Obama Administration: We Didn't Find Out About AIG Bonuses Until This Month

[Chris_]

Obama Administration: We Didn't Find Out About AIG Bonuses Until This Month

Sources in the Obama administration Tuesday said that despite previous media reports administration officials did not know until a couple weeks ago that the officials of the controversial AIG Financial Product Division were set to receive $165 million in bonuses on March 13.

It wasn't until Thursday, March 5, 2009, administration sources told ABC News, that officials of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York informed officials of the Treasury Department of the full extent of the $165 million in bonuses pending for the controversial Financial Products Subsidiary.

This was three days after the Obama administration had already announced a new commitment of an additional $30 billion for AIG.

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner was alerted last Tuesday, March 10; he phoned AIG CEO Edward Liddy on Wednesday evening, March 11, to protest the bonuses, sources told ABC News.

Remember folks, Uncle Zer0 told us during the campaign that McCain was "out of touch" and not capable of being the President.   

MORE

Oh and this might be a little problem for Uncle Zer0:

Rage at AIG Swells As Bonuses Go Out

Attorneys working for the Fed had been examining the matter for months and determined that the retention payments couldn't be touched because AIG would face costly lawsuits and be subject to penalties from states and foreign governments. Administration officials said over the weekend that they agreed with that assessment.

AIG disclosed its retention-payment program more than a year ago, and the amount of the bonuses -- more than $400 million for Financial Products alone -- had been widely reported. But as the payments were coming due in recent days, the White House began to express its indignation.

LINKY-DINK

When will all the DUmmies demand that Uncle Zer0 be impeached for lying to us?

[thundley4]

I'm not sure, but there are some reports that the bonuses were included in the bailout at the insistence of the White House. So far I've only seen it on some blogs, but who knows.

[Chris_]

Here's another one:

Fake Outrage? AIG Bonuses Known Months Ago

For months, the Obama administration and members of Congress have known that insurance giant AIG was getting ready to pay huge bonuses while living off government bailouts. It wasn't until the money was flowing and news was trickling out to the public that official Washington rose up in anger and vowed to yank the money back.

Why the sudden furor, just weeks after Barack Obama's team paid out $30 billion in additional aid to the company? So far, the administration has been unable to match its actions to Mr. Obama's tough rhetoric on executive compensation. And Congress has been unable or unwilling to restrict bonuses for bailout recipients, despite some lawmakers' repeated efforts to do so.

The situation has the White House and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on the defensive. The administration was caught off guard Tuesday trying to explain why Geithner had waited until last Wednesday to call AIG chief executive Edward M. Liddy and demand that the bonus payments be restructured.

I don't know if he (Geithner) should resign over this," Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., told CBS' The Early Show Tuesday, "But I can tell you, this is just another, you know, example of where he seems to be out of the loop."

Even the MSM isn't buying Uncle Zer0's bullsh*t anymore.

MORe

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

Salon magazine--Obama acolytes if ever there were any to be found--reports:

It was Dodd who did everything possible -- including writing and advocating for an amendment -- which would have applied the limitations on executive compensation to all bailout-receiving firms, including AIG, and applied it to all future bonus payments without regard to when those payments were promised. But it was Tim Geithner and Larry Summers who openly criticized Dodd's proposal at the time and insisted that those limitations should apply only to future compensation contracts, not ones that already existed. The exemption for already existing compensation agreements -- the exact provision that is now protecting the AIG bonus payments -- was inserted at the White House's insistence and over Dodd's objections. But now that a political scandal has erupted over these payments, the White House is trying to deflect blame from itself and heap it all on Chris Dodd by claiming that it was Dodd who was responsible for that exemption.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/03/17/dodd/index.html

It is very interesting that the WH has decided to let Sen Dodd hang for this. Remember, Dodd is under serious heat for his "Friend of Angelo" sweetheart deal he got from Countrywide , a company both under his senatorial oversight AND at the heart of the sub-prime meltdown. Dodd still refuses to disclose the terms of that mortgage and has since had it rewritten with another lender. For the WH to throw this AIG bonus thing on Dodd with it's attending aoutrage is putting Dodd in a very vulnerable position. If the furor remains high enough long enough it could strip Dodd of his political cover needed to duck under the Countrywide mess.

But if Salon is willing to ride to Dodd's rescue--AT OBAMA'S EXPENSE NO LESS--then this could get really interesting.

I'd like to hear Dodd's thoughts on this. If Obama get into a pissing contest with his own democrats this could be a very interesting 4 years.

[bijou]

I'm amazed that this part of the  story has legs (to coin a phrase) Obama seems to be losing control of the message.

[jinxmchue]

Someone should get the names of the people receiving the bonuses and compare them to the records of donations to the Democrats and esp. to the donations to Obama's campaign.  I'd bet you dollars to donuts that a lot of the names will show up as big time contributors.

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

I'm amazed that this part of the  story has legs (to coin a phrase) Obama seems to be losing control of the message.

The higher the perch the further the fall.