Rahmmy

We only wish we would stop hearing about these sweetheart deals,

It is bad, yes, and I know McCain lost the election, but remember his campaign manager was a paid lobbyist for FreddieMac and continued to be paid after he had signed on with McCain.

I agree it is all despicable, like the 9.3 Million AIG has donated to members of both political parties since 1989.

Can we stop it?

McCain? Why you bringing up McCain? Oh, I see, you are assuming I was a McCain supporter. Well, I wasn't and I'm not. This is about Rahm Emanuel and whatever anyone else did doesn't give him a free pass.

'Can we stop it?'...Well, Chris Dodd took a stab at it...didn't work...the Obama White House would not have any of it. They demanded a loop-hole for the bonuses.

"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.

...While administration officials insisted Tuesday that neither Mr. Obama nor Geithner learned of the impending bonus payments until last week, the problem wasn't new. AIG's plans to pay hundreds of millions of dollars were publicized last fall, when Congress started asking questions about expensive junkets the company had sponsored. A November SEC filing by the company details more than $469 million in "retention payments" to keep prized employees.

...In January, Reps. Joseph E. Crowley of New York and Paul E. Kanjorski of Pennsylvania wrote to the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department pressing the administration to scrutinize AIG's bonus plans and take steps against excessive payments. "

excerpted from:http://wjz.com/national/AIG.bonus.payments.2.961981.html

Also, CNN reported...

"WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says he didn't know "the full scale" of AIG's retention bonuses until March 10, but it wasn't because anybody was trying to keep the $165 million payments secret.

In fact, the company reported the plans in filings made in September, CNN reported on the plans in December and January and Geithner himself answered a question that mentioned the bonuses during a congressional hearing on March 3."

See: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/20/aig.bonuses/index.html

Quickly, they get a scapegoat...Chris Dodd, whom, incidently was trying to do a good thing by trying to stop the bonuses from happening, through the introduction of a measure. Obama and company get on the phone and tell him NO...and he is forced to put in the measure a loop hole that allows for the bonuses:

"The founders established a system of checks and balances so that bad ideas developed in the executive branch of the federal government did not become the law of the land.

When the chairman of a key Senate committee waters down legislation to ban bonuses for employees of firms collecting federal bailout money at the behest of the Secretary of the Treasury, the system is broken.

And the man who broke it is Senate Banking Committee chairman Christopher Dodd, the Connecticut Democrat who is taking huge hits for doing the Obama administration's bidding.

Dodd wanted to bar the sort of bonuses that American International Group paid out -- in the amount of $160 million -- to top employees of the flailing insurance giant.

But the supposedly powerful senator diluted the bonus-banning clause he had hoped to include in the federal stimulus package because the Treasury Department didn't approve."

The truth is that Geithner's been a horrible player from the start. Democratic Senators Robert Byrd of West Virginia, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin and Tom Harkin of Iowa, and Vermont Independent Bernie Sanders, were right to vote against confirming him as Treasury Secretary. While Republican opponents of the Geithner nomination may be accused -- fairly or not -- of having simply been playing politics, Byrd, Feingold, Harkin and Sanders raised profound and appropriate concerns.

Sanders said: "Mr. Geithner was at the Fed and the Treasury Department when the deregulatory fervor that got us into this mess ran rampant. He was part of the problem."

Added Harkin: "(Geithner) made serious errors in his job as chief regulator of the financial institutions at the heart of the current financial crisis."

Feingold said he based his "no" vote on concerns about Geithner's failure to pay taxes. But, the senator added, "I am troubled by Mr. Geithner's track record on some of the issues that have contributed to the credit market crisis..."

Savvy senators were unwilling to place their faith in Geithner.

But Dodd was not a savvy senator.

He bent to pressure from Geithner's department.

Dodd's in serious political trouble as a result.

Should we feel sorry for the senator from Connecticut? Not really.

Dodd's job as a senior senator, and the chairman of a key committee, is to check and balance bad players in the executive branch. He failed himself, the taxpayers and the system of separated powers that underpins the American experiment.

Could Dodd set things straight? Perhaps, but not with posturing about the bonuses. The senator needs to reassert his role as an independent player. He could start by naming names and providing the details about the pressure that came from the Treasury Department. Then he might want to acknowledge that the members of the Senate Democratic Caucus who opposed the Geithner nomination -- Byrd, Feingold, Harkin and Sanders -- were right."

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/state_of_change/419687/dodd_s_mistake_was_to_trust_treasury_department

In short...and to reiterate the point, FastCheck writes:

"'Blame Dodd' Attacks Ignore Facts

March 19, 2009

He would have outlawed AIG-type bonuses, but Treasury and the White House got his ban removed.

Summary

The public record shows Dodd authored an amendment that would have prevented "any bonus" being paid to top executives of firms getting bailout money. It was the White House and the Treasury Department that insisted Dodd's amendment be watered down to apply only to bonuses paid under agreements signed in the past five weeks. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has taken public responsibility for that.

We lay out the full story in our Analysis section.

See analysis at: http://www.factcheck.org/politics/blame_dodd_attacks_ignore_facts.html

Thanks, for your' comment, Today's Illusion.

I think Mr. Dodd got the shaft . . . I've seen him say and do some pretty anti authoritarian/powers that be stuff. What a nightmare for any halfway decent public official these days . . .

Thanks, Felix. Keep it coming. :)

I mentioned McCain because One side like to pretends the other side is dirtier.

As for Dodd I did find it puzzling, and then considering how rabid the am talk masters are
They really aren't slicing and dicing Dodd as much as they usually do,
Yet this seems to be the offense to end all.

Well, they can't attack Dodd too much, because, he might further expose the White House. He let know right away that he would be taking down some if he took too big a hit for the Gipper in Chief by clearly pointing at Geithner.

The Devil made me do it.

I don't think Old Chris will brook too much nonsense from the Greenhorn Squad. Blago he is not.