House passes bill taxing AIG and other bonuses

[SteveMcKay]

House passes bill taxing AIG and other bonuses

WASHINGTON – Denouncing a "squandering of the people's money," lawmakers voted decisively Thursday to impose a 90 percent tax on millions of dollars in employee bonuses

Has everyone gone mad? Is anyone else just a little insy winsy worried that the tax code can be manipulated in a few days to "punish" people who had a legal (as a opposed to moral) right to a bonus?

You can't tell me every single bonus recipient did not deserve it. You can not truthfully say there was not one person who figuratively killed themselves and made their numbers and did their upmost. Can you?

This is esp. a concern since it has been revealed that the same idiots who insisted we pass the "stimulus" bill right now without reading it are the same lot that inserted language (or didn't know it was inserted, or whatever this minutes excuse is..) That allowed this bonus? Watching them get all high and mighty about this mess is oh so rich.(Rich? Did you say rich? Punish it!!!)

What makes you think this is the end of such trial, conviction and sentence by legislation? What makes you think you are immune in the future if you tick off "the powers that be"?

This is very, very frightening

[Disinformant]

and the government has now found a way to steal the bonuses of some rich Americans, can't say I care about their well being, but these people were owed the money. This is one of thousands of reasons why bailouts are stupid.
Additionally, I totally called it on this one! Tim Geithner you're next punk, cya!

[Rainbow]

House passes bill taxing AIG and other bonuses

It was a really damn good game.

Re-staging of events : scene 1
Participants :
- BigBoys : politicians
- FatBoys : financial sphere
Score :
- BigBoys wiped FatBoys out (1 : 0)
Prognosis :
- no re-match scheduled
- no appeals scheduled, either

Why Politicians suddenly decided to change their minds and dumped Finance ?
They (read : Politicians) figured out that they have enough power to procede with anything they want to. And that is a real excitement.

Now, Politicians seek additional power to control Finance. It seems to be even much grater match played, ever.
Predictions :
- BigBoys dissolve some Finance departments, limit and/or (heavily) monitor and/or (much carefully) control FatBoys activity.

Let us wait for "scene 2".

[Aussie]

Steve, question: do you think taxpayers should foot the bill for bonuses for a company that has only survived due to taxpayers funding their survival?

I agree it does seem a bit alarming, but less alarming that the actions of AIG and other taxpayer propped up businesses. Sometimes the law screws the rest of us, ie the jobless who were sacked as a result of laws dictating maximum returns for shareholders.

[AcidicNapkin]

I'm sorry to say this,
but I think they deserve it.
These are bonuses ONLY given to employees who are being payed with taxpayer money. Think of it as...reductions, not taxes.

[Scribbler1]

But the very same Congress that is nor pointing their fingers at AIG is the same gand that REMOVED the stipulation that no bonuses (boni?) would be paid with our money.

It's misdirection, exactly like the magicians do it. Congress created the environment that allowed greedy companies to do what they did, and now they're blaming the people who took advantage of what Congress handed them so we don't begin to realize who the actual culprit really is.
And it appears to have worked, judging by the reaction of the public.

[Aussie]

But the very same Congress that is nor pointing their fingers at AIG is the same gand that REMOVED the stipulation that no bonuses (boni?) would be paid with our money.

It's misdirection, exactly like the magicians do it. Congress created the environment that allowed greedy companies to do what they did, and now they're blaming the people who took advantage of what Congress handed them so we don't begin to realize who the actual culprit really is.
And it appears to have worked, judging by the reaction of the public.

Or maybe the government just expected the company to be decent in times of economic turmoil when being bailed out by taxpayers? It could be as simple as that?

[Muckraker]

They are simply correcting an oversight that should have been addressed prior to doling out any bailout cash.

Without a bailout, AIG would have gone bankrupt, bonuses would not have been paid, and employees would have been fired - probably without any sort of severance. In addition, every employee invested in AIG stock or with stock options would have walked away empty handed - very much so considering AIG pretty much went to near zero overnight.

Also, we need to understand the immensity of the actual "bailout." We didn't just throw them some extra cash so they could get by. AIG has a current market cap of roughly $4billion. Before their implosion they had a market cap of $80billion. Our government gave them $180billion. We bought the company 45 times over based on its current value. We bought them almost 2.5 times based on its value before this crisis.

For whatever reason, the government currently only has 80% ownership of AIG.

Regardless, the oversight was that we should have nullified all existing contracts before "taking over." This modification of the tax code is simply to correct that oversight in this highly unusual example. If any precedent is being set it is that the government will do unusual things to accomodate unusual situations, not that they will modify the tax code to suit their needs.

[Morality Games]

I'm highly adverse to populism, so in principle I wish everyone could have been more moderate and lawful, but on the other hand, the fervor caused by this incident has presented the U.S. government with a good opportunity to reform executive pay, which was becoming ridiculous in oh so many ways. The disparity in income between an executive and their employee is naturally supposed to be in the executive's favor, but the leaps and bounds of post-Reagan times (which has caused the annihilation of the middle class's ability to own their own homes, vehicles, and pay for their insurance, groceries, and taxes) have been too much.

[Scribbler1]

Or maybe the government just expected the company to be decent in times of economic turmoil when being bailed out by taxpayers? It could be as simple as that?

Such an expectation, especially from a government who loves to write laws on everything imaginable, is unlikely.

Congress didn't simply fail to notice the coming problem, nor did they expect a certain kind of behavior from the industries. Rules to keep this from happening were ALREADY on the books, and they deliberately took them OUT.

[Disinformant]

go on Scrib

[ironeagle]

Personally I would sooner trust our nation's money in the hands of my eleven year old son or one of his friends before I trust any one in our government with it. Congress made this mess now they are breaking the law to try to fix it out of fear that the American people might throw every one of them in prison, fire them or impeach them. Congress is full of the most idiots I've ever seen in one room and it started with the democrats taking over, and now I honestly doubt it matters wether dem or rep they are all stupid, all corrupt, all liars , cheats, and thieves, and the people are tired of them.