Showing posts with label Christopher Dodd. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christopher Dodd. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Dodd Made the AIG Bonuses Possible

On Fox News Business, the story, “Amid AIG Furor, Dodd Tries to Undo Bonus Protections He Put In,” is chock full of interesting information about Senator Christopher Dodd and AIG.

The first interesting point is:

“While the Senate constructed the $787 billion stimulus last month, Dodd unexpectedly added an executive-compensation restriction to the bill. That amendment provides an “exception for contractually obligated bonuses agreed on before Feb. 11, 2009,” which exempts the very AIG bonuses Dodd and others are seeking to tax. The amendment is in the final version and is law.”

Second, point:

“Also, Sen. Dodd was AIG’s largest single recipient of campaign donations during the 2008 election cycle with $103,100, according to opensecrets.org.”

So, Democrats are shouting from the highest mountains chastising AIG for paying bonuses that contractually, legally, they must pay that the Democrats wrote the law that allowed them to.

What great political theater today’s Democrats make. Really, you cannot make this stuff up!

Better yet, Geithner was in the room while the AIG bailout was designed. So if anyone says they did not know what was going on, then what was Geithner do in the room, taking a nap?

All of this posturing is just Democrats looking for political cover for another blunder of many that they underestimated the fallout from. They apparently thought the People are this dumb or don’t care. Well, they are wrong and these blunders are going to cost them the Congress in 2010 and a lot of headaches right now.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

“Turning Japanese”

I can hear the one hit wonder from the Vapors now, “we are turning Japanese” oops Swedish? Yes, Obama is now leaning toward changing the American banking system into a Swedish system and steering away from the Japanese model of the 1990s to rebuild our banking system.

Good thing. Japan still hasn't recovered from their recession of the 1990s and we should steer clear of anything they did, like high, wasteful governmental spending, buyouts, and nationalization of industries. Wait…we are doing that!

On Wizbang, Obama eyes Swedish model for US banks, there is more detailed explanation of the Obama/Geithner plan (oh…hot picture of Swedish models too!) Basically, the government would buy up the banks until they recovered and created enough assets to buy themselves back. Sounds good, expect for the government being involved and them owning a prime American institution of Capitalism. Worst part is in the following link Bank nationalisation gains ground with Republicans from FT.com. Yes, the same Republican suspects, not Specter, Snowe, and Collins this time, but Graham and McCain from illegal amnesty fame. These politicians don’t get it do they? They do not understand that the People know best. Free markets know best. We can fix it, if you would just let us.

GET OUT OF OUR WAY!

Now, the U.S. government cannot do anything right or efficiently. Also, the citizens cannot trust the government that they would own the banks temporarily. They don’t do anything temporarily. So, they are only going to make it worse and do it permanently.

To make matters worse, if the government owns the banks, what power would they have over the citizens? Who would control what interest rate you would get for a loan? Who controls which businesses get credit and which doesn’t? What interest rate would a wealthy person receive compared to a middle-class person? Who would control who does or doesn’t get a loan? Would they continue giving loans to people who cannot afford them? Are they going to continue to give loans to illegal immigrants who cannot verify their identity? Who monitors and guards all that private information of the citizens?

Answer. Why the United States government, of course. The same government that created the Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae debacle that created the whole economic downturn in the first place.

Careful…your head is about to explode.

Who in the esteemed, all knowing government would have all this control. How about Barney Frank and Christopher Dodd. Yes, the same wizards of smart that are responsible for the bank collapse by saying that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were stable and suggested we need do more of the same policies, all of which are at the heart of the banking crisis.

So, they are only going to make it worse and do it permanently. At least, Dodd can still be getting his sweetheart loans. Hey, maybe Frank and Dodd could loan some of OUR money to some Democrats to pay some of their past taxes. I have heard that list is getting quite long.