AIA Group are BANDITS

[taksinloong]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20...5bl9tb3N0X3BvcHVsYXIEc2xrA2FpZ3NoaXBzYmlsbA--

AIG ships billions in bailout abroad


Eamon Javers Eamon Javers – Sun Mar 15, 8:40 pm ET
Featured Topics:

Billions of American taxpayer dollars used to bailout insurance giant AIG are flowing to some of the largest foreign banks in the world, according to new documents released by beleaguered company Sunday.

The revelation seemed sure to cause political complications for President Barack Obama and his economic team, already on the defensive Sunday over why they couldn’t stop AIG from doling out $165 million in bonuses to some of its top corporate officials – even as the company was receiving a massive infusion of taxpayer funds.

The documents AIG released account for some of the more than $180 billion in aid that AIG has received, and they detailed for the first time which financial firms are benefitting from the federal handout.
In all, AIG disclosed payments of $105.3 billion between September and December 2008. And some of the biggest recipients were European banks. Societe Generale, based in France, was the top foreign recipient at $11.9 billion, Deutsche Bank of Germany got $11.8 billion and Barclays, based in England, was paid $8.5 billion.

Here in the U.S. , Goldman Sachs received $12.9 billion. Edward Liddy, the government-installed CEO of AIG, sat on the board of directors of Goldman Sachs until he joined AIG.

He took the position while President Bush's Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson—who until joining the administration had served as Goldman's Chairman and CEO—arranged the insurance company's initial government bailout.

The disclosure of US taxpayer money going to foreign banks rankled some analysts. “These revelations raise serious questions about the extent to which U.S. taxpayers are being asked to bail out foreign banks,” said James Rickards, the Senior Managing Director for Market Intelligence at Omnis, an applied research organization. “Why were French and German authorities not asked to pick up the tab for their portion of potential AIG losses?”

Political pressure is also building on AIG, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday called on AIG executives to “renounce” their bonuses and refuse retention pay, and said that House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank would “examine options that are legally available to recover taxpayer funds of companies that abuse the privilege of taxpayer assistance.”

The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises has called on Liddy to testify before the committee on Wednesday.

That’s information that members of Congress and media outlets have been trying to get either AIG or the federal government to divulge since last year. The U.S. government now holds a majority stake in the bank,

AIG has resisted disclosure of the so-called "counterparties" who were at the other end of the firm’s complicated financial transactions. The company argued that such information was proprietary and private. And the Bush and Obama administrations also declined to divulge the information. But some in Congress pushed hard for it, insisting that taxpayers had a right to know which companies were benefiting from bailout money.

"Our decision to disclose these transactions was made following conversations with the counterparties and the recognition of the extraordinary nature of these transactions," said Liddy.

Additional reporting by Lisa Lerer.

 

[taksinloong]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090316/ap_on_go_pr_wh/aig_outrage



AP
Obama will try to block executive bonuses at AIG



By TOM RAUM, Associated Press Writer Tom Raum, Associated Press Writer – 46 mins ago


Obama: AIG can't justify 'outrage' of bonuses Play Video AP – Obama: AIG can't justify 'outrage' of bonuses
President Barack Obama gestures while delivering remarks to small business AP – President Barack Obama gestures while delivering remarks to small business owners, community lenders …

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."

"This isn't just a matter of dollars and cents," he added. "It's about our fundamental values."

The $165 million was payable to executives by Sunday and was part of a larger total payout reportedly valued at $450 million. The company has benefited from more than $170 billion in a federal rescue.

AIG reported this month that it had lost $61.7 billion for the fourth quarter of last year, the largest corporate loss in history. The bulk of the payments at issue cover AIG Financial Products, the unit of the company that sold credit default swaps, the risky contracts that caused massive losses for the insurer.

Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, earlier Monday charged that the move to pay bonuses amounted to "rewarding incompetence."

"These people may have a right to their bonuses. They don't have a right to their jobs forever," said Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat.

Frank noted that the Federal Reserve Board, using a Depression-era statute, was the institution that gave AIG its initial government bailout, before Congress passed legislation providing for additional assistance and said that not enough safeguards were built into the deal.

It also was revealed over the weekend that American International Group Inc. used more than $90 billion in federal aid to pay out foreign and domestic banks, some of whom had received their own multibillion-dollar U.S. government bailouts.

Some of the biggest recipients of the AIG money were Goldman Sachs at $12.9 billion, and three European banks — France's Societe Generale at $11.9 billion, Germany's Deutsche Bank at $11.8 billion, and Britain's Barclays PLC at $8.5 billion. Merrill Lynch, which also is undergoing federal scrutiny of its bonus plans, received $6.8 billion as of Dec. 31.

The money went to banks to cover their losses on complex mortgage investments, as well as for collateral needed for other transactions.

"We ought to explore everything that we can through the government to make sure that this money is not wasted," said Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala. "These people brought this on themselves. Now you're rewarding failure. A lot of these people should be fired, not awarded bonuses. This is horrible. It's outrageous."

Frank said he was disgusted, asserting that "these bonuses are going to people who screwed this thing up enormously."

"Maybe it's time to fire some people," he said. "We can't keep them from getting bonuses but we can keep them from having their jobs. ... In high school, they wouldn't have gotten retention (bonuses), they would have gotten detention."

AIG has agreed to Obama administration requests to restrain future payments. Geithner had pressed the president's case with AIG's chairman, Edward Liddy, last week.

"He stepped in and berated them, got them to reduce the bonuses following every legal means he has to do this," said Austan Goolsbee, staff director of President Barack Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory Board.

Obama did note in his remarks Monday that Liddy "came on board after the contracts that led to these bonuses were agreed to last year."

In an interview that aired Sunday on CBS' "60 Minutes," Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke did not address the bonuses but expressed his frustration with the AIG intervention.

"It makes me angry. I slammed the phone more than a few times on discussing AIG," Bernanke said. "It's — it's just absolutely — I understand why the American people are angry."

In a letter to Geithner dated Saturday, Liddy said outside lawyers had informed the company that AIG had contractual obligations to make the bonus payments and could face lawsuits if it did not do so.

Frank appeared on NBC's "Today" show and Shelby was interviewed on ABC's "Good Morning America."

 

[shelltox]

Let them sink let them sink and shout "mayday, mayday mayday:

 

[PRC_ft]

IT Is SILLY of Obama to feed these bastards with MONEY by BILLIONS. Very naive very childish.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090317/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_aig


Obama berates AIG and vows to try to block bonuses



WASHINGTON – Joining a wave of public anger, President Barack Obama blistered insurance giant AIG for "recklessness and greed" Monday and pledged to try to block it from handing its executives $165 million in bonuses after taking billions in federal bailout money. "How do they justify this outrage to the taxpayers who are keeping the company afloat?" Obama asked. "This isn't just a matter of dollars and cents. It's about our fundamental values."

Obama aggressively joined other officials in criticizing American International Group, the company that is fast becoming the poster boy for Americans' bailout blues.

The bonuses could contribute to a backlash against Washington that would make it tougher for Obama to ask Congress for more bailout help — and jeopardize other parts of the recovery agenda that is dominating the start of his presidency. Thus, the president and his top aides were working hard to distance themselves from the insurer's conduct, to contain possible political damage and to try to bolster public confidence in his administration's handling of the broader economic rescue effort.

Obama had scheduled a speech Monday to announce new help for recession-pounded small businesses. But first, he said, he had a few words to say about AIG. He lost his voice at one point and ad-libbed, "Excuse me, I'm choked up with anger here." It was just a light aside, but he meant the sternness of his remarks to come through.

"This is a corporation that finds itself in financial distress due to recklessness and greed," Obama declared.

He said he had directed Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to "pursue every legal avenue to block these bonuses and make the American taxpayer whole."

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.

Gibbs said the tough talk from Obama and other administration officials was aimed in part at pressuring bonus recipients to turn them down. Anyone accepting the money should "think long and hard" about whether keeping it was appropriate "given the performance of the company," he said.

On a separate track, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Monday he would issue subpoenas for information on the bonuses after AIG missed his deadline for providing details. Cuomo said his office would investigate whether the employees were involved in AIG's near-collapse and whether the $165 million in bonus payments were fraudulent under state law.

AIG spokeswoman Christina Pretto told The Associated Press, "We are in contact with the attorney general and will of course respond to his request."

One reason that the AIG bonus giveaway is such a compelling story — and a politically troubling one for Obama if not neutralized — is that it offers a simple story line that appears to sum up ways in which the federal bailouts have gone awry.

"This is just the kind of issue that galvanizes public outrage," said Paul C. Light, professor of public service at New York University. "It's always the tangible stuff, the things that ordinary Americans can relate to. They don't know the first thing about credit default swaps. But they do know about bonuses. And it's just the sort of thing that will undermine any future bailout activity."

Bailout steps for AIG totaling over $170 billion since September have effectively left the federal government with an 80 percent stake in the faltering insurance giant.

Obama's comments came on the same day a new poll showed slippage in his approval rating. The poll by the Pew Research Center showed it dropped from 64 percent in February to 59 percent this month amid divisions of opinions over his economic proposals and what the pollsters said was a growing perception that the president is listening more to his party's liberals than to its moderates.

Still, those surveyed generally gave the president favorable marks for doing as much as he can to try to fix the economy, and few blame him for making the economy worse.

Andrew Kohut, Pew's director, said in an interview that people are most angry with banks and companies but there's also "pushback against Washington generally. And, of course, the buck stops with Barack Obama these days."

Obama's sharp words continued an insistent administration drumbeat over the past few days designed to pressure the bonus recipients to forgo them. Thus far, American International Group officials have refused to rescind the payments.

In a letter to Geithner over the weekend, the government-appointed chief executive of AIG, Edward Liddy, said the bonuses were legally binding obligations and the firm's "hands are tied."

Still, pressure was building on that issue — and on the government to rework its AIG bailout to make sure the company repays as much of the $170 billion as possible.

So far, the company has been honoring its contracts with U.S. and foreign banks, paying out more than $90 billion in economic bailout funds to big banks and others. The government agreed to uphold those contracts when it seized control of AIG in September, contending that failure would bring even worse global economic problems.

However, Obama officials made the rounds of Sunday talk shows to denounce the insurer. And even Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke weighed in, saying on CBS' "60 Minutes" that the AIG bailout angered him the most and that he "slammed the phone more than a few times on discussing AIG." Still, he said a collapse of AIG would have wreaked havoc on the global economy.

Obama was planning an appearance later in the week on Jay Leno's NBC talk show, perhaps to add a lighter touch to his efforts to show himself in command of efforts to resuscitate the economy.

The AIG bonuses were revealed over the weekend. It also was disclosed that AIG used $90 billion-plus in federal aid to pay foreign and domestic banks, some of which had received their own multibillion-dollar U.S. government bailouts.

The recipients included Goldman Sachs, at $12.9 billion, and three European banks — France's Societe Generale at $11.9 billion, Germany's Deutsche Bank at $11.8 billion, and Britain's Barclays PLC at $8.5 billion. Merrill Lynch, which also is undergoing federal scrutiny of its bonus plans and which is now part of Bank of America, had received $6.8 billion as of Dec. 31.

The money went to banks to cover their losses on complex mortgage investments, as well as for collateral needed for other transactions.

AIG reported this month that it had lost $61.7 billion for the fourth quarter of last year, the largest corporate loss in history.

Outcries against the company have also come from congressional leaders.

"I call upon the executives at AIG to right the wrong they have done to American taxpayers, who are footing the bill for the most expensive government rescue in history," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Monday.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell called the bonuses "appalling" and said he hoped "the administration gets the message from the taxpayers on this issue."

___

AP White House Correspondent Jennifer Loven and Business Writers Stevenson Jacobs, Ieva M. Augstums and Daniel Wagner contributed to this report.

 

[jw5]

I am beginning to like Obama more and more everyday.
He has a strong sense of right and wrong.

 

[botakboon]

I am beginning to like Obama more and more everyday.
He has a strong sense of right and wrong.

I will just pity him, poor fellow is going to live a short life this way to be in this position.

Bad fucking bastards like LKY lives forever and rule forever, 85 and still going. Obama is going to kill himself getting angry and worried with these troubles that has no solution. If not then some one is going to shoot him dead like JFK & MLK. Chinese said good guys = short life.

 

[popdod]

I am beginning to like Obama more and more everyday.
He has a strong sense of right and wrong.

Being evil & greedy lives longer.
We have good examples here.

:o :( :o

 

[singveld]

that is true, American gov and taxpayer and preventing the collapse of foreign banks.

If AIG go, a lot of banks around the world go. I wonder if this is a good thing or a bad thing for USA. Since they started all these.

 

[annexa]

Obama is showing how inexperienced he is by the day. He should never have given a cent to AIG until they detailed every single fuck cent they will receive from the bailout. How much in the bailout has gone to Manchester United? Is it needed in the situation that AIG is now?

See? Obama is just too inexperienced. LKY is right. This guy is just a flash in the pan.

 

[commoner]

AIG same as Singapore leh,,,,

Town Council lose $$ still pay bonus,,,,, why? no pay bonus, the staff go and join AIG & Lehman or like LKY become Citigroup special adviser,,,,

CDC gave 8 months bonus to their senior staff,,,, AIG gave out $150mil to keep and maintain the brightest and talented (who cause AIG to lose $99bil) people,,,,

What kind of f888 logic the AIG and CDC (PAP) thinking?

 

[cowbehcowbu]

Bros..this is a sign of crumpling down syndrom..all these financial vultures know whatever the gov give to them will not solve the problem..so takes whatever you can before the ship sinks..Merryl did it,,now Aig does it..all will follow..
it is called..TAKE AND RUN ...
shareholder interest..taxpayer interest...who cares..excep tpoor OBAMA...

 

[johnny333]

Obama is showing how inexperienced he is by the day. He should never have given a cent to AIG until they detailed every single fuck cent they will receive from the bailout. How much in the bailout has gone to Manchester United? Is it needed in the situation that AIG is now?

See? Obama is just too inexperienced. LKY is right. This guy is just a flash in the pan.

Bush jr also gave out bailout which AIG used for some lavish retreat What about Royal Bank of Scotland, they are receiving British bailout money & giving themselves bonuses. Even Singapore civil servants want to give themselves a large bonus. Nothiing to do with inexperience but more to do with underestimating the greed that exists.

 

[zhihau]

Billions of American taxpayer dollars used to bailout insurance giant AIG are flowing to some of the largest foreign banks in the world, according to new documents released by beleaguered company Sunday.

shouldn't have bailed these greedy morons out in the first place

 

[Cestbon]

Hope AIG will go bankrupt next one Citi Group
See how our ministers hailing US and suck US toe give comment when taht happen.

 

[Royston46]

Hope AIG will go bankrupt next one Citi Group
See how our ministers hailing US and suck US toe give comment when taht happen.

Same thoughts here!

AIG have already gotten their reputation ruined...

Who else will buy their products?

I am so disgusted at them right now, in a few months time when my AIG car insurance expires, I will change to another car insurance policy sia...

AIG! :oIo:

 

[Cestbon]

Same thoughts here!

AIG have already gotten their reputation ruined...

Who else will buy their products?

I am so disgusted at them right now, in a few months time when my AIG car insurance expires, I will change to another car insurance policy sia...

AIG! :oIo:

AIG name/brand already rotten no matter how much money US gov put in still will go downhill. Who will buy their insurance,retirement fund, investment what ever product AIG going to sold after all the bad new. No one will ever buy then worry no money will be payout if go bankrupt.
They have many cost still need to maintain/overhead eg. loan/salary/maturity of insurance&fund/insurance payout/bill............ With so many cost but not money/investment coming in is waiting to collapse and slowing it down by pumping in more money.
So conclusion is bye bye AIG.

 

[cowbehcowbu]

Bros
The US secretary just announce decision to WINDDOWN. AIG...next will be CITI...FREDDIE MAC..GM..etc...
reasons? CHINA is going to slowly unload US BONDS AND SECURITIES FOR CRUDE OIL AND OTHERS.......
just as I have been saying all this while.....
NEXT ..within a year ,the US 4 is going to tank like TITANIC at the last moment,, tilt up..for a while, then sunk fast and quick...
bros ..GET OUT OF ANY us $ BASED currencies and securities..

 

[denzuko1]

You mean you need job experience before becoming the US president?

Just because Obama do things differently does not mean thathe sucks at his job. The most important thing is that he is willing to bite the bullet and take responsibility, unlike his predeccessor Bush or our home grown LKY.

 

[cowbehcowbu]

OBAMA is great
he just decided to wind down AIG..likely followed by CITI,GM....
THAT IS THE RIGHT WAY..as advocated by economic expert....clean up the house..then start again
CAN A PERSON PROLONGED HIS LIFE IF HE GOT CANCER......???
OBAMA is a real world leader...

 

[HakkaThaileen]

I am beginning to like Obama more and more everyday.
He has a strong sense of right and wrong.

Spot on..!

I told my friends exactly the same thing this morning.