It’s time for our dear politicians to act surprised again. It’s time for Congress again to complain about the results of false policies that they themselves recklessly approved, against all warnings. It’s time again for Ben Bernanke to fire off mindless blather, platitudes and predictions that will, as always and without exception, turn out to be abysmally false.
The AP has a shocking surprise for us, Taxpayers unlikely to be fully repaid in AIG mess:
As the cost of the rescue swells, experts says it’s becoming harder to envision a scenario in which the government could recoup its full investment. Even though the AIG payouts to major banks have angered critics of the bailout, it might be legally impossible to claw back any of the billions already doled out.
Of course the taxpayer won’t get any of this money back. Is there a living creature with more than one brain cell that seriously expected the taxpayer would ever see this money come back? Of course it will be legally impossible to get the billions handed out back in any way. Congress and the Fed shouldn’t have been so stupid to throw it at them in the first place.
The government agreed to uphold those contracts when it seized control of American International Group in September. It argued that failing to repay the debts of the globally interconnected company could cause catastrophic losses at big international banks, potentially toppling the financial system.
…and the problem with that is what exactly? Toppling the financial systen? Does that mean the people who were instrumental to the credit expansion and the ensuing credit crisis would have gone out of business and we wouldn’t have to deal with their incompetence, greed, irresponsibility, and arrogance? Great! Anyone who has a problem with that should speak out and explain precisely why that would be such a terrible thing to happen. Especially he should explain why it is, on the flip side, good when instead the taxpayer who earned money with honest and productive work is milked to the Nth degree and driven into bankruptcy.
Scrutiny of AIG’s dealings with its trading partners comes after revelations over the weekend that the insurer planned to pay out tens of millions in executive bonuses. President Barack Obama on Monday accused AIG of “recklessness and greed.” He pledged to try to block the bonuses, which AIG insisted it’s contractually obligated to pay.
Mr. Obama, how about we pursue a policy of change? How about we no longer announce that we will react when the damage is already done. How about we proactively prevent disasters from happening? How about we listen to the people who advised us not to put the taxpayer on the hook for $170 billion for an organization whose market value is $2 billion? How about we realize that there is a reason why these organizations are not performing, why they are on the brink of bankruptcy? It is because they pursue the profession of wasting money. When we subsidize this behavior, we will get more of it. How much longer do we want to subsidize this bahavior?
Later, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the administration would modify the terms of a pending $30 billion bailout installment for AIG to at least recoup the $165 million the bonuses represent. That wouldn’t rescind the bonuses, just require AIG to account for them differently.
How retarded is this government? We hear from our President how outraged he is and at the same time his press secretary calmly announces that $165 million need to be accounted for in a slightly different manner, and then we’ll give them another $30 billion. Disgusting.
Asked if he’d favor trying to see if those AIG contracts could be broken so the government could recover some of those payouts, Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, stopped short of endorsing the idea. But he said “that’s something that has to be examined.”
“I would want to know the consequences of not paying those debts,” Frank, D-Mass., told The Associated Press.
There is definitely something that needs to be examined. And that is Rep. Barney Frank’s head. This guy has been wrong on every single thing he said. He has been the strongest supporter of all bailouts and spending boondoggles that were brought before Congress. His dishonesty and hippocrisy are astounding.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, defending the $30 billion lifeline the government provided to AIG, said earlier this month that the government may eventually be able to “recover most or all” of the taxpayers’ investments.
*Yawn* *Sigh* No, Mr. Bernanke. The government will not be able to recover any of the taxpayers’ investments. You know that or you are the biggest idiot to ever head the Federal Reserve. Your statement is wrong, just as all your previous statements have been. Please, do us all a favor and shut the hell up.
Some words of wisdom in closing:
But Mark Williams, a former Fed examiner and finance professor at Boston University, said the AIG wind-down inevitably will cost taxpayers money. And he thinks it will take much more money — perhaps an additional $200 billion — to finish winding down AIG’s financial dealings so its core businesses can be sold off.
“No longer can we call it an investment,” he said. “We just have to call it what it is — and that’s sinking money in a hole.”
Interestingly stupid article:
http://biz.yahoo.com/usnews/090317/17_whats_good_whats_bad_about_the_aig_bailout.html?.&.pf=insurance