Prez Obama talking about AIG bonuses on cable now. Has told

[babylonsister]

Geithner to do whatever necessary to block the bonuses.

[SpiralHawk]

1. "Oh, shit." - Unspoken thoughts of Republicon FatCat 'elites'

"The proles are on to us. Let's just hope our kool-aid besotted Freeper base keeps on guzzling the crap, and screwing themselves by supporting our FAILED Republiconomics. Smirk."

- Republicon FatCat 'elites'

[Bozita]

2. Thanks for the heads-up

[Uzybone]

3. "Im choked up with anger"

for a guy who is accused of always reading from a teleprompter, he can ad-lib like a seasoned stand up comedian.

[babylonsister]

4. That cracked me up! nt

[jenmito]

5. I was just going to comment on that. He said it after he coughed for anyone who

didn't see it.

[jenmito]

6. The stock market seems to like what he's saying. n/t

[ProSense]

7. Obama: AIG can't justify 'outrage' of exec bonuses

Obama: AIG can't justify 'outrage' of exec bonuses

By TOM RAUM, Associated Press Writer Tom Raum, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama declared Monday that insurance giant American International Group is in financial straits because of "recklessness and greed" and said he intends to stop it from paying out millions in executive bonuses.

"It's hard to understand how derivative traders at AIG warranted any bonuses, much less $165 million in extra pay," Obama said at the outset of an appearance to announce help for small businesses hurt by the deep recession.

"How do they justify this outrage to the taxpayers who are keeping the company afloat," the president said.

Obama spoke out in the wake of reports that surfaced over the weekend saying that financially strapped American International Group Inc. was paying substantial bonuses to executives.

Noting that AIG has "received substantial sums" of federal aid from the federal government, Obama said he has asked Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner "to use that leverage and pursue every legal avenue to block these bonuses and make the American taxpayers whole."

Said Obama: "All across the country, there are people who work hard and meet their responsibilities every day, without the benefit of government bailouts or multimillion-dollar bonuses. And all they ask is that everyone, from Main Street to Wall Street to Washington, play by the same rules."

more

[jenmito]

8. I like how he's explaining how the loans work.

[babylonsister]

10. And there's going to be oversight, finally. nt

[jenmito]

11. Yes! How refreshing!

[flpoljunkie]

9. It's a start to what needs to be done with AIG.

From Robert Reich: Paul Volcker to Barack Obama

Oh, and by the way, Mr. President. You may not want to hear this, but your Treasury Secretary is making things worse. His dithering on what to do about Wall Street, and his incapacity to speak clearly to the Street and to the public about what needs to be done, is spooking everyone. Why doesn't he just put the irrevocably insolvent banks into receivership under the FDIC, sell off their assets, protect depositors, and reimburse taxpayers with whatever remains? Let the rest of the banks fend for themselves -- working out their bad loans with their creditors. As to AIG, well, that's a complete basketcase. Put it out of its suffering. Take it over, sell its assets, protect policy holders (you'll need to create a big co-insurance plan with every other major insurer in the world), then get out.

http://robertreich.blogspot.com/2009/03/former-fed-chair-paul-volcker-is.html

[Life Long Dem]

12. Media is avoiding the SBA message?

[babylonsister]

13. Per Shuster, they're waiting for the 'experts' to weigh in. nt

[TahitiNut]

14. Translation: They're awaiting instructions from their corporate bosses on how to report it.

:puke: