Of course. You'd want to hold onto the incredibly talented people who got you into this mess in first place. The competition for these folks must be intense, especially right now.It's funny how times have changed.Not that long ago, it was generally understood that the people who went to work on Wall Street weren't too bright to begin with. Then they became the Masters of the Universe.And now they're back to being, well, not too bright. I think we got it right the first time.

Being rendered speechless by oligarchs behaving like oligarchs...?

Why should this predictable behavior catch progressive commentator Abby Zimet off-guard?

I hope that Zimet meant instead to say she's speechless about America's oligarchs getting away with with their newst outrages.
Or that she's speechless that neither the public or their new "change-you-can believe-in" president is politically inclined to do anything about it, even at this late date.

Ms Zimet: There's no point in wondering how oligarchs behave as they do. Your moral shock, alone, is never going to call these sociopaths to conscience.
Isn't that clear by now?

On the other hand, there might be some point in your examining why the oligarchs' victims, and their alleged, decent-minded representatives in government, remain so passive in the face of it all.

I think you need to read-up a little on the mass psychology of fascism.

I and most of my friends are glad that things have gone exactly as we predicted. We haven't had to endure the rude humility that these boobs attempt as they reduce their salaries.History has show us what happens when people such as these amass too much wealth. A "good war" is what this country needs, a good revolutionary war. The wealth is being centered to make redistribution easier.The country needs a good genetic cleansing, the economy needs stimulation, and Boston Harbour needs something dumped in it.

well....

here's the so-called "macro-global solution" of Timothy Geithner -- one of the authors of the financial debacle Cooked Up in the good 'ol USA that has spread worldwide:

<<<

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says the global economy is in a "challenging period" and that the crisis is "still evolving."

Speaking following a meeting of finance ministers and central bankers from the world’s wealthiest and largest developing countries, Geithner said Saturday that economic recovery in the United States depends on its companies’ access to "open and growing economies" globally.

>>>

what is that in "washington speak?"

that the "solution in the evolving crisis" is :

"open the growing economies SOME MORE TO ACCESS BY US COMPANIES"......

meaning?

"LET US EXPLOIT YOU SOME MORE--- that's the SOLUTION To the Global Crisis"........

good 'ol PREDATOR USA's "solution" .

" because otherwise, said chairman Edward Liddy, "We cannot retain the best and brightest talent to lead" the company. "

Retain what, where would they go with thier track records of leading corporations and America in to massive debt while making millions for themselves.

Fire all the bonus sucking executives at the same time. Then let them apply for jobs all over again. You know , like Reagan air traffic controller union busting, they will have to accept new deals with much lower compensation packages or they will be replaced by a new wave of well educated graduates.How much worse can a bunch of financial rookies do in today's wake of financial ruin caused by these greedy carpetbaggers.

If this so called " best and brightest " can renegotiate for new contracts, and this time , if the bankers and corporations do to them what they have done to American blue collar workers they can work for minimum wage with incentive bonus's for real success.

Born Free Men

American, because I still protect the constitution from enemy's foreign and Domestic.

According to the NEW York Times article, there is a $450 Million bonus pool contract at AIG.

"A.I.G. had set up a special bonus pool for the financial products unit early in 2008, before the company’s near collapse, when problems stemming from the mortgage crisis were becoming clear and there were concerns that some of the best-informed derivatives specialists might leave." - NYT

These "best-informed derivatives specialists" were the ones who sold $Trillions in credit default swaps that brought the company to its knees, begging the TAXPAYERS for a bailout.

But let's keep rewarding "the best and the brightest"!

The issue is framed as "rewarding failure", but that framing misinterprets the situation. They didn't fail. They did in fact accomplish the intended result.

The goal has long been to make the US all the more easily exploited and robbed by reducing it to the condition of a third-world country. The rich have no use for the US except as a corpse to bleed dry of its wealth, and view democracy as an impediment to increasing their wealth, which is why the US is not a democracy: despite the pretenses, the fact is that you can only vote for candidates pre-approved by corporatists.

The last fifty years of middle-class prosperity (in the US and Europe, at least) has been an aberration of history, because all other human history has been characterized by a relatively small, wealthy ruling class dominating the rest of the population, virtually powerless and mostly poor. Having lost much of their domination under FDR, the wealthy and powerful have since then militated to reclaim their domination and are well on-course to succeed. The Logic of Empire clearly prescribes crushing debt as the usual tool to impoverish and control subject peoples, so this aberration has now been corrected by inducing the middle class to trade its prosperity for debts it can never repay.

It's typical of crime syndicate bosses to reward their loyal lieutenants for their rapacity and greed. That's why they're getting bonuses.

None of this is any secret inside the Beltway or on Wall St.

“The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the larger centers has owned the government of the U.S. ever since the days of Andrew Jackson.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt, letter to Edward House (1933)

"... the powers of financial capitalism had another far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole.”

Carroll Quigley, “Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in Our Time” (1966)

"It is well that the people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning."

Henry Ford

Why should we be speechless. It's business as usual. Is that a surprise, when the government throws huge sums of money at these creeps. I just finished watching a dog show on Animal Planet. It was all about positive and negative reinforcement. We need a little dog training in our bailout policy.

Do Geithner & Summers really want to hurt their brothers?

I saw Summers this morning on George Steph. He hung his head and sadly said that "we are a nation of laws", that "a contract is a contract". His performace smacks of the phrase, "crocodile tears". Disgusting, here one of the main proponents of deregulation claims that he can't regulate AIG. Gee, I wonder if the autoworkers have to break their contracts?

It seems that either Summers is lying or that if AIG wants any future funds, many have to fall on their swords or return their bonuses.

It's time to nationalize AIG, that much is clear. No bonuses for bums when the company is collapsing--what amazing nonsense is that anyway?

Certainly there is much blame and derision to be heaped upon these arrogant SOB's. But we must not forget that it is our own elected officials who gave them this money without strings attached, with no apparent guidelines or mandates.

When Barack Obama the candidate interrupted his campaign to rush back to Washington and pimp for the initial TARP fundings those downwind should certainly have smelled something foul. Our Treasury is being depleted at an alarming rate, the Bush tax cuts are still in effect though they are due to expire next year, noone is planning investigations into anything it seems, and, worst of all, the same selfish,greedy amoral bastards are still in charge.

Funny, I just finished watching 'Ocean's Thirteen', a slick little sequel about a lovable gang of crooks, now we speak about a not so very lovable gang, both within the economy and within the government.

That has been the problem for the past eight years-----We were rendered speechless at the excesses of the Bush regime. We did not want to believe that our government could be capable of evil deeds. That only happens in other countries-----not ours. Time to speak up, folks, loud, clear, and often.

What was it the Japanese Admiral said after the bomning of Pearl Harbor-----

"I'm afraid we have awaken a sleeping giant".

It seems ridiculous that a government stake of 80% in AIG cannot prevent this.

From the start of the dot-com bubble bursting, this entire situation was predicted, and frankly, obvious.
Do I blame Clinton? Somewhat, but he was as trapped with the Republican majority as he was with his own zipper problem - and we all know the result of that. (clue, we all got f***ed!)
Obama is stuck with the impossible task of dealing with cleaning up forty years of concerted deregulation and extremist manipulation of the financial workings of the world.
If anyone is surprised that corporate d***heads are whining for more money, and to have the gall to expect the taxpayer to pony up, well, we all need to really study Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine" and Howard Zinn's "A People's History of The United States."
This manipulation of public perception is not new. There has been a large number of people who are actively fighting against it, and have frankly been the voice in the wilderness.
So rather than criticize the voices that keep the alarm, lets instead fight back and slap the current right-wingers with the real facts.
Stanley
We all just need to keep resisting the call

How much more will it take to get us out in the street against this mess?

The executives who approved such bonuses as well as those who receive them deserve a future as the brides of some testosterone soaked body builders awaiting their arrival in the nearest prison. The same with Paulson, Geithner, Summers, and most of the major bank CEO-thieves. Andrew Cuomo and Eric Holder work your magic.

Poet

Expecting 'the people' to rise up against any government is idiotic wishful thinking - that's not the way it works. Only about 5% of any population has been responsible for most revolutions in history (and I don't mean just armned revolts, either). Even the current 'oligarchs' represent only the 5% at the other (sociopathic) end of the continuum - you do remember 'bell curves' don't you? That's just the way it goes. When those 5% of Americans get outraged enough, they will strike back against the tiny minority of fascists that have been ruling this country since... well, all of my life, anyway (save Eisenhower). Another 15% or so will back them when they make their move - just look at Europe and you'll see what I mean. (What percentage of their population shows up in the streets making demands?) And don't let anyone tell you that we need unions or organizations to get this done - this is the way humans have made progressive (or regressive) changes throughout history, long before unions or even the printed word.

The REAL problem in the US is the kind of people who emigrate here - you have to look at the reasons they left their own country if you want to understand why so many Americans are so ignorant and apathetic. Look at the 'waves' of immigrants who came here - such as those who fought to form unions and guarantee better living and working conditions, especially those willing to fight and die for their beliefs. This baloney of 'a nation of laws' has been exposed for what it is - pure rubbish. The Bill of Rights, as well as the Constitution, after all, really are just 'pieces of paper' - whatever meaning they once had to those who established them went out the door the first time they were violated with impunity. Let's face it folks - we have to start over. This is NOT a free country, there are no universal laws (that apply to everyone), and whatever rights we once had have long since been revoked. Those pieces of paper (charters, constitutions, bill of rights, etc) are written to preserve the rules established by the victors of any movement - but they become null and void (for all practical purposes) the very first time they are ignored or perverted.

What 'rights' do we still have? Honestly, now? Who makes all the new rules? Oh, so the 'oligarchs' actually have control of 'our' government? The corporations choose 'our' government officials, and THEIR military enforces THEIR rules around the world, as well as in this country. 'We the People' have nothing to say about how things are run - that much should be blatantly evident after not only the last 8 years, but the last 30+ years, and under the current 'new' administration - largely the same as the old one, right?

If you want a better world for your children, there are only two choices:
(1)put your life on the line to take over government and run it so ordinary people can live and prosper in security - or -
(2) move your entire family to another country where your chances are better.

Many Americans have already opted for the second choice - just as many of our parents, grandparents, etc, opted to leave THEIR former countries and take their chances in the US. Only that option is available with a very long list of qualifications - including advanced degrees, age limits, speaking two or more languages fluently, and having a desired skill-set. Most Americans simply cannot qualify. That is one of the reasons so many immigrants - especiallly the poor - came to the US in the first place. It is a 'brain drain' - but also a drain of the most astute and adventurous among us - the 'entrepreneurs' that can make a country competitive in every field.

Alas, the apathy of so many Americans is re-making the US into one of those 'failed police-states' burdened with tyranny (often fascism), poverty, ignorance, and hopeless anti-social regression. The machinery of the State is already so terrifying that few would contemplate resisting - and we all know what it means when people are afraid of their government, instead of the other way around. Get used to the 'new reality' - fascists NEVER leave; pyschopaths have no pity; and there is no Santa Claus. All of you who think we have a bright future somewhere ahead are going to eat crow in the coming years - just like 'we told you so' about everything else, such as those ugly wars-of-conquest, the financial bankruptcy looming over our heads, and the ugly fascist nature of our government. This isn't being 'cynical' - this is facing reality.

AIG should be on the terrorist list.

"We cannot retain the best and brightest talent to lead"

Simply astounding, even breathtaking in its arrogance.

Let's just give them whatever they want. How about 2 or 3 trillion? Would that be enough to cover their exposure to the Credit Default Swap Derivative Loss that they owe? These derivatives are based on NOTHING but speculation on whether mortages would be defaulted or not. Simply a bet. Literally nothing more than a bet. LEGALLY nothing more than a bet. And the American taxpayers are expected to cover the losses of this INTERNATIONAL company? Would the American taxpayers cover my losses in a Monte Carlo Casino? No? Then why should we cover AIG's losses?

Hundreds of millions in bonuses.

They are RAPING us!

ekaton

If you get outraged about the bonuses - wait 'til you read this:

AIG names recipients of its bailout money

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/03/15/AIG.banks.list/

Within this story:

.....
AIG Payouts
Below are the top 10 largest payouts, according to a report released Sunday by AIG.

Societe Generale: $4.1 billion
Deutsche Bank: $2.6 billion
Goldman Sachs: $2.5 billion
Merrill Lynch: $1.8 billion
Calyon: $1.1 billion
Barclays: $0.9 billion
UBS: $0.8 billion
DZ Bank: $0.7 billion
Wachovia: $0.7 billion
Rabobank: $0.5 billion

Also see
AIG says it spent some bailout money paying banks

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gh0-CWlZoxxJNN5xOxzgREDLbLcQD96UOO800
But I could be wrong !

Today’s Sunday Morning ’talking-head’ shows caused me to think of a simple, effective, and ‘tried and true’ solution to our financial crisis.

All the Sunday talk-heads; Summers, Frank, Cantor, McConnell, Zandi, George Will and others said the same stereotypical things:

1. More excessive bonuses to AIG execs is a bad thing.

2. Non-transparent ‘pass through’ of our tax funds to AIG’s counter-parties is a bad thing.

3. Items 1. and 2. enflame popular anger, AND they deprive small, ‘mainstreet’, job-creating businesses of scarce ‘capital’.

4. Sen. Cantor said that the job creating engine of small business is “starving” for ‘capital’.

5. Corporate law (contract law) takes precedent over Constitutional law --- and makes it impossible to break or abrogate AIG’s payments and save ‘capital’.

These beliefs among ruling-elite spokespeople on TV implied that there is no solution to the status-quo, when there is actually a simple tried and true solution for the people:

1. When people in other societies who depend on the scarce resource of ‘land’ to grow the ‘food’ for their Sunday Breakfast (and feed their children) run into an absurdly inequitable hording of that essential resource (land to produce food), the only normal (and peaceful) solution is called ‘land reform’.

2. ‘Land reform’ has been successfully used by many countries to insure against and prevent ‘starving’ the most job-creating, and populist element of their economy ---- people. [This has universally been used in many countries far less modern, intelligent, sophisticated, and democratic than ours portents to be].

3. In a multitude of countries in which the ruling-elite controlled the government, the laws, the media, and the resources to an extreme degree, ‘land reform’ has been the solution to the terrible problem of the elite hording all their wealth in art work, jewels, mansions, foreign banks, and land, all of which became egregiously unproductive for ‘food’ to feed the people.

I’ll leave for another time the too-obvious analogy of ‘land reform’ and ‘capital reform’, but hope that many readers have the same ‘aha reaction’ that I did; that the essential resource of ‘land’ and the essential resource of ‘capital’ ---- can similarly both be fixed with ‘reform’.

Land reform is defined by Wikipedia as “a government-initiated or government-backed real estate property redistribution, generally of agricultural land, or be part of an even more revolutionary program that may include forcible removal of an existing government that is seen to oppose such reforms.”

What the ruling-elite ‘corporate financial Empire’, which controls our country behind the façade of its ‘Vichy’ sham of democracy, most needs is ‘capital reform’ --- which I would define as “a government-initiated or government-backed capital redistribution, generally of investable capital, or be part of an even more revolutionary program that may include forcible removal of an existing government that is seen to oppose such reforms.”

The focus of ‘capital reform’ would first and foremost be targeted at ill-gotten capital exploited and acquired through fraud and/or looting of public ‘commonwealth’ resources, public taxes, and deceptive corporate subsidies or bailout shams.

This class of ‘capital reform’ could easily be funded through ‘claw-back’ restitution and disgorgement of government and ‘commonwealth’ funds which had been stolen either directly or by the modern guileful deceit of ‘negative externality cost displacement’ get rich quick schemes, as recently practiced by AIG, Merrill Lynch, Bank of America, CitiGroup, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and dozens of other corporate looters.

Special ‘capital reform’ courts experienced in the guileful gaming of markets through intentional ‘negative externality cost dumping’ schemes would be staffed with forensic auditors, SEC investigators, as well as financially experienced judges to review and unravel the new class of fraudulent schemes whereby ‘negative externality costs’ such as ‘debt bombs’ have been intentionally planted in the public financial marketplace in order to fraudulently profit from the ‘sale of’ unsecured, uncollectible, toxic, fraudulent, and extremely risky financial instrument, which can be proven to have been designed to fail --- thereby leaving the government and/or tax payers threatened by the deceptively planned ‘negative externality costs’ of cleaning up such financial pollution.

Just as the EPA brings suit against industrial polluters where a proven polluter must pay for the physical (air, water, oil, etc) pollution under the “polluter pays” ruling, the convicted financial polluter would have to pay for all damages caused by their financial pollution negative externality costs.

In fact, a government and citizens’ protection agency to investigate and bring suit to these special financial crimes courts could well be termed EPA II (the Externality Protection Agency).

Alan MacDonald
Sanford, Maine

All financial obligations arising from any form of derivatives contract must be cancelled. And then all forms of derivatives contracts must be made, ONCE AGAIN, illegal, as they were prior to 1972. No more stock options puts and calls. No more credit default swaps. No more options contracts on the movements of interest rates. They are all fraudulent to begin with, legal or not.

ekaton

These guys should be going to prison for racketeering, massive fraud, and whole lists of crimes. Instead they're paying themselves bonuses with your money.

The economy is not coming back. There isn't any way to fix a global system that is so grossly corrupted.