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Wednesday, March 18, 2009

City / Media The Morning News

Posted by Eli Sanders on Wed, Mar 18, 2009 at 8:22 AM

Hearings: Gary Locke (Commerce) and Edward Liddy (AIG) are being grilled by Congress... right now. Click the links for livestreams.

Firestorm: Guess which one of those hearings will be the most testy?

The anger is understandable: Says Liddy in an Op-Ed this morning.

Didn't know: Obama only learned about the bonuses on Thursday.

Frank makes a compelling point: We own AIG, we decided who gets bonuses.

At least the New York Post is remaining calm: "NOT SO FAST YOU GREEDY BASTARDS."

Welcome, P-I readers: The Times introduces itself.

More bad economic news coming: And this bad revenue report on top of yesterday's unemployment report.

And Grassley explains what's really going on:

Comments (20) RSS

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Could you guys please do something else we can report? We...we don't have anything else, but we could use some more.

Posted by Seattle Weekly on March 18, 2009 at 8:26 AM

The idea of these AIG executives slipping our hard-earned tax money under their coat and slinking out of the store is just too much to bear. I imagine them gleefully sipping red wine, laughing at what chumps her readers - er, excuse me, the taxpayers - are.

Posted by youknowitstrue on March 18, 2009 at 8:34 AM

Obama budget = Guns AND Butter

Didn't work for Hitler

Didn't work for LBJ

It is a recipe for deepening the economic crisis.

Posted by it is time for some tough choices on March 18, 2009 at 8:37 AM

In an interview the other night, Judge Judy, in addition to speaking up in favor of gay marriage, pointed out that we're making firefighters, police officers, city employees take unpaid furlough days, and that's certainly not in their contracts. So AIG whining about the bonuses being in the contracts and therefore sacrosanct is total bullshit.

Posted by Patti on March 18, 2009 at 8:50 AM

firefighters police officers and city employees are for the most part "at will," meaning they have no contract.

No that there aren't a million ways the government can get out of a contract, but just pointing out why it's so easy to make employees take furloughs.

Also, remember, your average city worker hasn't the money, time, or knowledge to sue for breach. These AIG fucks probably would. At least they would have to appear at court, it would be easy to pitchfork them on the way in.

Posted by buttlaw on March 18, 2009 at 9:04 AM

so, anything to report on ECB? I hear there is something afoot?

Posted by Mike in MO on March 18, 2009 at 9:10 AM

In other news, the Stranger continues to be unable to take what it routinely dishes out.

Posted by When will the ECB blackout end? on March 18, 2009 at 9:13 AM

And another thing, what about some of the banks taking money they didn't need, like Northern Trust.

If I recall correctly, Northern Trust, and I think Chase, took federal bailout money they didn't need so the other banks would'nt look bad.

Now call me a silly queen, but I would think something like expanding health care coverage, education, or some type of public assistance programs would be a better use for that money than say, not making the other banks feel bad.

Posted by dbb on March 18, 2009 at 9:14 AM

Trials for breach of contract could be VERY Interesting if they were jury trials. Any bets on deliberation times being measured in minutes? Aren't bonuses tied to performance usually? Just ignorant questions.

Posted by dave on March 18, 2009 at 9:17 AM

sure, AIG sounds a bit unsavory, but every minute spent discussing these bonuses is a minute wasted on working on the actual difficult problem of fixing the country.

Posted by josh on March 18, 2009 at 9:37 AM

Don't their contracts also say they can be fired for poor performance? Would you say that helping to cause the company to implode is a mark of poor performance?

Posted by Greg on March 18, 2009 at 9:52 AM

@10 part of fixing the country involves restoring confidence, and having the general populace support the plan. taxing bonuses over 100K to employees of firms receiving bailout funds seems like a great way to demonstrate who is in control, to restore confidence, and to generate public support.

Posted by infrequent on March 18, 2009 at 9:58 AM

I wish I could get a job where I'd make insane amounts of money in bonuses after COMPLETELY FAILING to do the job well. What a bunch of ass hats. Someone should find the names for these clowns and post them for all the world to see.

Posted by c to the andice on March 18, 2009 at 9:59 AM

So congress saves a company with a pile of no-strings-attached cash and then grandstands about how poorly that company behaves? Brilliant. The payout keeps investors and our European friends happy and the outrage provides lots of tasty red meat for Slog!

Posted by CG on March 18, 2009 at 10:16 AM

Wha's up with ECB????????

Posted by Keekee on March 18, 2009 at 10:42 AM

What's up with whiners like Keekee?

Posted by Will in Seattle on March 18, 2009 at 10:43 AM

@14 - Please remember that the Congress and Administration that gave the no-strings-attached cash are not the same ones who are now complaining.

Posted by Donolectic on March 18, 2009 at 10:51 AM

@17 - Same congress. And with political skills like this they will be around for a long time.

Posted by CG on March 18, 2009 at 11:07 AM

Worth noting: Republicans (lead by Olympia Snow) won passage of language that would have prevented the AIG outrage. It was dropped in favor of much less restrictive conditions backed by Democrats (lead by Chris Dodd) and accepted by the White House.

Also worth noting: The two largest single congressional recipients of AIG political contributions in 2008 were Chris Dodd ($103,100) and Barack Obama ($101,332).

Are they going to return their "bonuses"?

Posted by You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me on March 18, 2009 at 11:23 AM

Hey you'uns guys--where the comments/Slog posts at? I've been offline, BECAUSE I GOT WORK! Freelance jobs in my field are flying again for the first time since late October.

Posted by Amelia on March 19, 2009 at 12:07 PM