LOL...this is (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/20/business/20aig.html?_r=1) ... words fail me...

Why the hell don't they just demand all of the bailout monies back at this point...this company doesn't deserve to stay in business.

Excellent article from Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone...good and very informative. This company allowed a part of it with about 400 people to write almost 500 billion dollars in insurance policies and they had zero capital to back them, absolutely no capital. LOL...and it was all perfectly legal thanks to our representatives.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v510/fireslayer1672/1-6.jpg

The unmitigated gall. To cheat on taxes then have the nerve to sue those that are keeping you rich. Id not shed a tear to see these folks go away.

I laugh that Obama and his administration made the legislation for hte bail out.. organized AIG's bailout and then are to stupid to read the companies contracts.. the bonus money is meaningless. What is not meaningless is this corporate fascism and using the tax code as a weapon. This country is doomed. Really and truly the USSA.. Just like OBama and his Mentors Frank Marshall Davis and Saul Alinsky always wanted.

did you just call him a fascist and a communist in the same sentence? get the fuck out.

did you just call him a fascist and a communist in the same sentence? get the fuck out.

You really and truly are an ignorant dumbass... Do you have to eat through a straw?

im going to have to send you the medical bill when i recover from the life-threatening laughter you just created by calling me ignorant.

Can the nation (not the government) bring a class action against AIG for being stupid? Wasting time? Personifying the problems with capitalism? Can we just riot, grab the pitchforks and torches, and have us some good mob justice?

How dumb can this get?

If we now own 80% (I believe that was the figure thrown out) of AIG, let's start firing some folks.

If we now own 80% (I believe that was the figure thrown out) of AIG, let's start firing some folks.

Can't we as 80% owners of the company overrule the 20% that is filing suit and just cancel the action?

If we now own 80% (I believe that was the figure thrown out) of AIG, let's start firing some folks.

Firing is too soft a punishment.

If this was Japan, as some senator suggested, seppuku would be in order.

These people do not deserve the ability to steal our precious oxygen, let alone our money.

Firing is too soft a punishment.

If this was Japan, as some senator suggested, seppuku would be in order.

These people do not deserve the ability to steal our precious oxygen, let alone our money.


LOL...Japan? Imagine this in China...


The thing that amazes me is if we were shoring up some other countries economy by lending them money, much like China is to us, we would be threatening to cut them off.

I can't believe that as the majority shareholder in AIG we are not represented in kind on the board. This is where we need a Buffet to step up or even ask someone like him or even him to take the reigns and get this crap straightened out. It seems they have paid out their necessary payments and they have been forced to somewhat capitalize since losing their AAA rating. It's time to take that division cut it off and kill it. Place a 90 to 180 day moratorium on foreclosures and evictions, then fix those high interest ARMs by turning them into very low interest rate mortgages that cap at 6% in five years and let people repair their damages.

Pump the bank money into infrastructure, healthcare, education and new energy technologies.

If all else fails pay the japanese to attack pearl harbor again and well.....


Here is the link to a good article...worth reading (http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/26793903/the_big_takeover)

When you look at stuff like this rampant lying for the sake of indefensible compensation (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&refer=home&sid=am3Q_20T0S44) one wonders just how bad things have to get before anyone in this nation of cowards can remember what a spine is, much less find theirs.

These people should be jailed at minimum, have all their assets confiscated, and every one of the banks should be liquidated (including the Federal Reserve). But instead, we've now got about $2.5 trillion in total socialized investment (~1.7 trillion last year, another 800 billion this year) and are likely heading for the 4-5 trillion that the entire net worth of the institutions are to be handed over to public debt with no guarantee whatsoever of repayment.

There is no one in the history of the world who could ever deserve millions of dollars for pushing imaginary paper debt around, much less almost destroying the world economy in the process. I've often said that we put a price on life every day, and routinely consider capital punishment for murder, and yet people who inflict more effective harm than ten thousand murders are not only unprosecuted, they are considered worthy of more reward money than the average individual in the US (to say nothing of the world) will see in their entire lives.



You hear the word "risk" come up in financial circles a lot ... I'd rather they be considering a real risk of being strung up in public.

I laugh that Obama and his administration made the legislation for hte bail out.. organized AIG's bailout and then are to stupid to read the companies contracts.. the bonus money is meaningless. What is not meaningless is this corporate fascism and using the tax code as a weapon. This country is doomed. Really and truly the USSA.. Just like OBama and his Mentors Frank Marshall Davis and Saul Alinsky always wanted.

at times you make me laugh hard.

Just when I think things can't get any more ridiculous I hear this. Holy cripes =\

Just when I think things can't get any more ridiculous I hear this. Holy cripes =\

sorry in advance for this derail, but you dont think things can get more ridiculous? hahaha...

http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/azelections/articles/2009/03/19/20090319gray0320.html

thats right, a republican state senator sent a hate mail to a special needs child.

sorry in advance for this derail, but you dont think things can get more ridiculous? hahaha...

http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/azelections/articles/2009/03/19/20090319gray0320.html

thats right, a republican state senator sent a hate mail to a special needs child.


Whats the big deal making fun of the retarded like your self is a great time.

Good article by Frank Rich (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/opinion/22rich.html?_r=1)

LOL.

Osg has made more people democrats on this board than anything else I can imagine..

Get that man a megaphone and a radio show

Well in that Republican's defense, President Obama made fun of our nation's handicapped in a much higher profile manner. Was much more disappointing.

Obama corporate coup to seaze all power in America will not succeed. Americans will never bow to is Marxist Utopian ideals. IF you do not believe that is whats happening then you are just as complicit as he is. LONG LIVE THE REVOLUTION! It's on it's way!

Obama corporate coup to seaze all power in America will not succeed. Americans will never bow to is Marxist Utopian ideals. IF you do not believe that is whats happening then you are just as complicit as he is. LONG LIVE THE REVOLUTION! It's on it's way!

when are you going to ban this obvious troll?

Obama corporate coup to seaze all power in America will not succeed. Americans will never bow to is Marxist Utopian ideals. IF you do not believe that is whats happening then you are just as complicit as he is. LONG LIVE THE REVOLUTION! It's on it's way!

LOL it will be the homeless vs the rich! nice war!

Obama corporate coup to seaze all power in America will not succeed. Americans will never bow to is Marxist Utopian ideals. IF you do not believe that is whats happening then you are just as complicit as he is. LONG LIVE THE REVOLUTION! It's on it's way!


Actually Osg, it is the opposite. The coup was the corporate takeover of our government...you see....we are giving the corporations money...they aren't giving it to us...we are keeping them alive and happy as bank robbers in a safe full of cash...so...once again as a member of the perpetually duped, you are always certain yet often wrong and very very misinformed.

If you get a chance watch the interview of Elliot Spitzer on CNN with Fareed Zakaria. You'll come to the realization that Spitzer, although guilty of banging a hooker, was set up by wall street banks. That guy had their number years ago and had already successfully prosecuted AIG execs along with Execs from other firms for exactly what we are paying for now. Your whole Obama is taking over corporate america is just showing how much of a victim you are of the disinformation campaign which I might add is very common in a coup.

So Osg.

Obama ISNT a socialist/communist now? Wtf? Yesterday was a Red, today he is a Fascist, tomorrow Im gonna guess that he will be an Anarchist.

I mean, you do understand that Marxism calls for the seizing of the means of the production from the owners, right? Not the working in conjunction with them to make more profit. Im unsure how someone with "Marxist Utopian Ideals" can be working in conjunction with a corporate coup. Thats some major ideological yoga.

Pro Tip: You dingbats are shifting attacks way too much. Politics via schizophrenia.
If you want to do damage, find a theme and stick to it. Bush Lied, Nixon is a Crook, Clinton is a Disgrace, Carter is weak. Gotta find that theme and hammer it home.
The way you move around makes you seem desperate. It strips the honesty out of the attack, confuses the message, disorients the audience and makes you seem like pretty much of a joke. Not you, you are a confirmed joke, I was speaking of your party.

The best is the Tea Bag revolution, a gross misinterpretation of the Boston Tea Party.

This is great...look how smart they are...these patriots...

A Tea Baggers website suggests sending a photo of a tea bag to your representative...

http://www.bobcesca.com/images/tea_bag_fail_catdog_here.jpg

So when you click the link to the Google image search you get...

http://www.bobcesca.com/images/tea_bag_fail_catdog.jpg


Why does google hate the tea bag revolution?

Well in that Republican's defense, President Obama made fun of our nation's handicapped in a much higher profile manner. Was much more disappointing.

Actually, Obama being old enough to have grown up while "Political Correctness" was not yet the code of conduct, I am sure he meant absolutely nothing derogatory by his statement; that was not an out of the ordinary comment for someone showing poor performance in a sport, back in the day. He simply got too relaxed.

I cringed as soon as I heard it, knowing this was going to be the result. All the PC's wringing their hands and making more of the comment than it deserves. He was not making fun of anyone, other than himself. I do not doubt that there might be more than a few Special Olympic bowlers that heard the comment and thought "I bet I can beat him", rather than feeling slighted. The noise being generated about the comment is more demeaning of the SO folks than his comment, by a long shot, IMO.

haha.

They actually had a chance of making it a powerful grassroots thing, but the people trying to get it rolling turned into a cheap political stunt.

Lord, bless me with stupid adversaries.

Actually, Obama being old enough to have grown up while "Political Correctness" was not yet the code of conduct, I am sure he meant absolutely nothing derogatory by his statement; that was not an out of the ordinary comment for someone showing poor performance in a sport, back in the day. He simply got too relaxed.

I cringed as soon as I heard it, knowing this was going to be the result. All the PC's wringing their hands and making more of the comment than it deserves. He was not making fun of anyone, other than himself. I do not doubt that there might be more than a few Special Olympic bowlers that heard the comment and thought "I bet I can beat him", rather than feeling slighted. The noise being generated about the comment is more demeaning of the SO folks than his comment, by a long shot, IMO.

I am going to have to disagree with you. To equate performing poorly in a sport to competing in the Special Olympics (where athletes with disabilities perform in sports better than you or I could without disabilities) is a lot worse than people pointing out what a boneheaded move that was. That'd be like him calling something "gay" or calling his opponents "fags" (which thank god he's smart enough not to do). I'm as big an Obama fan as anyone and I'm sure it was a dumb mistake and not that he thinks down on the handicapped, but with my background that certainly stuck a cord with me (volunteered at the Special Olympics a dozen times, done quite a few probono videos for a local organization that provides work and housing for the disabled, and my mom used to be director of special education for Philadelphia school district)

a serious question...is bowling seriously part of the paralympics? what the fuck, man, bowling?

a serious question...is bowling seriously part of the paralympics? what the fuck, man, bowling?

I know of a few SO participants in the St Croix Valley area who are also bowlers. They used to have a league for folks with 'challenges'. Not sure if it is still active.

Dear Wiggo:

I think you might be confusing the Special Olympics (for moderately to severely mentally disabled participants) with the Paralympics, which is for elite athletes with physical impairments. Bowling was not part of the Beijing Paralympics, although Boccia was, and it's rather popular, as it's a sport that can be done by folks at most levels of impairment (and while we may not think of bowling as much of a sport, there's a professional bowlers' circuit here in the US and the top guys do pretty darned well - not on golf or Nascar money levels, but respectable nonetheless). The Paralympics do include many of the traditional Olympic events (Track and Field, swimming, archery, weightlifting etc) as well as basketball, rugby (yes, even quad rugby, which there was a film made about a few years ago), and several other team sports such as seated Volleyball.

My sometime partner Faervas, when he wasn't so old and fat ;), played wheelchair basketball for the University of Texas - Arlington team (which has won numerous national championships) and during that time participated in a study of able-bodied and disabled athletes conducted by the UT Health Sciences Center at Dallas. That study found that the cardiovascular and metabolic efficiency of paraplegic athletes was comparable to that of able-bodied ones, and that the loss in metabolic efficiency in the denervated muscles was made up by the enervated ones, which showed increased myoglobin levels and energy output. These guys are for real and they view themselves as elite as any other athletes - and as visibility and acceptance of the disabled as fully participating members of society continues to rise, the caliber of athletes should continue to, as well.

I do agree with you that bowling is kind of a 'meh' sport that requires limited levels of what we might call athleticism, but then again consider that *Curling* is an Olympic sport... ;)

Regards,
Nydia

I spit up a mouthful of beer on that "curling" comment, Nydia, heh.....:p

No making fun of bowling now, until you can average over 200 you really don't know the technical aspects of that sport ;P

Plus I'm no longer allowed to play , Doc forbade me after my spinal injury ;(

I miss it.....

No making fun of bowling now, until you can average over 200 you really don't know the technical aspects of that sport ;P

Plus I'm no longer allowed to play , Doc forbade me after my spinal injury ;(

I miss it.....

Back in the mid 80's and early 90's when I bowled up to four nights a week, I was always looking at the new technology in bowling balls, and having fun with it. When the Dual-block came out (I think it was an Ebonite product) I got one right away, and was amazed at the severity with which you could make that ball turn.

Truth: one night during league ( a fun one where we used to consume mass quantities of beer) I left a 3-10 baby split, and using the Dual-block I had too much fingers in it, and it broke right between the two pins, touching neither; the bowling alley owner was there and saw it, and bet me a round of drinks I could not do it again. He lost, but I never was able to do it again later. I attribute it to the alcohol....:p

So yeah, bowling is a legit sport, to some of us, as well as the Professional circuit.

My best game ever came the week before I left for Desert Storm. Rolled a 244...first 7 strikes I lit it up. Yes I was drinking , it was the league norm after all. Picked up my Hammer at the start of the 8th and realized the alley had gotten totally quiet.

Turned around and the entire league was standing there waiting for me to roll. Needless to say I threw the 7-10 split ;(

Used to crank with a finger tip drilled Blue Hammer ( 16 lbs ). Rolled in 3 leagues a week and loved it. When I came home there was never time to get back into it...

Now I can't, bah.

I also bowled until I had no business doing it anymore - balancing the (10 lb) ball on the flat of my hand when I could no longer put that stress on my fingers or on my wrist after it was fused. I was never very good, but it was a good time and I'd creep up in the standings after my leaguemates' Beer Handicap (tm) started to factor in... ;)

I also bowled until I had no business doing it anymore - balancing the (10 lb) ball on the flat of my hand when I could no longer put that stress on my fingers or on my wrist after it was fused. I was never very good, but it was a good time and I'd creep up in the standings after my leaguemates' Beer Handicap (tm) started to factor in... ;)

$$

Should've spiked their drinks early on to help that handicap!!

I am completely terrible at bowling unless it's on the Wii.

The Wii makes all things fun!!

My godson's have a Wii and their Dad was speaking of getting them Mario Cart and I imagine that'll be fun as well.

The Wii fit will keep you in shape. And the boxing game will make you break a sweat. If not, you aren't doing it right.

Hey Fild, remember our lunches at the Bowling Alley on post? :D

Yes, Red Wizard!
Now during lunch I play Magic the Gathering with another geeky guy; he's not quite as fun or interesting as you but he suits ;)

Just thought I'd post the following here (since it's technically an AIG thread ;) ) because it's absolutely hilarious in a 'panicking rats deserting the sinking ship' kind of way:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7964250.stm

Go ahead and try to follow the bouncing 'logic' ball :)

First, our hero publicly criticises the CEO of AIG for paying the bonuses, then decides he's going to quit in a huff because 'he can't be separated from his family for all those long hours' without his cha-ching.

Then, he says he wasn't planning to *keep* any of that money anyway but was going to donate it to charity...

Watching these guys piss their pants as the noose of scrutiny tightens around them is a small bright spot in this whole gigantic public boondoggle and rape crisis management...

Regards,
Nydia

The BBC jumbled that letter up pretty badly. I'd suggest the original, instead of their ADD version:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/25/opinion/25desantis.html

Thanks, I'd looked on CNN after trying to parse that and couldn't find any report of it...

It's helpful to keep in mind that DeSantis worked in commodities trading at AIGFP, not CDS instruments. What he's saying about working on things not responsible for the crash is most likely true.

Oh, and my biggest pet peeve about this whole thing:

Bonus payments totalling $165m caused anger in the US after the government bailed out the insurer to the tune of $170bn.

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/1000_times.png

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123793914378932263.html

As AIG chief Ed Liddy explained on the Hill last week, the people receiving retention bonuses were not the same people who launched AIG's unhedged housing bets that brought the company down. Those people were gone. Their pay is already being clawed back.

Those who remained had been asked a year ago to stay and work themselves out of a job. In accepting the terms offered to them, they committed no offense (say, failing to pay taxes). Their only crime was possessing marketable knowledge -- all the more marketable because of the opportunity for hedge funds and other counterparties to profit from AIG's distress. Had the company submitted to Chapter 11 rather than a government takeover, a bankruptcy judge might well have authorized identical incentives to minimize losses and maximize recovery for legitimate stakeholders.

You know, after reading all that and his letter in its entirety, I'm oddly reminded of The Crucible's 'poor' John Proctor, wailing about his good name in the face of the spiraling insanity of the witch hunt before him, having spoken up too late due to his unwise involvement with the seductive, crazy young Abigail. Perhaps he truly means well, but I don't know that many will buy his protestations of (his and his compatriots') innocence at this juncture... ;)

Regards,
Nydia

It's helpful to keep in mind that DeSantis worked in commodities trading at AIGFP, not CDS instruments. What he's saying about working on things not responsible for the crash is most likely true.

Oh, and my biggest pet peeve about this whole thing:



http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/1000_times.png

Apparently Kucinich gave a press conference the day of the AIG hearing (which he wasn't invited to because he isn't on that committee) about this very same thing. He said pretty much that the bulk of that money went into overseas investments outside of the US economy, and the issue over the bonuses was probably just a distraction.

The issue over the bonuses is ridiculous, clearly an intentional distraction. The bonuses were clearly not for those who actually thought up this retarded CDO/CDS crap...those guys should be jailed.

Sanchek said the "Coup" took place years ago, he is probably right...it was just that the killing blow was delivered now.

I don't really care.

They work for a failed company. Our money is going to make sure they can meet and pay their obligations to parties they have insured. For all I care they can dismantle the company and sell off the pieces once its been quarantined.

If AIG has money to pay these huge bonus'... then great, go for it. If not.. TFB.