follow along.

Open Secrets clearly explains what the phrase “Top Contributors” means, stating, “This table lists the top donors to this candidate in the 2008 election cycle. The organizations themselves did not donate , rather the money came from the organization’s PAC, its individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals’ immediate families. Organization totals include subsidiaries and affiliates.”

Most readers easily grasped this, but knowing some wouldn’t click-through the link, I also made sure to note on this very page in very plain language that “Individuals identifying themselves as working for the banks above gave Barack Obama’s presidential campaign $3,617,724.”

Individuals. Hardly a convoluted word.

I thought having this information in two places was enough, especially considering the general demographics of our readership, most of which are politically astute enough to know that companies cannot contribute directly to political campaigns.

Mr. Cole, the professional communications instructor, finally grasping that language which the rest of us took for granted as understood, thinks he’s scored some sort of coup, declaring accusingly “Hey, he’s talking about individuals!”

Any day now, Mr. Cole will also discover that there is salt in salt water.

As for WHEN AIG started shifting monies to other banks in the United States and overseas, yes, that too, was something readers were able to grasp without Cole once again pointing out obvious and repeated statements in the linked items. We know this happened over the course of the winter, but it only came to light several days ago HOW this money was spent.

The real scandal–as even Eliot Spitzer emerged long enough from a bank of prostitutes to acknowledge–is that while we’re all getting socked with mounting tax debt to cover up AIG’s losses, these banks that had individuals that were among Obama’s largest campaign donors are getting paid back IN FULL to the tune of billions, while our President runs interference for them and provides political cover, keeping the media distracted with a ginned-up story focusing on the paltry $165 million AIG is paying on executive bonuses that was known but not deemed an important political issue until the billions of paid-in-full counterparty monies came to light less than 48 hours ago.

The bought-and-paid-for President is directing feigned outrage at the “small potatoes” in AIG exec bonuses so that his campaign donors aren’t burned by far more damning political heat that might see the people demand for the return of billions to the American taxpayer.

Everyone seems to understand that this bait-and-switch is the reason for being angry with the purposeful misdirection of our President except for Mr. Cole and his readers.

The only question seems to be whether they’re as dishonest as our president, or just not bright enough to understand what is going on.

Mar 17, 2009 - 7:26 pm 37. Dave:

Are you nuts? Did you read the attachments? All these payments by AIG were made in 2008. That would be well before Obama took office. Actually, that would be when your boy Bush was still running the show.

But hey, when did facts ever get in the way of Republicans smearing people…

Mar 17, 2009 - 7:29 pm 38. Andy:

Hey, look at that! You can do the same analysis for McCain!! Top 5 donors:

Merrill Lynch
Citigroup
Morgan Stanley
Goldman Sachs
JP Morgan

I’m surprised the author (and subsequent commentators) failed to notice!!

Mar 17, 2009 - 7:42 pm 39. gizmo:

Bob,

John Cole caught you with your pants down, and now you look like an idiot. Be a man, and own up to it. In case you need a bit of help grasping the essence of what Cole said: the big payouts to AIG happened on GW Bushs’ watch, and they were authorized by the Treasury Secretary at that time, the Republican Henry Paulson.

PS- While you’re poking around on Open Secrets, take a look at the kind of money the financial services industry has been throwing at the Republicans over the past decade…

Mar 17, 2009 - 7:58 pm 40. miriam:

Excuse me, Dave, Obama ran for office in ‘08. These were campaign contributions by AIG. Obviously money well spent.

Mar 17, 2009 - 8:10 pm 41. mantis:

these banks that had individuals that were among Obama’s largest campaign donors are getting paid back IN FULL to the tune of billions

Got paid. Already happened. In 2008. Learn to read.

Mar 17, 2009 - 8:21 pm 42. Paul:

I’m curious Bob; can you explain what AIG does and what these payments in 2008 were for?

Also, I work for a major financial institution and I can assure you that we employees were never, ever encouraged to support or donate to any particular candidate or political party, not even with a wink and a nod. You have no idea what you are talking about.

Mar 17, 2009 - 8:32 pm 43. Jerry:

Re 18 Don Quixote:

Sure AIG had financial obligations owed to other corporations. However, had they declared bankruptcy, AIG would have gone out of business, its profitable portions sold off to pay for their debts and instead of picking up our children’s money as US future debt, those creditors would have been paid pennies on the dollar of current monies owed while acquiring AIG assets. Derivative instruments would have become poison and lending would have returned to institutions which were willing to hold the debt until maturity.

Handling the indiscetions of AIG in this manner would have been superior to any form of future regulations proffered by government. The corporations rising from the dust of the debacle would have been far more circumspect in their new business practices.

I think that that is how capitalism self-corrects. Now self-correction has been removed from these self-absorbed entities and the humans that comprise them. But don’t worry! Government will save us from them! It will become the owner of last resort.

Mar 17, 2009 - 8:57 pm 44. Cyan:

The mistake of the above post is thinking that the Obama administration knows or cares that you are angry that AIG used TARP funds to pay off its counterparties. For the Obama administration, this was a feature of the 2008 bailout, not a bug — and certainly not anything they need to “run interference” about. In short, the entire premise that “the re-distributor-in-chief hopes you won’t notice where much of the rest of the AIG bailout cash is being spent” is — how to put this diplomatically — stupid.

Mar 17, 2009 - 9:11 pm 45. Jamie:

I love Christina Dodd whinning about the bonuses…..That he added as an amendment in his own legislation!

Mar 17, 2009 - 9:34 pm 46. Bob Owens:

Let’s try this again for Cole’s readers. That these payments were made while Bush was still President is ENTIRELY IRRELEVANT to the fact that the disclosure that these payments were made in full occurred just TWO DAYS ago, and that Obama started running interference for his donors.

Obama started running interference by trumpeting a long-known and monetarily irrelevant (compared to other issues) AIG executive bonus scandal to draw attention away from the fact the banks mentioned in his article, which donated $3.6 million to his campaign, were fully reimbursed for $43.5 billion of our taxpayer dollars.

Think the people are close to rioting over $165 million in bonuses bankers didn’t deserve?

How much more upset do you think they would be if they were allowed to focus on a $43.5 billion dollar boondoggle? And so Obama went to work.

Put in the most basic terms possible, it is Obama’s attempt to distract the American people from a far more disturbing abuse of taxpayer dollars that is the issue that makes him so worthy of contempt.

Cole’s surprise at the obvious and mastery of obliviousness is amusing, but otherwise irrelevant.

Mar 17, 2009 - 9:39 pm 47. mshatto:

FIRE GEITHNER & THROW HIM IN JAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HE HAS STOLEN TRILLIONS!!!!!! IF A YOUNG, BLACK MAN STEALS A CASE OF BEER HE GOES TO JAIL, IF A DEMOCRATIC POLITICIAN STEALS TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS FROM A TAXPAYER HE GETS TO RUN THE NATION’S ECONOMY!!!!!!!!AND WHILE WE’RE AT IT IMPEACH THE FRAUD IN THE WHITE HOUSE!!!!!

Mar 17, 2009 - 10:05 pm 48. cokane:

“September 16, 2008 and December 31, 2008″

You’re an idiot.

The only thing dumber are the lemmings who read your tripe and believe it.

Mar 17, 2009 - 10:15 pm 49. Jena:

Bob’s total rewrite in post #36 is comedy gold!!

Mar 17, 2009 - 10:40 pm 50. J.Petrakis:

Hello John Skookum #27:
You are exactly correct. I have been thinking that someone with a degree and real executive experience say.. like from the University of Idaho would be just what this country needs! Even as Veep with Mitt at the helm would work also.
JP

Mar 17, 2009 - 11:44 pm 51. HawkWatcher:

Why do so many of us look at this in a partisan way? We ALL will have to pay HIGHER TAXES for allowing the feds to inject us into the mortgage business in the first place. There is no political party that represents us any more, unless we love fascism. What’s the use in arguing over who’s to blame? Throw them ALL out! The way out of this “crisis” is to have ordinary citizens in Washington who will represent us instead of dictating to us. Citizens who will divest and deconstruct the federal behemoth a piece at a time until we have the limited, representative government that the Constitution describes. Only then can we thrive.

Mar 18, 2009 - 12:10 am 52. johny star:

NAW COULDN’T BE. DIDN’T THE “MAINSTREAM” MEDIA SAY THAT OBAMA’S CAMPAIGN $$ CAME FROM ALL THE LITTLE PEOPLE – HE HAD SUCH A TREMENDOUSLY SUCCESSFUL INTERNET FUND RAISING CAMPAIGN – ONE DOLLAR AND TWO DOLLAR DNATIONS BUT SOOOOO MANY OF THEM FROM SOOOOO MANY PEOPLE.

WELL IT LOOKS LIKE HE HAD A LOT OF RICH DONORS TOO – BUT OUR MEDIA DARLINGS DIDN’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT THAT BEFORE THE ELECTION DID THEY???

Mar 18, 2009 - 12:10 am 53. finchy:

most of the money AIG got was in september/october.
they got that from the Fed.
government has no say in that.

Mar 18, 2009 - 12:26 am 54. skylark:

To all the commenters who bothered to look stuff up, a word of caution. Bob has a habit of ripping off other people’s research without attribution, twisting it, and then banning them so they can’t point it out.

http://www.sadlyno.com/archives/11979.html#comment-693005
http://www.sadlyno.com/archives/11984.html#comment-693045

I know, not being able to comment at CY would be a tragedy, wouldn’t it?

Mar 18, 2009 - 1:10 am 55. joe from Lowell:

Why would Barack Obama care about “running interference” to cover up bad acts that took place under, and are the responsibility of, the Bush administration?

You aren’t making any sense. You’re flailing.

And if, as you’ve so recently decided, the issue isn’t the actual payments to AIG, but Obama “running interference,” then why did you write:

The Obama administration is allowing AIG to bail out the rest of the world with your tax dollars. This isn’t a statement about “running interference.” It’s a statement about the money AIG got in the first place – under Bush.

Be a man. You screwed up, you should acknowledge that, not jump around trying to think up new spin to put on your post.

I feel sorry for you, that you find yourself compelled to act like this.

Mar 18, 2009 - 5:19 am 56. joe from Lowell:

The headline of this blog post:

“Contributions to Obama Campaign Track Bailout Payments”

The sad, little host’s latest explanation of what his point was:

“Put in the most basic terms possible, it is Obama’s attempt to distract the American people from a far more disturbing abuse of taxpayer dollars that is the issue that makes him so worthy of contempt.”

Do you seriously think people aren’t going to notice that? No matter how snotty you act, your words are still right there where everyone can read them.

Mar 18, 2009 - 5:26 am 57. Skylark:

joe from Lowell:

He can’t even keep his argument straight.

“Obama’s running interference for the banks that gave money to him!” “Well okay, the people who worked for the banks gave the money.” “Yeah, that’s the ticket, he’s running interference for the banks! I mean the people…I mean the banks…I mean…well, shut up is what I mean!”

Mar 18, 2009 - 6:17 am 58. jeebus:

Woohoo…Bob “The Confederate Dumbass” Owens wrong? Go figure! What is the world coming too?!?!?! Oh the humanity!!

Mar 18, 2009 - 7:25 am 59. Cameron:

God it’s great watching Bob Owens flail around in the comments section trying to re-work his entire argument.

It doesn’t really bother me that Owens is carrying water for his GOP political masters. What’s scary is all of the dimwitted wingnut commenters who believe everything he writes. Yes, cancel your newspaper subscriptions and get all your news from Rush Limbaugh! I guess the irony of populist rants coming from a man worth $450 million dollars is lost on all you idiots?

Mar 18, 2009 - 7:37 am 60. Kate:

There was a huge deal made of the Dodd amendment to the bailout bill at the time. It was widely reported. For anyone to claim now that it was somehow snuck in under the radar is ridiculous.

Mar 18, 2009 - 7:56 am 61. jharp:

Thank you, Mr Owens, for such a stunning display of wingnut stupidity.

And also a thank you to the moron wingnut commentators who so proudly have displayed their own stupidity in Mr. Owens’s defense.

Mar 18, 2009 - 8:48 am 62. mantis:

Bob’s just upset his readers never gave him the barbeque bailout he wanted.

Mar 18, 2009 - 9:47 am 63. tmouser:

The sooner we all realize that both parties are bought and paid for by the banks (and the privately owned ‘Federal’ reserve) and that the president is just the shiny face put on the whole sham, the better off we’ll all be. We’re just wasting time & energy waving our arms screaming “But Bush!” and “But Obama!”. They both work for the same people, they both have the same masters. But we’re all so focused on being ‘right’ and defending our party line, they’re raping us 12 ways to Sunday and we don’t really care as long as we can sit back occasionally and say, ‘See – I was right. Your party sucks.’ How long are you going to sit back and watch this political ping-pong game? How much longer do you have to see the pattern to see the truth? Patterns don’t lie. Pull your head out of your political party’s ass long enough to see the truth. End the Fed, audit the “Federal” Reserve and you’ll get the answers you’re looking for and we might be able to fix this mess.

Mar 18, 2009 - 10:02 am 64. vietvet68:

About 15 minutes ago, 10:50 a.m., Mar 18, 2007, Obama was asked a two-partquestion in the press conference by a reporter who asked (paraphrasing):
You received $100k in contributions from AIG during the campaign, how do you feel about those today? And what do you plan to do about it? And at least one member of Congress is asking that Geithner step down, how do you respond?

Of course B.O. answered the easy question about Geithner only which wasn’t just an answer really but a rambling endorsement of this tax cheat in charge. Then he called for another question without responding to the AIG question.
How’s that transparency thing working out for you?
Socialism — CHAINS we can believe in.

Mar 18, 2009 - 11:15 am 65. Skylark:

vietvet68@64:

Are you saying those contributions were a secret? ‘Cause last I heard it was public information.

Mar 18, 2009 - 12:02 pm 66. anne:

This is old news and was all hashed over during the campaign. McCain got less money from the banks but most of it was from the executives and Obama got more money from the banks but most of it was from the lower paid employees. By the way, you make this sound like the Bank itself gave bailout money to these campaigns when it was individuals giving from their own salaries. Slanted reporting and like I said, old news.

Mar 18, 2009 - 12:28 pm 67. AThinkingPerson:

Not sure how President Pork can face himself in the mirror anymore. He’s such an embarrassment. Hell, I’m embarrassed to be an American right now with the havoc our President is wreaking on the US economy which in turn is affecting the world economy. Oh wait, Obama has already alienated the Brits. I guess we aren’t supposed to care about the rest of the world anymore. Pathetic.

Mar 18, 2009 - 12:43 pm 68. TOhio:

Treasury Secretary Geithner (the tax cheat) was very involved in the AIG bailout.

In a New York Times article dated November 25, 2008 titled “Where Was Geithner in Turmoil?” there are CEOs who questioned Geithner’s fit for Treasury Secretary because of his deep involvement in the whole bailout mess.

Here are some excerpts from the article:

Behind the scenes, Mr. Geithner was the point person for weeks of sleep-deprived Bailout Weekends. It was Mr. Geithner, not Mr. Paulson, for example, who put together the original rescue plan for the American International Group.

“He was in the room at every turn of the crisis,” said another executive who participated in several such confidential meetings with Mr. Geithner.

Obama comes out and praises Geithner in order to protect him. Why?

The Democrats need to investigate themselves.

Mar 18, 2009 - 1:01 pm 69. Skylark:

ATP @ 67:

“wreaking on the US economy which in turn is affecting the world economy”

So I take it you disagree with Bob’s disgust that AIG paid off its foreign obligations?

Mar 18, 2009 - 1:08 pm 70. anne:

Yeah, Geithner needs to go. I think President Obama felt he needed someone who could figure out and explain exactly what Wallstreet was up to. Someone who could unwind the mess of bundled mortgages, CDO’s, credit swaps etc. Bad decision. He needs to correct it soon and get rid of this guy. By the way, I think this is why AIG paid the bonuses to to the guys who made this mess…because they are the only ones who understand it and can get AIG out of the mess they made…so they have to keep them. I say, let them file for bankruptsy and break them up. I’m willing to go through a little more economic pain just to see these guys punished.

Mar 18, 2009 - 1:22 pm 71. jharp:

67. AThinkingPerson:

“I’m embarrassed to be an American right now with the havoc our President is wreaking on the US economy which in turn is affecting the world economy.”

Yeah right, in 55 days Obama has ruined the world economy.

You are an idiot. And it was George Bush who disgraced our country. You must not get out of the hills too often. Birdbrain.

Mar 18, 2009 - 2:08 pm 72. joshua0853:

#71. jharp:

“67. AThinkingPerson:”

“Yeah right, in 55 days Obama has ruined the world economy.”

“You are an idiot. And it was George Bush who disgraced our country. You must not get out of the hills too often. Birdbrain.”

jharp, “AThinkingPerson” was simply pointing out that Obama has severely hurt our economy since becoming president. To do what he’s done in only 55 days takes enormous talent. He’s to be commended for doing what no other nation has been able to do to us–damage our economic system of capitalism to the point of not being able to recognize it.

And while you’re still out there bashing George Bush and calling those who disagree with you, “idiot” and “birdbrain”, the president is hanging a yoke of debt around the necks of your children that may never be repaid in their lifetimes.
-He’s also tampering with our very freedoms and liberties as he attempts to circumvent the US Constitution on a number of fronts: (Fairness Doctrine, Gun Restrictions, Card Check, moving Census to White House).
-He’s turning his back on our men and women in uniform (proposal to require service members injured in war to pay for their own treatment),
-He’s paved the way for uninhibited abortion on demand and made it possible for our tax dollars to be used for abortions overseas,
-He’s done away with the “Conscience” rule, which allowed health professionals to be able to opt out of procedures that conflicts with their religious beliefs,
-He’s removed funding for a program that trained our airline pilots to carry arms on their own flights as a deterrent to highjacking (this program started after 9-11),
-He’s relaxed or removed orders put in place by George Bush to help in the fight against radical Islam,
-and so much more.

We are in uncharted waters with what is happening to our nation. I am of the opinion that Barack Obama meant exactly what he said… “Change has come to America”. My fear is that his vision of where he wants to take us is not a place any of us will ultimately want to be.

Mar 18, 2009 - 7:52 pm 73. Alex:

#63 Tmouser;

This is the only post on this thread that provides solution to the debacle.

everyone should read this carefully and take to heart what is being said here; the American Taxpayer has been underwriting European Debt since 1913. As long as the Fed reserve is allowed to exist economic enslavement will continue.

Mar 18, 2009 - 8:14 pm 74. Meryl:

The politics of personal destruction being practiced by this administration is their very dull but favorite deadly weapon.

Joe the Plumber was just the beginning.

It has been sickening to watch Congressmen threaten individuals with subpoenas if they don’t return contractual bonuses legally paid…and they’re doing it.

Why do you think they’re returning it? Fear.

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

…or maybe that should be edited for the future, “The only thing we have to fear is liberal democrats with unlimited power.”

What are they willing to have it cost (you) to be right? Everything. Your freedom. Your money. Your future. Your children’s future. The Constitution. For starters.

Mar 19, 2009 - 5:09 am 75. AThinkingPerson:

jharp… If only we could all live in the emptiness and vacuum that is your brain. HELLO in there…Anybody home? In case you haven’t noticed (or just don’t care), when Bush left office the national debt was 500 billion. SINCE taking office, (pay special attention to the word SINCE there bub, it’s kind of important), Obama has raised the national debt to almost 2 TRILLION. That’s trillion not billion bub. Did that get through?

I can tell how exasperated you must be knowing that by your vote, you’ve basically condemned our great country to 4 years of backbreaking debt to foreign countries, no foreign policy, immigration laws thrown out (thank Queen Nancy for that one), unions in every sector of the business world. Sound like Utopia to you there bub? All here know that you have to be a tad bit embarrassed. If I were a betting person, I’d say you’ve already scraped that Obama bumper sticker off your Chevy Chevette. I for one can’t blame you. It would be quite embarrassing having the general public know you’re a follower, a sheeple, an unthinking zombie.

Obama sure sounds great thought doesn’t he? I’m sure you’ll be front and center when he’s on Leno? That ought to be great right? Nothing better than the leader of the free world yukking it up like a common Hollywood starlet. Shows the depth of character in President Pork now doesn’t it?

You’ve been had bub, by your own President. How does it feel to be bent over?

Mar 19, 2009 - 11:41 am 76. Skylark:

Mryl @74:

The administration practiced the “politics of personal destruction” on Joe the Plumber?

Really?

Examples, please. Be specific.

Mar 19, 2009 - 2:14 pm 77. James:

It’s the President’s Leadership in question.

The Congress is in chaos and the People are suffering due to OBAMA’S LACK OF LEADERSHIP.

I voted Obama for believing in his power to rally the people and the country.

BUYER’S REMORSE: OBAMA IS NO LEADER.

Mar 19, 2009 - 2:19 pm 78. The Historian:

BIG FAT FAILED FANNIE JUST LIKE AIG
This is just plain wrong!

http://greensrealworld.blogspot.com/2009/03/big-fat-failed-fannie.html

Mar 19, 2009 - 8:33 pm 79. Middleman:

Yet another pot calling the kettle black situation. Real straw pulling.
First off, the bailout of AIG began under Bush. Second, who was one of Dubya’s biggest contributors in the 2000 campaign? Enron! Remember them?! I could go on (like Bush administration connections to Global Crossing), but why should I?
This isn’t going to be a blame Bush rant. The fact of the matter is that EVERYONE IS CULPABLE! It’s bit ridiculous to point all fingers at the guy who just got the keys to the castle.

Mar 20, 2009 - 10:05 am 80. AThinkingPerson:

Hmm…. poop is hitting the fan up at President Teleprompter’s house today. Funny how they cannot seem to keep their story straight. Any Obama fans still think he’s such an upstanding guy?

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1886138,00.html

Yet more evidence of lies and sleaze coming out of the people’s house. Pathetic.

Mar 20, 2009 - 10:33 am 81. Geofizz:

Great Article Bob! We need more like this! Folks need to hear much much more about what the government is really doing with our economy. You won’t hear about most of this unless you’re watching lots of business/financial news, or reading financial news/blogs.

All this AIG bruhaha (sp?) is distracting everybody from issues that are much more alarming than AIG bonuses. Our government is hanging the American Taxpayer out to dry in so many ways… Anybody notice the $1 trillion bailout the Fed pulled out this past Wednesday (even Wall Street was caught by surprise)?? At taxpayer expense?? Anybody hear how our national debt just hit an all-time high of $11 trillion? Folks should be very worried about what the government is doing (or planning to do) to our economy.

Mar 20, 2009 - 2:44 pm 82. Marc Malone:

Minor corrections to commenters:

Bush went to Yale, not Harvard;

Paulson (Bernanke, too) is a Dem, not a Pub. Bush bought into all this PC crap (reaching across the aisle, hiring minorities, etc);

Pubs did it, too! (So, that makes it okay.) Um, no.

The flaw in the article is that the writer never countered the obvious rebuttals ahead of time. Yes, much of this happened under Bush. During the transition, Bush and Obama worked very closely on this. Obama stayed out of foreign affairs, and Bush said almost nothing on domestic stuff, while Obama opined regularly. It’s no coincidence that Obama kept Paulson and others. They were Dems and already in place, implementing Dem ideas and policies.

There is a meme proffered by every politician. “I don’t have to be an expert. I can surround myself with experts, listen to their advice, and come to the right decision.” Bull! This is a case in point. When the feces hits the fan, the pol starts flailing. He runs to his in-house expert, and simply does whatever the expert tells him to do.

AIG did the same thing. The head honchos trusted their financial services guy to run that area sans oversight, because they refused to bother to learn about the field before jumping in with both feet. That’s what brought them down.

In contrast, the main reason our military is so effective is that the higher you go, the more education you find. The top guys know how to do the jobs of their subordinates. Just about all the Generals have doctorates in MilSci and training in other fields.

What Bush should have done is convene a council of top economists (preferably conservative) and ask them what to do. He failed to do so, and the in-house Dems (bankers all) colluded with their cohorts in the investment banks and in AIG to loot the Treasury. The looting continues unabated. The barbarians are over the wall, and Rome is being pillaged and burned.

One need not destroy an enemy’s army to bring down a nation. That’s just one way. A surer way is to destroy its currency. It might not bring them down, but will, at least, make them irrelevant. When America is no longer exceptional, then the ideal of America dies, and the world is doomed to hopelessness.

Obama’s printing up another trillion dollars, and trillions are being funnelled by the Fed to other countries. They are carrying off our wealth, and destroying our currency. The only hope now is that it will take them too long. They’ll get drunk in excess, and the citizens can rise up against them and take it all back.

Mar 21, 2009 - 11:20 am 83. skylark:

Minor corrections to Marc Malone @82.

GWB obtained his MBA at Harvard. You could look that up.

Henry Paulson is a Republican.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Paulson
http://www.newsmeat.com/ceo_political_donations/Henry_Paulson.php

So is Ben Bernanke.

http://select.nytimes.com/2005/10/28/opinion/28krugman.html?_r=1&hp

http://www.forbes.com/2006/01/18/bernanke-fed-politics-cx_hl_0118bernanke.html

So much for your “in-house Dems” sabotaging things argument. Oops.

You think GWB’s problem was in not convening councils of economic experts? I have to wonder where you were for the past couple of years.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/12/business/12econ.html

http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/hp1177.htm

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/23/business/economy/23bush.html

Mar 22, 2009 - 10:14 pm 84. Juel J Richardson:

You guys are shameful

Apr 24, 2009 - 10:21 am 85. Juel J Richardson:

WHAT A TERRIBLE GROUP! TOO BAD YOU DIDN”T UPRISE WHEN BUSH AND CHANEY WERE PLAYING HAVOC ON THE WORLD! NOW YOU HAVE FOUND YOUR VOICES.
GET A GRIP!!!

Apr 24, 2009 - 10:49 am 86. NH:

Too bad fake conservative Pajamas people don’t reveal the full travesty of what puppet boy Obama is doing.

Obama Endorses Soros Plan to Loot America
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/9902

Apr 26, 2009 - 2:36 pm 87. marvin:

There’s a very good indication that the Obama Bailout plan is working. According to news last June 10, Bailout plan turned a profit” of $1.8 billion in interest payments on the first set of bank loans that were repaid.

Jul 5, 2009 - 10:51 pm

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