First Draft: Heeeeere’s Barack!
As the AIG ire continues to bubble, President Barack Obama is in southern California, touring an electric vehicle plant, holding a town hall meeting with Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and finally taping an appearance on NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” He’s been on the show before, back when he was campaigning for the White House, and he’s hardly alone. Aspiring presidents from John F. Kennedy to Richard Nixon to Bill Clinton have found late-night TV audiences alluring. But Obama is the first serving president to sit on the “Tonight Show” couch.
It’s expected to be a chance for Obama to push his stimulus and recovery packages, and channel the outrage over taxpayer funding for troubled companies like AIG.
Back in Washington, first lady Michelle Obama celebrates Women’s History Month by touring a school in the city’s Anacostia section and sponsoring events at 11 other schools around the area with other women accustomed to the public eye — singer-songwriters Sheryl Crow and Alicia Keys, gymnastics star Dominique Dawes, actresses Phylicia Rashad, Fran Drescher and Alfre Woodard, Google Vice President Marissa Mayer and Army Gen. Ann Dunwoody, the nation’s first female four-star general.
Photo credits: U.S. President Barack Obama at a town hall meeting in Costa Mesa, California, March 18, 2009. REUTERS/Larry Downing U.S. first lady Michelle Obama reads to children of military personnel at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, March 12, 2009. REUTERS/Ellen Ozier
Washington shocked Wall Streeters took money
Lawmakers were shocked, shocked, shocked that Wall Streeters at insurance firm AIG took bonuses with one hand while grabbing a government handout with the other.
They expressed outrage at a House financial services subcommittee hearing following public outcry that millions of dollars of retention bonuses were given to employees at AIG while the floundering company used billions of dollars of taxpayer money to try to regain its footing.
Rep. Barney Frank wanted names, names, names, of those who took the bonuses, and he posted AIG contracts (without the names) on the Web. Advisory: they’re full of legal-speak, not easily digestible for non-lawyers.
Rep. Gary Ackerman captured the emotion of the event: “Those of us who are laughing are crying,” he said. “There’s a lot of people trying to cover their bare assets.”
AIG chief executive Edward Liddy, who came out of retirement six months ago to take that job (which raises all sorts of other questions such as WHY would someone pick this over tee time?), started out with a line very familiar in Washington: “Mistakes were made.”
But it wasn’t just AIG under fire at the hearing. Protesters at the back of the hearing room held up signs saying “Fire Geithner” referring to the Treasury Secretary who was not there.
can any one believe what we are hearing, barney frank demanding the names of any one who took bonuses at AIG,standing there as brazen as that,can he honestly believe that he has one strand of creditability.it reminds me of a saying that my late father used as a joke,”if you are being chased out of town ,try to give the impression that you are leading the pack”.this seems very much a similar tactical plan that is being employed by our eminent democratic leaders.
First Draft: AIG’s Liddy in the hot seat
The main event in Wednesday’s Washington circus has to be at the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee, where AIG chief executive Edward Liddy is set to testify this morning. The title of the hearing — “America International Group’s (AIG) Impact on the Global Economy: Before, During and After Federal Intervention” — doesn’t quite convey the catcalls and outrage expected. The $165 million in bonuses to AIG execs is the flash point, even though the company could get more than a $170 billion in taxpayer bailout money.
Perhaps seeking to pre-empt the hearing, or at least soften the reception he’ll get, Liddy wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post, letting readers know that “I am mindful of the outrage of the American public and of the president’s call for a more restrained compensation system. I am also mindful that every decision we make at AIG has consequences for the American taxpayer.”
Liddy isn’t the only one who could feel the heat. Scott Polakoff, the acting director of the Office of Thrift Supervision and Joel Ario, representing the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, and Rodney Clark, managing director for insurance ratings at Standard & Poor’s, are all scheduled to testify.
With the big action on Capitol Hill, President Barack Obama is headed out of town. After a morning meeting with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute on immigration reform, the president flies to California.
Beyond the Beltway, lots of early media attention on actress Natasha Richardson, injured in a skiing accident in Canada, and Nadya Suleman, known in tabloid-speak as Octo-Mom, who brought the first of her eight babies home amid a flurry of flashing cameras.
Photo credit: AIG Chief Executive Edward Liddy at Hong Kong business gathering, December 11, 2008. REUTERS/Woody Wu
I do not think these folks have a clue what it is like to be “average” in America. I think we should put them all in a room, AIG, the BANKs, members of Congress. Then show them the NBC good news feature. It is about doing something “GOOD” for others. It is something these fellows with $$$ and power, know nothing about. Without a tax deduction, no big formal party, just for the sake of doing good. Show it over and over and see …… if they can get a clue.
Tell us what you really think Senator Grassley
WASHINGTON – How outraged can they be?
U.S. lawmakers are clearly outraged by the $165 million in bonuses being paid to executives at bailed-out insurer American International Group. For the last two days, they’ve been talking about it in press releases, at news conference and in speeches on the floor of the Senate and House.
But no one says it more colorfully and more bluntly than Republican Senator Chuck Grassley — so far.
“From my standpoint, it’s irresponsible for corporations to give bonuses, at this time, when they are so sucking the tit of the taxpayer,” Grassley said at a news conference on Tuesday.
Grassley, an Iowa farmer, is most likely just channeling what many taxpayers are thinking.
The U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve has put up to $180 billion at AIG’s disposal to keep them afloat and prevent the insurance giant from sinking the global financial system. The company said it had contract obligations to pay out some $165 million in retention bonuses to employees.
Grassley on Monday had some other colorful comments about AIG executives saying they should perhaps adopt what he called the Japanese approach to taking responsibility for their actions and “resign or go commit suicide.”
Since Senator Grassley was chairman of the senate finance committee when this current financial mess started. during the Republican controll of congress, perhaps he should take is own advice, resign or go commit suicide. Over the years I have heard Grassley has made big talk but done little for America.
First Draft: Barack O’Bama’s St. Patrick’s Day
The water in the White House fountain is green today and the presidential schedule is loaded up with Irish agenda items. It’s St. Patrick’s Day, when the U.S. chief executive could be forgiven for spelling his name Barack O’Bama.
He’s set to meet with the Irish Taoiseach (prime minister) Brian Cowen, then attend a Shamrock Ceremony, followed by remarks to the annual St. Patrick’s Day luncheon hosted by the office of the House Speaker on Capitol Hill. The president will also meet with Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness. This evening, there’s a White House St. Patrick’s Day reception.
Irish President Mary McAleese claimed Obama as a son of Ireland, “for sure, for sure,” in an interview on NBC’s “Today” program. “Even if he wasn’t, I think that we would have such faith and hope in him,” she said. “He arrived at a time when the world was in a very ugly mood of great despair. He’s really captured the imagination, particularly of young people, and that’s not easy to do.” McAleese said her son campaigned for Obama.
With a Dublin-like “soft” day in Washington — clouds and occasional rain — there are many who may look to evade the economic gloom. Before his Irish agenda starts, he’ll deliver a statement on the budget. All eyes, not just Irish ones, are looking for a way to stem the outrage against the millions of dollars in “retention” bonuses paid with U.S. taxpayers’ dollars to the troubled insurance giant AIG.
There’s one more Irish name in the news today: Megan McCain, daughter of Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican who vied with Obama for the presidency. Megan McCain, now a blogger at The Daily Beast, got into a tussle with conservative commentator Laura Ingraham, who lampooned the 23-year-old McCain as a “plus-sized” Valley Girl.
“Instead of intellectually debating our ideological differences about the future of the Republican Party, Ingraham resorted to making fun of my age and weight, in the fashion of the mean girls in high school,” Megan McCain wrote. “I responded on Twitter by saying, ‘To all the curvy girls out there, don’t let anyone make you feel bad about your body. I love my curves and you should love yours too.’”
Photo credits: A U.S. soldier celebrates St. Patrick’s Day which in the International Zone in Baghdad March 15, 2009. REUTERS/Saad Shalash Megan McCain, after the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in Washington, April 26, 2008. REUTERS/Mike Theiler
Is there any country Obama does not have a connection with, aoart from America that is?
First Draft: Monday’s blue mood — AIG outrage
It’s on front pages, news shows and all over the Web: outrage at the bailout of AIG, the troubled insurance giant that — so far — has gotten $173 billion in U.S. taxpayer money and has given out $165 million in bonuses to the very executives who brought the company to its knees.
A quick Web search of “AIG outrage” for March 2009 gets 190,000 hits, ranging from Al Jazeera (“Outrage against AIG set to mount”) to USA Today (“AIG bonus outrage plays Treasury officials for saps”). Part of the outrage stems from the Obama team’s contention that there’s nothing they can legally do to stop these bonus payments.
Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat who heads the House Financial Services Committee, came up with a plan in an interview on NBC’s “Today”: AIG’s execs can keep their bonuses but they don’t have to keep their jobs. “These people may have a right to their bonuses but they don’t have a right to their jobs foever,” is how Frank put it.
At the White House, President Barack Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner are set to talk with small business owners about a plan to make it easier for them to borrow money.
Outside the Beltway, the mood turns from outrage to madness — the college basketball kind of madness that comes in March when the NCAA unveils its tournament field. The national championship is April 6 in Detroit.
Photo credits: The American International Group building in New York, March 2, 2009 file photo. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/Files
Duke’s guard Jon Scheyer (R) passes under the basket as Florida State guard Jordan DeMercy defends during men’s NCAA basketball action in Atlanta, Georgia March 15, 2009. REUTERS/Tami Chappell
excuse my lack of knowledge… but, how on earth could someone consider this W.Street lads TOP TALENTED?? if i do wrong on my business and got expelled by the market for that reason, do i get paid by the government…? some 250 years ago, those who were filling for bankruptcy were jailed in the Tower of London.
The First Draft: another day, another $30 billion
It’s not yet 9:00 on a Monday morning, and the federal government has already dumped another $30 billion into the tottering financial system. The money goes to insurer American International Group Inc., which just announced a fourth-quarter loss of $61.7 billion — the largest quarterly loss in corporate history.
For those keeping score at home, U.S. taxpayers have now pumped $180 billion into AIG.
Some good news: consumer spending and incomes rose in January, buoyed by salary increases for government employees.
The government will open two hours later in Washington as commuters cope with up to 10 inches of snow. DC residents awaiting more pooh-poohing from their president, who like many northerners is not impressed with the panic that accompanies snowflakes in Washington.
Obama is expected to name Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as his health secretary today. Sebelius will play a key role in Obama’s efforts to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system, but as the New York Times points out, she didn’t have much luck with that in her home state.
The Senate begins debate on a spending bill that includes a measure that could make it easier to travel to Cuba.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in Egypt for a conference about rebuilding the war-torn Gaza Strip, has said no U.S. funds will go to Hamas, the Islamist group that holds power there.
sebelius will always be a” red rag to a bull”to christian conservatives because of her support for the doctor in her state that was carrying out all the late term abortions nick named” hiller the killer”.he also donated a significant amount to her campaign as well.
Vicki is absolutely right. TC, did you read a newspaper or watch anything other than Fox news during the 8 years of the Bush administration? All the Republicans seem to care about is getting back in power, without any real concern for the average American.