AIG tax puts Republicans in sticky fix

The republicans will vote for it, the real question that didn't even come up in Frank James' democrat mind is will Maxine Waters, Chris Dodd and Barney Frank vote for it, knowking that it'll affect their friends at Fannie and Freddie? Remember, according to Maxine the GSEs had "exceptional leadership."

Wow, this is the typical democrat tactic: focus the responsibility for the bonuses on republicans who Pelosi and Reid KEPT OUT of the process and who DID NOT vote for the bailout.

This is the propaganda of the Rahm Emanuel presidency.

Spokesperson Obama is out on the trail, unnaturally swiveling his head, as he puppets the programmed script to the faux audience installed at the townhall meeting.

Guess what others have posted about Frank James is correct. He is a conduit for the democrats.

Think it's time to stop posting and ignore this pipeline from the Emanuel White House.

This isn't sticky at all. It's very simple.

Nancy and Harry shut republicans out of any discussion on all these spending measures. They wrote this stuff behind closed doors then demanded a vote before anyone read any of it.

The dems own this fiasco from start to finish. Repubs only need to point this out and point out that the new "fix" is unconstitutional, therefore they cannot support it.

Let Nancy & Harry deal with the fallout.

Frank James is merely a water carrier for the Obama White House, which is desperately seeking to avoid the blame for their incompetence.

Consider: Obama supported the bailout legislation; AIG execs sent huge campaign donations to Obama and other Democrats; the Obama administration knew, or should have known, about the bonuses months ago, yet did nothing; Obama had his point man on the Senate Banking Committee, Democrat Chris Dodd, slip language into the "stimulus" bill that guaranteed those bonuses; Dodd lied about slipping that language in; and the Democrats rejected a GOP measure to rescind the bonuses.

In short the Dem/Obama fingerprints are all over this one.
Frank James knows it--which is why he's trying to divert attention to the GOP.

This brings up an interesting fact. While the republicans will be riding high on the anger over the bonuses, these are the very same folks that the republican party have coddled. These are those "success" driven execs that recieved the tax breaks from the republicans. These are the same who the republicans have cried "wealth distribution" over, even as it has become clear that these folks syphoned out a little wealth from the American people.

More news you won't read at the swamp: Fannie Mae, the mortgage lender that's $5 billion in debt and had to be WHOLLY taken over by the US government, is planning to dole out a total of $1 million in bonuses to four executives: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Fannie-plans-bonuses-of-up-to-apf-14679491.html
Fanne Mae, if you'll remember, is the place that Barney Frank said was a corporate success story in 2004 and "would be fine" in 2008.

Dodd accepted $177K in campaign contributions from AIG and then slipped the amendment allowing the bonuses into the porkulus bill. Obama accepted $101K in campaign contribuitions from AIG and then signed the porkulus bill.

If that is not a quid pro quo deal, then would someone PLEASE tell me what is?

Typical strawman analysis.... oooooo, a "trap" for republicans. That's crap. The democrats have already "stepped in it" up to their knees by excluding republicans from discussions, ramming legislation down the throats of Americans, all the while claiming "greater transparency" while they fill the bills with their toxic waste pork.

And NOW it's a trap? This article is laughable propaganda.

Bill R - do you have any quotes of these "same people" who "cried wealth distribution" or are you just assuming that's the case. Back up your assertions.

The Dems assembled the Porkulous, passed (crammed!) the Porkulous (without reading it except to remove the bonus restrictions prior to Feb 11, 2008), and Obama signed it into law. The House/Senate conference was all Dems. Jeeez, guess who owns this taxpayer ripoff! Turbo Tim was the architect of the AIG bailout and knew about this and Obama promised to "sign off on every dollar of TARP funds" under his watch and has been hammering WS and CEO greed ad nauseam. Countrywide Dodd can't keep his stories straight and blames the boogeyman in Treasury and Barney "Freddie and Fannie are sound" Frank wants to investigate himself and the House Dems for ignorance. Now Frank why are you posting a story about Republicans being in a dilemma about questionable targeted taxes? I guess you could not blame Bush for this one. Maybe you should write about where the real blame lies. Oh, I forgot the 3 liberal Republicans who voted for this fiasco, could look there. Me, I'm stuck with the tab once again as a taxpayer.

One problem with this "tax" is that it is unconstitutional. It is taxation without representation.
Anyway, the Demoncrats allowed the bonuses. Heck, Chris Dudd included the provision that allowed bonuses, with help from the White House, of course. And, in typical Dem fashion they want to take it away. What new, though? Just as the Illinois Dems will be taxing the hell out of Illinois citizens in the next year, the U.S. Dems will be doing the same -- to ALL Americans, not just the top 5 percent.

Neat how the Swamp editors try to implicate the Republicans in this mess. Democrats wrote the bill, Dodd at the insistence of the Obama White House put in the language for the bonuses, the Democrat congress passed it and the Democrat king (aka president) signed it. And the shut-out Republicans are in a fix? Nice try.

I don't know why you even bother to mention Republicans.

Let's try again, the Democrats are in the Majority, NOT the Republicans.
Not one Republican in the House voted for the Stimulus bill.
Three Republicans in the Senate voted for the bill to move forward.
From what is coming out, the Republicans didn't have anything to do with the Conference Report, either.
You can twist this as much as you want but as much as I don't like the bonus contracts, what Congress and the Exec' Branch are doing is more scary.
If I was voting I would vote against the taxation that was approved by Congress when they voted on a bill they didn't read because they knew what was in it. The Crooks here are the Politicians who VOTED for the bill and the President who signed it.

Something keeps bothering me and thats how Geitner is running the show by himself. As the Admin' keeps mentioning.

Maybe they don't/didn't want those positions filled yet because there is probably more we don't know about and they the Admin' don't want more people knowing what's going on.

Posted by: Justin | March 19, 2009 10:56 AM

Back up my assertions? One constant in American politics has been the bond between the Republican party and corporate America. Which I might add may become strained. With the republican vote on the stimulus, businesses may start to resent being thrown under the bus in this political mood. You can't harness populist anger, and ride hide with corporate America.

Not discussing the merits of the bonuses at all, but . . .

Doesn't the idea of taxing those who received the bonuses tack very close to the Article 1, Section 9 language of the Constitution that says, "No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law will be passed." (Capitalization theirs.)

A bill of attainder is a law that singles out an individual, or a group of individuals, for punishment without a trial. The AIG executives, or the executives of corporations receiving stimulus funds who received bonuses, however the legislation is worded, are an identifiable group who received money according to their employment contracts. A bill to tax away that money looks an awful lot like a bill of attainder.

The names and faces have changed, but the Constitution is still in the shredder.

If this bill is passed, look for a suit that ultimately will declare it unconstitutional in the Supreme Court. The Republicans would be smart to keep hands off this one. Then they can finally say, "I told you so."

Congress is totally responsible for AIG ability to pay retention bonuses. To hide their inability to provide adequate time to read legislation is a sham and designed to protect Democrats and the President.
Let Congress pay for the bonuses it was their mistake.

Okay -- a few of you Republicans are skewing facts. The BAILOUT was initially a REPUBLICAN measure voted in under Bush. No Republican was "left out" of the drafting of this policy. The STIMULUS is what Republicans have complained that they did not have enough say-so in (because they dug in their heels and refused to budge claiming "my way or the highway" when they don't have the "power" in office anymore). Just setting THAT straight.

Not sticky at all, If the republicans would have done their job when Bush wrote the original TARP and listened to Bernie Sanders when he exclaimed this sucks and is the dumbest thing I have ever read. And, then proceeded to name names and the amount of money all these executives rolled in while they were taking down our country. We wouldn't be here to begin now. Put the blame where it really belongs - the Bush Administration.

I tell you, as an independent it never fails to amuse me, to see the "opposition" nay say the tactics of the party in power, when their own party used exactly the same or worse. Grow the f up people. This isn't some b%llsh*t game, this is the livelihood of our country as a whole. Republicans don't have a leg to stand on when it comes to trying to place guilt on the Democrats, and the dems are just as bad. So stop rooting for your party and start thinking of what's best for the country. I can't wait till independents stop voting for the "lesser" of two evils every time.

Hey Justin, arguments can be worked both ways.
The Democrats, who proclaim to be the workers Party, are in favor of illegal aliens taking American jobs. And with the person who is 3rd in line for the Presidency the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, praising illegal aliens, will hurt the Democrat Party while criticizing American Sovereign Policy.

Personally, I believe she has broken her oath of office and should stand down.

Oath of Office
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.

Of course, Frank, Pelosi, Reid and Obama will blame G.W. Bush and 'the rich' for this mess. They will attempt to shield Obama by saying he's been in office for less than 100 days.

But we know the truth, and Republicans should vote against any added tax-- give the People a clear choice in 2010, by which time two years of socialist monetary policy will have left us bankrupt and hopeless.

John G.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/The CouncilofThree

Republicans MUST vote against this. It is too dangerous to let Barney Frank decide what private citizens can earn. As distasteful as these bonuses may be, congress should not interfere. They should have not given the money at all, or at least put some restrictions on it to begin with. I am VERY scared that these goons are going to sit in judgement on the earnings of a private citizen. Next they will come after YOU.

Anoher thing that should bother us about the AIG tax is the injustice and inequality of it.

If you happen to work for AIG, and you happen to be one of those who received a bonus, we will confiscate it. If, on the other hand, you worked for another company, say Wal-Mart, and received an equal bonus, no problem! We'll just tax it at the normal rates.

Similarly, windfall profits taxes on oil companies. The oil companies showed high profits when the price of oil went up last year because they could sell their reserves at a price higher than the value at which they had been carried on the books. The value of their reserves had appreciated. If, on the other hand, somebody had a similarly appreciating asset, say a house, that they were able to sell for much more than they had paid for it, no problem! Why, if you've held on to that asset for long enough, we'll tax your gain at special low long-term capital gain rates!

Our representatives aren't exercising good judgment, they're just taking out their pique. It's childish.

The only constant in life is that both parties, republican and democrat, are up to the gills in connections with corporate America. Bill Hussein's notion that it's only the republicans is a fairy tale that stopped being true long ago. The evidence is called Dodd, Geithner, Frank, and Obama.
Here's a republican who voted FOR the taxation of the AIG and Fannie/Freddie bonuses pwning a democrat who voted AGAINST taxing them on the house floor. Pretty much says everything.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpHlU2Oa51g&feature=player_embedded

Both parties are swallowing the camel but choking on the fly. Here's the analogy--AIG is the water-logged basement; but KBR/Halliburton/GE's 'war on terror' is the missing roof.
WE NEED A GREEN PARTY.

This is a godsend for the intellectually bankrupt, charismatically challenged leadership of the Replican party.

Field Day!

Enjoy, Replicans.

I think this dust up will soon be overtaken by other events.

And you'll be left back in the minority. With the emphasis on "minor".

However, let this be a little memento mori for Barack:

Some of your picks are flawed, deeply.

Whether or not they play basketball.

They all don't hold a Nobel Prize.

Paul Krugman could probably do a far better job than Timmy and Summers put together.

(O, and I guess he does have the added plus of holding a Nobel Prize as well.)

As for Benjy, well, the die is cast: we're gong to try to inflate all the debt away.

Good luck with that.

Pure legal theft by a Congress that is abusing the Constitution. I also hope the vote to tax AIG bonuses is challenged.
BUT,
It's NOT the bonuses that is the problem, or at fault (as I've mentioned before), it's Congress writing bills, voting on bills, signed into Law by the President, that haven't been read. Then this dog and pony show to say, "AIG is bad". Wrong, Congress is bad.

Drop your Political views and focus on Congress as a body that is destroying our way of life.

Ask questions, lots of questions. Look how Dodd said he had nothing to do with the Amendment, and now he's saying Geitner made him do it, and Geitner is saying he did get Dodd to change his Amendment.
Folks, this is a United States Senator.

The media had better get into this, because if their not asking questions, it's just going to continue.

The stimulus provision that gave a loophole to AIG to give these bonuses is owned by liar Dodd and the Obama Administration. Frank James ' article looks bizarre to the casual observer, but is crystal clear and even predictable to anyone who reads this blog. His credibility as a journalist is so heavily invested in Obama, that any time the Administration comes under fire, he will resort to anything to protect Obama. Create strawmen. Attack the messenger. Recriminations against the Bush Administration. Whatever it takes to protect the messiah.

Nobody forces anybody to makes choices against their political platform...that is the problem with Repubs...get a back bone guys, stand up for what you SAY you believe. What's most important to you...re-election or doing what is best for the people who pay you and who still believe in honoring or Constitution.

The GOP could follow BO's example and vote "Present"

hey i like what youre doing here.
Forget teh constitution, tax the $#!T out of those bonuses. Let them handle their own consequences and forget the so called "contracts". I know it would be devastating but i think AIG just needs to fail and teach businesses everywhere a lesson.
check out Duncdiddly.com

The political sticky wicket is whether either Republicans or Democrats can be viewed within the natural border of taxes so that one is too accepting of taxes and the other is more inclined to tax evasion as their natural style.

Crossing the line for either is a difficult hard sell to constituencies - and that tends to force political economics into the center - since whatever Congress agrees to, the public is held responsible for. Making decisions is easy with someone else's money. Paying the price is never the job of Congress.