GT400SC
PM for Decals
AIG Bonuses
How do YOU feel about them? Before you make up your mind, consider ALL the facts.
There seems to be an uproar across this country that executives from AIG are receiving HUGE bonuses and it seems inappropriate to most that these execs don't deserve them, especially at taxpayer expense. And I admit, that on the face of it, it looks bad. But don't jump to conclusions.
These bonuses were not designed to reward the execs for performance, they are "retention bonuses". In otherwords, you work for us, promise to stay a certain length of time and you'll get a bonus, regardless of how the company does. These are CONTRACTS, legal and binding and cannot be undone except with the agreement of both parties (AIG and the employee receiving the bonus). Yet the President, Congress and many Americans are acting like they're outraged the execs from a failed company are getting bonuses.
Military people get Re-enlistment bonuses too! If you re-enlist and 3 years later get an Article 15, do you have to pay back the bonus? NO! The bonuses were for retention purposes. Not based on performance.
The ARTIFICIAL whining and complaining about these bonuses by the President and others is all a facade. There is a provision written into the stimulus package to ALLOW BONUSES that were contracturally agreed to on or before Feb 11, 2009. This EXEMPTS AIG and ALLOWS the bonuses. So why are the Democrats and others complaining when it was they who authored the Stimulus Package with a provision to allow the bonuses?
The author of the ammendment to allow the bonuses, Senator Chris Dodd (Democrat) wrote in his ammendment to CAP the amount of these bonuses and claims to never have introduced the portion allowing the Feb 11, 2009 deadline for bonuses saying it wasn't part of his original ammendment and he doesn't know WHO put that part in. RIGHT!
Dodd was the recipient of the single largest campaign donation from AIG in 2008 and that was for $103,000+ (Obama was 2nd for $101,000). Seems Dodd was repaying back his buddies at AIG for the huge donations, ya think?
Remember, Republicans weren't allowed to take part in writing the Stimulus Package and it was RUSHED through without time to read it. Remember all those Republicans who were on TV saying "We need to read this before we sign it". Maybe SOMEONE should have read it first, right?
So, the Democrats OWN this scandal all to themselves and can't blame the Republicans at all for this one. The threats by Senators and Congressmen to TAX the execs 100% to recoupe the bonuses won't work either since the constitution prohibits Ex Post Facto laws. You can't change the speed limit on a street from 35mph down to 25 mph and then go write tickets to people who drove 35 LAST WEEK when it was legal then.
Executives who were rewarded with retention bonuses could sue the pants off the government for interfering with legitimate legal contracts and THAT would cost MUCH more than the original bonuses in the first place. But all this feigning and crying about it when it was they who allowed it is hypocrisy at it's best!!
If this was the standard to be followed, then all the senators shouldn't vote themselves pay raises and then LIE to the American public!
Do the executives have a MORAL obligation to not take the bonuses? Sure.
But is there a LEGAL reason to take it from them? No.
If the government were to negate or nullify the contracts AIG wrote for those employees, then it sets a presidence for future contracts of all kinds. It would render them useless. And that, my fellow Stangers is called Socialism!
The idiot, Senator Chris Dodd
How do YOU feel about them? Before you make up your mind, consider ALL the facts.
There seems to be an uproar across this country that executives from AIG are receiving HUGE bonuses and it seems inappropriate to most that these execs don't deserve them, especially at taxpayer expense. And I admit, that on the face of it, it looks bad. But don't jump to conclusions.
These bonuses were not designed to reward the execs for performance, they are "retention bonuses". In otherwords, you work for us, promise to stay a certain length of time and you'll get a bonus, regardless of how the company does. These are CONTRACTS, legal and binding and cannot be undone except with the agreement of both parties (AIG and the employee receiving the bonus). Yet the President, Congress and many Americans are acting like they're outraged the execs from a failed company are getting bonuses.
Military people get Re-enlistment bonuses too! If you re-enlist and 3 years later get an Article 15, do you have to pay back the bonus? NO! The bonuses were for retention purposes. Not based on performance.
The ARTIFICIAL whining and complaining about these bonuses by the President and others is all a facade. There is a provision written into the stimulus package to ALLOW BONUSES that were contracturally agreed to on or before Feb 11, 2009. This EXEMPTS AIG and ALLOWS the bonuses. So why are the Democrats and others complaining when it was they who authored the Stimulus Package with a provision to allow the bonuses?
The author of the ammendment to allow the bonuses, Senator Chris Dodd (Democrat) wrote in his ammendment to CAP the amount of these bonuses and claims to never have introduced the portion allowing the Feb 11, 2009 deadline for bonuses saying it wasn't part of his original ammendment and he doesn't know WHO put that part in. RIGHT!
Dodd was the recipient of the single largest campaign donation from AIG in 2008 and that was for $103,000+ (Obama was 2nd for $101,000). Seems Dodd was repaying back his buddies at AIG for the huge donations, ya think?
Remember, Republicans weren't allowed to take part in writing the Stimulus Package and it was RUSHED through without time to read it. Remember all those Republicans who were on TV saying "We need to read this before we sign it". Maybe SOMEONE should have read it first, right?
So, the Democrats OWN this scandal all to themselves and can't blame the Republicans at all for this one. The threats by Senators and Congressmen to TAX the execs 100% to recoupe the bonuses won't work either since the constitution prohibits Ex Post Facto laws. You can't change the speed limit on a street from 35mph down to 25 mph and then go write tickets to people who drove 35 LAST WEEK when it was legal then.
Executives who were rewarded with retention bonuses could sue the pants off the government for interfering with legitimate legal contracts and THAT would cost MUCH more than the original bonuses in the first place. But all this feigning and crying about it when it was they who allowed it is hypocrisy at it's best!!
If this was the standard to be followed, then all the senators shouldn't vote themselves pay raises and then LIE to the American public!
Do the executives have a MORAL obligation to not take the bonuses? Sure.
But is there a LEGAL reason to take it from them? No.
If the government were to negate or nullify the contracts AIG wrote for those employees, then it sets a presidence for future contracts of all kinds. It would render them useless. And that, my fellow Stangers is called Socialism!
The idiot, Senator Chris Dodd
