AIG Employees' Fury On Record Over Bonuses

[Lucky Luciano]

Source: NYT Dealbook

SNIP note there wee issues copying and pasting using an iPhone, so the snipping is suboptimal. Key quotes below though.
    "I think it violates everything I believe in, and it's
un-American," the newspaper cites one as saying.
    The Post has this:
    SNIP
    Another was even more irate, lashing out at the public for
scapegoating AIG employees. "To be honest with you, I really hope
it blows up. I think the U.S. taxpayer deserves to lose a
trillion dollars over this thing for the way they have behaved."
    And then he turned on politicians who had joined the
anti-AIG posse. "They only care about the next election, just
like we only care about the next bonus. Well, none of them cares
about the country, none of us cares about the institution," he
said, adding: "They really don't care, and I really don't care.
And frankly, if a trillion dollars gets lost, fine."

No link yet.

[Romulox]

1. Obama fought tooth and nail to protect those bonuses. Is this thread a misdirection or what?

Unrec. :hi:

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

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

[Romulox]

5. I mean nobody touched those bonuses. That's why this thread is an *attempted* misdirection.

[Lucky Luciano]

10. Not at all. The context of the full unsnipped article suggests

The timing of the statements was from when those bonuses were still in limbo.

[Romulox]

11. Here's the link; you're misrepresenting its contents (quelle surprise!)

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/04/a-i-g-employees-fury-on-record-over-threatened-bonuses/

[dkf]

2. We need to let AIG fail.

We should have never bailed it out.

[mike_c]

3. I feel so terrible for those poor, misunderstood financiers....

Not.

[Romulox]

6. Nobody touched those bonuses; they were paid out at 100% with taxpayer funds.

The OP is a attempt to confuse people, methinks.

[AllentownJake]

9. Amazing how that is going on these days

Sit back and wait for the wailing and gnashing of teeth when the first quarter is over and the banks are still not lending.

[supernova]

7. Am I supposed to pity the poor financiers?

They can bend over and suck large, sweaty donkey balls for all I care.

[Romulox]

8. You're supposed to feel like "they got theirs" when NOBODY TOUCHED THEIR BONUSES

Obama fought hard to kill the bonus tax bill.

[Statistical]

14. Bonus tax is stupid.

Tax income. If you want to tax more raise the bracket. But to say $10 mil in bonus should be taxed higher than $10 mil in salary or $10 mil in royalties (musicians, actors, etc). The tax code is already to complicated and it needs to be simpler not more complex.

Let Bush tax cuts on 2 highest brackets expire.

That means they go from:
33% now to 35%
35% now to 39.6%

Then pass lesilation raise the 35% bracket to 37% and the 39.6% to 41%.
If you want even more make a new higher bracket (39.6% bracket caps out at $347K) for income say above $1.2 million and make that 48%.

Any or all of those things make sense. Making a special tax on bonuses is stupid.

[Romulox]

15. So was the AIG bailout. And we tax different sources of income differently in EVERY circumstance

which makes your objection fall somewhat flat.

[Statistical]

16. Which is part of the problem.

Making the tax code more complex for every "one off" situation only makes the problem worse.

Simply raise the brackets. Steepen the curve. Make income taxes more progressive while raising revenue.

Of course that would require leadership. Bonus tax is a gimmick.

[Romulox]

17. OK, but I doubt we'll be overhauling the entire tax code to get at bonuses that the Obama admin

doesn't want taxed in the first instance. :shrug:

[Romulox]

12. Another link. The OP misrepresents this story, which is about LAST YEAR'S bonuses (paid in full!)

"No link yet" my eye! (NYT link was posted at March 4, 2010, 8:48 am!) :hi:

During the national furor that erupted last year after American International Group paid more than $165 million in bonuses, the voices of those vilified for receiving the payments remained silent, at least in public.

But behind closed doors, employees at AIG's Financial Products division -- the very unit whose trading had hastened the insurance giant's collapse -- were defiant, saying they were merely getting what they were due, recoiling at public accusations that they were behind their capitalizing on the company's massive taxpayer bailout.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/03/AR2010030303764_pf.html?dbk

[hobbit709]

13. The Bourbon and Romanov aristocrats felt they were intitled too.

[Lucky Luciano]

18. Of course it is about last years bonus. I stated above that the context was

From the time that these bonuses were in limbo. When else would those statements have been made?!?!!!

I live how you hate me though - it amuses me.

[Romulox]

19. Um, the OP is there for everyone to see. (Link still not available, eh?)

:rofl:

[Lucky Luciano]

20. I had to email the article to myself from my bloomberg terminal

And then post with my iPhone which does not have an easy way to cut and paste. I had to use the backspace from my first snip to go all the way to the beginning to erase my name and where I work. It is stated that the copy paste was suboptimal. I cannot post from my 4 work computers because it is heavily monitored. I actually appreciate the full article and link being posted by you. No intent to mislead. I thought the context was obvious, but I guess for the less intelligent it is not so obvious.

[Romulox]

21. Iphone has had cut + paste for some time now.

"I thought the context was obvious, but I guess for the less intelligent it is not so obvious."

Um, YOU are the one who can't figure out how to cut + paste on his Iphone. :hi:

http://gizmodo.com/5171796/iphone-30-os-guide-everything-you-need-to-know

[Lucky Luciano]

23. I did cut and paste. Could not scroll up to erase what I wanted.

:eyes:

[asdjrocky]

22. The way they've behaved?

I'd love to get ahold of that pos.