AIG likely won’t be able to pay taxpayers back

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Source: MSNBC

Pressure is mounting on the government to revise its bailout of AIG to ensure that taxpayers are repaid as much as possible of the $170 billion lent to the troubled insurer.

Experts warn we shouldn't expect to get much back.

The problem stems from AIG's obligations to its trading partners. So far, the hobbled insurance giant has honored in full its contracts with U.S. and foreign banks. It's paid out more than $90 billion in taxpayer money to keep some of the biggest names in finance from losing money on bad bets linked to subprime mortgages and other risky assets.

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.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29728732/

[bemildred]

1. AIG is a bankrupt, busted Ponzi scheme.

And the sooner that FACT is dealt with, the better the result will be.

[marshall]

36. The sad thing is they've also duped the government in their scheme

This isn't like a nominee who can withdraw when he or she is discovered to have years of back taxes owing. Once the money is given to these people that's it, end of story, they laugh all the way to the bank.

All we can hope is that greater oversight is utilized in future bailouts.

[ShockediSay]

2. Fire those bonus babies !

Any corporate commercial attorney worth his or her salt, could litigate a successful outcome to the bonus mess.

[Mz Pip]

3. Bonuses must already be

in Swiss Bank accounts already.

Bonuses? What bonuses?

[olddad56]

11. those bonuses are illegal golden parachutes..

This baby is going down.

[neuvocat]

4. Doesn't the government own more of AIG then?

[natrat]

5. yea but apparently the government is utterly corrupt

[No Elephants]

29. And the advantage of owning AIG is?

[Double T]

6. Should have let AIG crash and burn.

Instead, the American people will crash and burn for generations. Why the hell should the American taxpayer bailout the corruption, malfeasance and greed of the rich?

[Lost in CT]

7. In other news sun to rise tommorow...

[MannyGoldstein]

8. Deutsche Bank And Goldman Are Laughing So Hard They Wet Their Pants

$3,000-a-pair pants, and $700 silk boxers.

Being Middle Class and having a non-predatory job is for suckers!

[lonestarnot]

9. Congresswoman from New York introduced bill to tax bonuses @ 100%

:evilgrin:

[DKRC]

14. + 36% interest for fees & carrying charges

I hope

:evilgrin:

[No Elephants]

30. Somehow that does not seem Constitutional. More showboating from

legislators. They should have been more careful when they voted for the bailouts. Instead, they are trying to redeem themselves now by bloviating and grandstanding.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

10. Color me surprised- NOT.

That money is all long gone. The citizens of this nation won't recoup as much as a plugged nickel of it.

Duh... :shrug: :cry:

[Old Michigander]

12. Can't Take It With Them

These folks will have to leave most of their loot at the station when they are put on the train to go to the camp.

[Solly Mack]

13. Timeline: AIG developments since bad bets forced U.S. rescue

Timeline

September 16, 2008 - AIG avoids bankruptcy thanks to an $85 billion United States rescue that gives the government a 79.9 percent stake in the insurer.

March 2 - Treasury and Fed announce a third new aid plan for AIG, putting $30 billion more at its disposal, and easing terms and conditions to give the insurer a billion-dollar-a-year break on interest and dividend payments.

-- AIG says the revised bailout preserves capital, thereby increasing the likelihood it can repay the government debt and revise itself into a smaller company with better long-term prospects.

-- AIG reports a $61.7 billion fourth-quarter loss, the largest quarterly loss in corporate history


March 14 - According to documents obtained by Reuters, AIG's financial products unit is obligated to pay $220 million in employee retention payments for 2008, $55 million of which were paid in December and $165 million required to be paid by March 15. AIG Chairman Edward Liddy says in a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner that the company will sharply cut remaining 2009 salaries for top executives of the unit and realign 2008 bonuses to tie them to restructuring and repayment targets. Chief White House economic advisor Lawrence Summers later calls the bonuses "outrageous," but says Geithner had done all that was legally permissible to limit the payments.

March 15 - AIG discloses that several U.S. and European banks were beneficiaries of the taxpayer bailout of the insurer and said that more than $90 billion had been paid to various banks between the September bailout and the end of the year. The banks that received funds include Goldman Sachs, Societe Generale, Deutsche Bank, Barclays, Merrill Lynch and Bank of America."


Just in case anyone needs one

[geomon666]

15. Jesus Christ! Merrill Lynch and Bank of America?

Didn't we just "lend" these pukes millions of dollars so that sucky ass Bank of America could buy that turd Merrill Lynch? So we're essentially paying the same bank twice. You motherfuckers.

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Triana]

16. Pfft. Well there's a huge friggin surpise (not). n/t

[w4rma]

17. Agreed. They are taking their bonuses and moving to other nations. Bye. (nt)

[TheWatcher]

18. They never intended to.

Like I have been saying, shut the fucking company down, jail the conspirators and start over.

If the country wants this to Stop, then you have to show these people that excessive consequences that will cost them EVERYTHING await them if they keep doing this shit, and that it will be done with extreme prejudice.

No Mercy. No Quarter. No Kidding.

They can have due process, and then they can surrender everything they've got.

A lot of the people are fed up, and these people think they are above the law, and can do whatever they want to whoever they want, without limits.

We need to put a boot on their necks and say "ENOUGH."

"This Stops Now. This Far. No Farther. And let this serve as an example to any stupid piece of filth that ever wants to try this shit again, that you will lose EVERYTHING, and NO QUARTER will be given."

Fuck AIG.

And Due Process is more than these pieces of shit could ever POSSIBLY deserve.

[DemReadingDU]

24. Until thousands storm the Congress with pitchforks

it's going to be, business as usual.

Congress, Geithner, Summers, et all, will continue to fleece the People of their taxmoney. Unless we stop it!

[Demeter]

19. Benanke And Geithner Finally Figured That Out, Hey?

Well, what the hell, it isn't their money.

[JTFrog]

21. Like another DUer said... Tax those bonuses at 100 or 110%. Pay or go to jail. n/t

[DFW]

22. To hell with their "obligations!"

Declare the whole shebang Chapter 7, take our (taxpayer money) and make whole the American
public victims, and put the execs on a one-way plane to wherever it is that they have these
foreign "obligations," and let them explain what happened. WE did not mess this up. WE should
not have to pay for it. The US government has a few obligations of its own, namely to those
people it represents and elected them in the first place. If AIG has "obligations," these are
not obligations backed with guarantees from the US Federal government. Or are they?

[fasttense]

23. Just another mess left behind by the bush and dick.

Remember folks the initial bailout to AIG was made by Ben Bernanke and the Fed under a forgotten 1932 provision of the Federal Reserve Act in September of last year. Tell me helicopter Ben didn't know about these supposed unbreakable bonus contracts last September? This was all made possible by the bush and dick. Congress never voted on it and the Fed took it upon itself to dole out our tax dollars with the encouragement and support of the bush and dick.

[No Elephants]

32. Congress never voted on what?

[bemildred]

25. Grassley on AIG execs: Quit or suicide

Sen. Charles Grassley is so angry over AIG bonuses that he says the executives should resign or kill themselves.

In a comment aired this afternoon on WMT, an Iowa radio station, Grassley (R-Iowa) said: “The first thing that would make me feel a little bit better towards them if they’d follow the Japanese model and come before the American people and take that deep bow and say I’m sorry, and then either do one of two things — resign, or go commit suicide.”


The radio clip was also aired on WTOP, a news radio station in Washington.

In response to a POLITICO inquiry, Grassley spokeswoman Jill Gerber clarified Grassley’s comments, saying “clearly he was speaking rhetorically – he meant there’s no culture of shame and acceptance of responsibility for driving a company into the dirt in this country. If you asked him whether he really wants AIG executives to commit suicide, he’d say of course not.”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/20083.html

[Nihil]

28. Hmmm ...

> If you asked him whether he really wants AIG executives to
> commit suicide, he’d say of course not.

Really?
Maybe they should ask around a bit more?
:think:

[mbperrin]

35. ME! ME! ME! OOOOH! ASK ME!

And I bet a few million more would like to be asked, too.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

26. Nationalize it and make it the nation's health care provider.

:think:

[chimpymustgo]

27. Good one.

[TCJ70]

31. "AIG likely won’t be able to pay taxpayers back"...who would have guessed? n/t

[JFKfanforever]

33. Nationalize AIG now...

Re-privatize it after it has been chopped up into little bitty
pieces...

[Hassin Bin Sober]

34. Why don't they sell more credit default swaps to cover the bill? Jeeze! It's not rocket science.

Get Bernie Madoff back here to straighten things out.