problem, there is not mention about the money they recieved to purchase shares in an aircraft leasing company. now, why did they allow them to ask for additional money on this while still in debt to the taxpayer. how are we to believe as a taxpayer, how much do these folks get or should have gotten?
more banks are going under and yet, we say that the recession has stopped. i don’t think so. unemployment rate is increasing. yet, we still seeing the oil prices/gas prices rising.
so, when do we as taxpayers see a return on our money? if we as a taxpayer own 80%, do i get a dividend? or can i not pay on my taxes for this year? (probably not likely!)
so where do we stand? as a taxpayer, i want congress to be held accountable – every single one of them.
If AIG would have faltered, there would have been a decline in capacity and probably a tightening market. The mystery of AIG still would still cause one to question how each of these insurance companies can survive. How can one company look at one risk and price it three times higher than another company with the same terms, conditions, etc? I can’t understand this. Other corporations don’t function like this. I guess the executives of Chartis can explain this to us taxpayers.
I agree with you wudchuck. All taxpayers should withhold paying taxes for one year. The entire Congress should be replaced for being idiots. Congress just threw billions of taxpayers money around without any proper guidelines.
The bail-out of AIG was one of the biggest mistakes our country has ever made. It put us on the wrong road to bailing out companies, and a long fall of where we have been as a Capitalist Country. In my opinion President Bush made a huge mistake signing this legislation. The present administration and congress have plunged our country into deeper debt and mismanagement of our tax dollars we have entrusted to them. I hope and pray it has not taken us too far down the road to Socialism.It appears we as a nation are heading in that direction, at a very fast pace. Large comapnies no longeer have to worry about fiscal responsibility because, the government feels, “they are too big to fail.” Our government takes them over and tries to convince us it is in our best interest. Now the average taxpayer is bailing out AIG, banks, and car companies.
It does not surprise me in the least that the some of the money was misappropriated. We are yet to see the results of the bailouts, but I’ll bet a lot of money was misappropriated. Yet this is an administration that is saying trust us (even if we haven’t read the wording of the bills) with providing a Health Care Plan for the country and we will control 18% of the economy, becaause we know what is best for you.
Neither the congress nor the senate would allow AIG to fail, it holds ALL of their 401(k)’s, retirement funds, personal investments, etc.
Taxpayers money has been given to this firm to keep all of their investments worth top dollar, while the rest of the country is left to hang in the wind with worthless investment portfolios.
Our government is unbelievably corrupt with unimaginable greed and power.
I like your idea!
This is what happens when those we vote into office don’t read what they vote for and our President signs what he has not read either.
Crooks…!
Neither Bush nor Cheney created this exorbatant deficit in our economy. But that is an entirely different debate for a space that has a lot more room to type, because facts take up a lot more room than the lies that surround the muslim president that shows weakness by bowing to other world leaders!
Get a life, Mike. Bowing is a sign of respect, not subservience, to those leaders. Obama is trying to repair the bridges of communication with other countries that the previous administration destroyed. Cut him some slack – the days of believing we are the only country on this planet that matters are over.
If I remember correctly, we had quite the surplus of money when Clinton left office. Bush’s never-ending war with the Middle East took care of that. While I agree that the use of our tax dollars to bailout these corporations is infuriating, I don’t believe anyone on this site has the knowledge to truly know what the consequences of us not taking action would have been.
Where is the promise of “Hope I can believe in from this President, his adminsistration, and the majority of Congress? I would say their report card after 10 months in office is a very dismal grade on the employment, economy, and not anything to brag about in foreign affairs. I hope the President starts taking responsibility for his own decisions soon.
Showing respect by adhering to another nation’s customs is weakness? Please!
Is calling President Obama a Muslim your attempt to insult him? What faith community taught you to behave in this fashion?
I swear you dorks sit around and can’t wait for an insurance topic to get political so you can all rip on the other side. Go back to work idiots. I’d like to read actual quality comments on these articles vs. the crap you people say.
“If I remember correctly, we had quite the surplus of money when Clinton left office. Bush’s never-ending war with the Middle East took care of that.”
Really?? Do you honestly believe that a brand newly elected president wanted to walk into a war? The reason we were in that position and the stockpile of surplus money was due to Clintons Regime cutting ALL funding for government programs that allowed the US to have knowledge of threats such as 911.
I completely agree with you Mark! And further more, if Clinton would have stepped up to the plate when there was that terrorist attack on the USS Cole instead of letting it ‘slide’ then maybe Bush wouldn’t have had deplete our deficit in the Middle East.
Optimist, we have a few protocals in this country too. One is that our leaders never bow to the leaders of other countries. NEVER IN OUR HISTORY UNTIL NOW. This idiot needs to hire a new set of advisors on protocal or just study a little history. He is disrepecting our traditions. Republican, Democrat or Whig, no President ever has done this. It is a sign of our weakness and the enemies of this country just love it.
I almost feel bad talking about the AIG bailout given where this thread has gone but I thought I would toss out a question?
Who benefited most from the AIG bailout?
a. The rich stockholders of AIG whose worthless shares are now worth over $35 per share.
b. The rich stockholders of the other financial institutions who received full value on the AIG guarantees when they were worth much less than that; or
c. Illegal aliens (I only mention them because, on this site, they are routinely held up as the recipients of massive amounts of government help.)
So, with over $100 billion of welfare going somewhere, follow the money. Did it go to the rich; you know, the ones who constantly complain how their hard earned money is being given away to the poor or did it go to the poor?
How did we go from the AIG bailout to Obama Bashing. The Bush man created a mess and dumped on on our new president. In ten months what could he do?? Of course to listen to the Republicans, the country was in great shape whe the Bush man turned it over, of course as usual they have it backwards, when Bush took office the counrty was in pretty good condition, when he left it was on the path of destruction.
God help us all
Let’s get down to basics. The AIG bailout never should have occurred it should have been a controlled bankruptcy. The starting point would be that AIG had no money and the U.S. Government owed nothing to anyone. That’s the position from which to negotiate assistance. The world economy wasn’t going to collapse. That was a myth started by the greedy individuals who would benefit. It’s always better to be in the stronger negotiation position. The counterparties would be paid but not as much of the taxpayers money. And then we complicated the problem by not strictly supervising the payouts and that may still be the case. I don’t know if all the counterparties are finished. We may never know if the handling was incompetence or greed but there was an awful lot of money paid out. I don’t even know whether or not we paid off supporters of Terrorists. Does anyone have a list of the benefitiaries of the derivitive bailout? Or are they afraid to reveal them.
Thanks for the entertaining Wednesday afternoon. We haven’t had a good topic to argue about in a while. Thanks to all the right and left wing nuts for helping me pass the afternoon.
Bush and a congress dominated by Democrats the last 2 years that he was in office. Oh shucks, the 2 years when the country went in the tank by the way.
And Obama inherited, so what could he do? Well, he could make it worse. AND HE DID !!
Thank you Democrats.
(and I am not a Republican – I’m someone who wants ALL of the bums and the crooks thrown out!)
The Fed and New York Fed are talking nonsense. Every one knows that the AIG insurance policies were never at risk, thanks to the good work of the insurance regulators as opposed to the banking regulators who were all sleeping on the wheel. Nothing to do with protecting AIG insurance policyholders, just an excuse by the Fed, New York Fed and Treasury to bail out their cronies at the expense of the public.
did not someone post earlier that congress and many on-the-hill folks have a 401k?
um..um.. this is what is pondering. if any other company was failing, they would not care because it did not directly affect them. so they allowed companies to fail/bankruptcy.
look now, how many banks have failed?
now, it does not matter what political division did this. we had a republican president (who has veto power) and a democratic congress. so does it really matter!? NO!
we all want to blame a particular party for any error, but when you stop and look at it, it did not matter what party. we just need to replace our congress. last night i heard that BYRD is now the longest running senator in office.
Thanks to the Optimist for saying what I would have. We did not expect this to turn around overnight, but after less than 1 year I think we are headed in the right direction. Maybe we should all be more optimistic.
How about an orderly liquidation of all assets and all liabilities guaranteed by the federal government to avoid a financial meltdown. It would have been cheaper in the long run. Problem is, I dont think we are done bailing them out.
Hopeful, Do you think this Congress and Administration is done with bailouts and Cash for Clunkers? I am an optimist by nature, however I am also a realalistic. We are not heading in the right direction and most of the country (several polls indicate this fact).Before the Health Care Expenditure (I hope does not go through)just interest to service our current debt within the next ten years will be between 700 billion and a trillion dollars in interst alone. This is not hope I can believe in nor do I want to leave this as an inheritance to my children and grandchildren. AIG should have never been bailed out, nor should have any of the other companies, cash for clunkers was a disaster and was the econimic stimulus plan.To continue to plunge our country into more debt with this health plan, and to continue down the road of doing away with the free enterprise system is insanity.
There never should have been a bailout of AIG. That is what bankruptcy is for and a bankruptcy doesn’t have to prevent the government from assisting counterparties on a selevtive basis to prevent the collapse of the world economy (if there was any truth to that) but we would then be dealing from a position of strength. There was an awful lot of money involved And when there is an awful lot of money there is an awful lot of “politics” involved also especially if there is no regulation or supervision. I think that an audit and investigation is a good idea. I’d like to see some transparancy. At least we taxpayers ought to know the details of how we are getting shafted.
Well, duh!
problem, there is not mention about the money they recieved to purchase shares in an aircraft leasing company. now, why did they allow them to ask for additional money on this while still in debt to the taxpayer. how are we to believe as a taxpayer, how much do these folks get or should have gotten?
more banks are going under and yet, we say that the recession has stopped. i don’t think so. unemployment rate is increasing. yet, we still seeing the oil prices/gas prices rising.
so, when do we as taxpayers see a return on our money? if we as a taxpayer own 80%, do i get a dividend? or can i not pay on my taxes for this year? (probably not likely!)
so where do we stand? as a taxpayer, i want congress to be held accountable – every single one of them.
Yes, the government overpaid quite simply.
If AIG would have faltered, there would have been a decline in capacity and probably a tightening market. The mystery of AIG still would still cause one to question how each of these insurance companies can survive. How can one company look at one risk and price it three times higher than another company with the same terms, conditions, etc? I can’t understand this. Other corporations don’t function like this. I guess the executives of Chartis can explain this to us taxpayers.
I still think we should revert back to old days and tar and feather the b@stards! but then again what do i know.
One monstrosity trying to figure out the financials of another monstrosity. Mistakes made?….Well, yeah!
I agree with you wudchuck. All taxpayers should withhold paying taxes for one year. The entire Congress should be replaced for being idiots. Congress just threw billions of taxpayers money around without any proper guidelines.
Fanucci
The bail-out of AIG was one of the biggest mistakes our country has ever made. It put us on the wrong road to bailing out companies, and a long fall of where we have been as a Capitalist Country. In my opinion President Bush made a huge mistake signing this legislation. The present administration and congress have plunged our country into deeper debt and mismanagement of our tax dollars we have entrusted to them. I hope and pray it has not taken us too far down the road to Socialism.It appears we as a nation are heading in that direction, at a very fast pace. Large comapnies no longeer have to worry about fiscal responsibility because, the government feels, “they are too big to fail.” Our government takes them over and tries to convince us it is in our best interest. Now the average taxpayer is bailing out AIG, banks, and car companies.
It does not surprise me in the least that the some of the money was misappropriated. We are yet to see the results of the bailouts, but I’ll bet a lot of money was misappropriated. Yet this is an administration that is saying trust us (even if we haven’t read the wording of the bills) with providing a Health Care Plan for the country and we will control 18% of the economy, becaause we know what is best for you.
Neither the congress nor the senate would allow AIG to fail, it holds ALL of their 401(k)’s, retirement funds, personal investments, etc.
Taxpayers money has been given to this firm to keep all of their investments worth top dollar, while the rest of the country is left to hang in the wind with worthless investment portfolios.
Our government is unbelievably corrupt with unimaginable greed and power.
I like your idea!
This is what happens when those we vote into office don’t read what they vote for and our President signs what he has not read either.
Crooks…!
>Our government is unbelievably corrupt with unimaginable greed and power.
Yes, but now that Bush and Cheney are gone, we can begin healing.
Neither Bush nor Cheney created this exorbatant deficit in our economy. But that is an entirely different debate for a space that has a lot more room to type, because facts take up a lot more room than the lies that surround the muslim president that shows weakness by bowing to other world leaders!
Get a life, Mike. Bowing is a sign of respect, not subservience, to those leaders. Obama is trying to repair the bridges of communication with other countries that the previous administration destroyed. Cut him some slack – the days of believing we are the only country on this planet that matters are over.
If I remember correctly, we had quite the surplus of money when Clinton left office. Bush’s never-ending war with the Middle East took care of that. While I agree that the use of our tax dollars to bailout these corporations is infuriating, I don’t believe anyone on this site has the knowledge to truly know what the consequences of us not taking action would have been.
That sounded like a Rosie post if i’ve ever heard one.
I’m all for the tar and feather idea although to be honest, it seems a bit lienient to me.
How about we set up dunking booths filled with black mambas and put all of congress/fed/aig/obama inside them and start heaving tennis balls at them.
I have an active imagination and a strong distaste for the current administration and AIG.
Where is the promise of “Hope I can believe in from this President, his adminsistration, and the majority of Congress? I would say their report card after 10 months in office is a very dismal grade on the employment, economy, and not anything to brag about in foreign affairs. I hope the President starts taking responsibility for his own decisions soon.
No surprise here. Washington couldn’t pour sand out of a boot if the directions were written on the heel.
Showing respect by adhering to another nation’s customs is weakness? Please!
Is calling President Obama a Muslim your attempt to insult him? What faith community taught you to behave in this fashion?
And you think the Fed government can save us money on Healthcare?!
This is a prime example of how governments spend taxpayer’s (your) money.
Lets vote these liberal ideologues out of office and quick.
I swear you dorks sit around and can’t wait for an insurance topic to get political so you can all rip on the other side. Go back to work idiots. I’d like to read actual quality comments on these articles vs. the crap you people say.
“If I remember correctly, we had quite the surplus of money when Clinton left office. Bush’s never-ending war with the Middle East took care of that.”
Really?? Do you honestly believe that a brand newly elected president wanted to walk into a war? The reason we were in that position and the stockpile of surplus money was due to Clintons Regime cutting ALL funding for government programs that allowed the US to have knowledge of threats such as 911.
I completely agree with you Mark! And further more, if Clinton would have stepped up to the plate when there was that terrorist attack on the USS Cole instead of letting it ‘slide’ then maybe Bush wouldn’t have had deplete our deficit in the Middle East.
Optimist, we have a few protocals in this country too. One is that our leaders never bow to the leaders of other countries. NEVER IN OUR HISTORY UNTIL NOW. This idiot needs to hire a new set of advisors on protocal or just study a little history. He is disrepecting our traditions. Republican, Democrat or Whig, no President ever has done this. It is a sign of our weakness and the enemies of this country just love it.
we will be paying for the GOPs mistakes for decades :(
I almost feel bad talking about the AIG bailout given where this thread has gone but I thought I would toss out a question?
Who benefited most from the AIG bailout?
a. The rich stockholders of AIG whose worthless shares are now worth over $35 per share.
b. The rich stockholders of the other financial institutions who received full value on the AIG guarantees when they were worth much less than that; or
c. Illegal aliens (I only mention them because, on this site, they are routinely held up as the recipients of massive amounts of government help.)
So, with over $100 billion of welfare going somewhere, follow the money. Did it go to the rich; you know, the ones who constantly complain how their hard earned money is being given away to the poor or did it go to the poor?
Just Curious
How did we go from the AIG bailout to Obama Bashing. The Bush man created a mess and dumped on on our new president. In ten months what could he do?? Of course to listen to the Republicans, the country was in great shape whe the Bush man turned it over, of course as usual they have it backwards, when Bush took office the counrty was in pretty good condition, when he left it was on the path of destruction.
God help us all
Let’s get down to basics. The AIG bailout never should have occurred it should have been a controlled bankruptcy. The starting point would be that AIG had no money and the U.S. Government owed nothing to anyone. That’s the position from which to negotiate assistance. The world economy wasn’t going to collapse. That was a myth started by the greedy individuals who would benefit. It’s always better to be in the stronger negotiation position. The counterparties would be paid but not as much of the taxpayers money. And then we complicated the problem by not strictly supervising the payouts and that may still be the case. I don’t know if all the counterparties are finished. We may never know if the handling was incompetence or greed but there was an awful lot of money paid out. I don’t even know whether or not we paid off supporters of Terrorists. Does anyone have a list of the benefitiaries of the derivitive bailout? Or are they afraid to reveal them.
Thanks for the entertaining Wednesday afternoon. We haven’t had a good topic to argue about in a while. Thanks to all the right and left wing nuts for helping me pass the afternoon.
JUST ASKING the question makes me laugh. When is this country going to throw the bums out ?!?!?!??!
TERM LIMITS !! Get rid of the crooks, liars, and incompetents…. That pretty much covers all of them !
You’re right. It was all Bush.
Bush and a congress dominated by Democrats the last 2 years that he was in office. Oh shucks, the 2 years when the country went in the tank by the way.
And Obama inherited, so what could he do? Well, he could make it worse. AND HE DID !!
Thank you Democrats.
(and I am not a Republican – I’m someone who wants ALL of the bums and the crooks thrown out!)
The Fed and New York Fed are talking nonsense. Every one knows that the AIG insurance policies were never at risk, thanks to the good work of the insurance regulators as opposed to the banking regulators who were all sleeping on the wheel. Nothing to do with protecting AIG insurance policyholders, just an excuse by the Fed, New York Fed and Treasury to bail out their cronies at the expense of the public.
did not someone post earlier that congress and many on-the-hill folks have a 401k?
um..um.. this is what is pondering. if any other company was failing, they would not care because it did not directly affect them. so they allowed companies to fail/bankruptcy.
look now, how many banks have failed?
now, it does not matter what political division did this. we had a republican president (who has veto power) and a democratic congress. so does it really matter!? NO!
we all want to blame a particular party for any error, but when you stop and look at it, it did not matter what party. we just need to replace our congress. last night i heard that BYRD is now the longest running senator in office.
so who are we to believe?
Thanks to the Optimist for saying what I would have. We did not expect this to turn around overnight, but after less than 1 year I think we are headed in the right direction. Maybe we should all be more optimistic.
Overpaid, I think so!
How about an orderly liquidation of all assets and all liabilities guaranteed by the federal government to avoid a financial meltdown. It would have been cheaper in the long run. Problem is, I dont think we are done bailing them out.
Hopeful, Do you think this Congress and Administration is done with bailouts and Cash for Clunkers? I am an optimist by nature, however I am also a realalistic. We are not heading in the right direction and most of the country (several polls indicate this fact).Before the Health Care Expenditure (I hope does not go through)just interest to service our current debt within the next ten years will be between 700 billion and a trillion dollars in interst alone. This is not hope I can believe in nor do I want to leave this as an inheritance to my children and grandchildren. AIG should have never been bailed out, nor should have any of the other companies, cash for clunkers was a disaster and was the econimic stimulus plan.To continue to plunge our country into more debt with this health plan, and to continue down the road of doing away with the free enterprise system is insanity.
There never should have been a bailout of AIG. That is what bankruptcy is for and a bankruptcy doesn’t have to prevent the government from assisting counterparties on a selevtive basis to prevent the collapse of the world economy (if there was any truth to that) but we would then be dealing from a position of strength. There was an awful lot of money involved And when there is an awful lot of money there is an awful lot of “politics” involved also especially if there is no regulation or supervision. I think that an audit and investigation is a good idea. I’d like to see some transparancy. At least we taxpayers ought to know the details of how we are getting shafted.