Posted by
Teresa on Saturday, March 21, 2009 2:24:04 PM
After reviewing articles on March 20, 2009 from both The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review over the outrage to AIG bonuses, I noticed that the Post-Gazette explained how the Democrats were taking actions to clean up the problems, but didn't state how the Democrats were responsible for the provision in the bailout package, allowing AIG executives to receive their bonuses. This article showed a broader view and glossed over the details as to why some Republicans voted against the bill that would tax executives, and gave a podium to Nancy Pelosi, who denied any wrongdoing, and continued laying the blame on the Bush administration. The Tribune-Review showed a more detailed picture in explaining the 90% tax on the AIG bonuses, while explaining both sides of the story, with including that Senator Chris Dodd was the person who crafted the amendment that enabled to executives at AIG to receive their bonuses. Even, Tim Geithner, presently our Treasury Secretary, while in charge at the NY Fed, also helped to broker the deal with AIG execs. House Minority Leader John Boehner expressed concern on whether this Bill to tax the executives 90% is a legal action.
Yes, I am outraged.
Do these executives that ran AIG into the ground really deserve these bonuses? The answer is NO!!! Bonuses are for people who perform outstanding work and bring money into the company, but not those that make bad decisions and cost the company large sums of money.
But, unfortunately Democratic Senator Chris Dodd was the person who spearheaded the language in the Bill to ensure that the AIG executives received their bonuses. Dodd, Obama, as well as other Democrats had received monetary contributions from AIG. Was the bonus clause there to make sure more contributions kept on rolling in for the Democratic party? Tim Geithner is one of those who orchestrated the contracts for AIG, so do you really think that he didn't know ahead of time that these executives would receive bonuses?
Is it unconstitutional to enact an ex post facto law? This gets kind of complicated because even though the bonuses were being paid for the year 2008, the monies were actually paid in 2009. But another complicating factor is the fact that Congress knew about these bonuses before the stimulus money was given to AIG. Now Congress is trying to make themselves look good in the public eye by retroactively taxing the bonuses that the Democrats enabled AIG to keep in an amendment in the stimulus package.
As outraged as I am that undeserved AIG execs are receiving bonuses, I am even more outraged at Congress for abusing their power to punish executives. If enacted, this could set a very dangerous precedent, where any group that the president or Congress disagrees with could be targeted. Congress is already incompetent and abuses its powers to some extent. Do we really want to give Congress more ammunition to control who gets taxed more, or to punish cerain groups acorss the country for disagreeing with political policies?
Did the Democrats enact this amendment to allow AIG execs to receive bonuses in order to be able to tax one particular segment of society? Did the Democrats let this happen in order to open the door for targeting additional particular sectors of society in order to promote their political agenda? Was this the real reason why they allowed the bonuses to be paid in the first place?