Good Old Neon

As details emerge, Obama

And so it goes... AIG execs got bonuses and left, official says (keep in mind, these have been defended as "retention" bonuses) http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/17/aig...uses/index.html

Well, I mean, I figured, if I could get her to

Did you just call me a Cuomo, JUDE?

In a word, yes. The alternative, is that all the worlds politicians and captains of industry meet, in secret, like, once or twice a year to discuss how and when they will finally make good on their plan of world domination. In the real world, outside of movies, it doesn

True, but the line is a bit blurred when the government becomes the owner. The contracts were written before the company imploded (though I

I think it

True, this is a country of laws, however, the laws are often written with undo influence from the very people who benefit from those laws. As Orwell pointed out: All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others It should come as no surprise that folks are a little upset that the same pricks who sorta raped the economy, are now stepping up to receive their handsome, unearned reward.

In honor of St. Patty

From Slate: "Lives in Danger" at AIG By Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans Posted Tuesday, March 17, 2009 - 3:56am Today's Business Press Working for a vilified corporate titan is not easy these days, but for AIG execs Monday was a day they probably should have stayed at home. Death threats against employees, possible fresh subpoenas, indignation from lawmakers, and a vow from President Obama himself to make the taxpayers whole again all added to the public drama around the stricken insurer's controversial $165 million bonus payout. "It's a mob effect," a senior AIG executive told the

This is what happens when you give away the fucking bank, with no strings attached. Obama

For our sake, I hope so, but my faith in the Democratic Party is about on par with the republicans

It gets worse: The Semtex in the AIG Retention Contracts By: emptywheel Sunday March 15, 2009 1:52 pm Here's how I understand the white paper AIG just used to convince Tim Geithner that, while the US government can force car companies to cut the wages of line workers, the US government cannot force banksters to cut the wages of the thugs who broke the global financial system. There's a lot of mumbo jumbo about contract law, but that's not the real reason AIG is arguing Geithner can't strip the bonuses. It's the "business reasons" that amount to a deliberate threat:

(The totally fucking awesome) Glenn Greenwald weighs in: Monday March 16, 2009 08:59 EDT The sanctity of AIG's contracts (updated below - Update II- Update III) Larry Summers, Sunday, on AIG

From Salon: The real scandal of AIG: We're helpless Accountable to nobody, the insurance giant makes public officials look impotent and shows how little Americans can control where our money goes. By Robert Reich March 16, 2009 | The real scandal of AIG isn't just that American taxpayers have so far committed $170 billion to the giant insurer because it is thought to be too big to fail -- the most money ever funneled to a single company by a government since the dawn of capitalism -- nor even that AIG's notoriously failing executives, the very unit responsible for the catastrophic cre

I like him, but Bill Maher is a condescending prick

In Bill Maher

Though it

Agreed. I understand AIG is contractually obligated to dispense the bonuses, however, we

Do corporations hold far too much power, absolutely. Are politicians far too beholden to corporate interests, without a doubt. Is Obama the antidote to this unfortunate reality, hell no. Is the mainstream media an enabler, positively. Where you go wrong, is in assuming there is an organized, nefarious plot to usurp the government in favor of an all powerful world-wide super government of some sort. That

Yes, we do, but my feeling is, why waste them in a discussion such as this? I mean, the content you

excerpted from Investment News: A sharp decline in consumer spending. Another factor in deflation and depression is a significant reduction in consumer spending, which in the United States accounts for nearly 70% of gross domestic product. In late 2006, we forecasted the implosion of consumer spending when shares of J.C. Penney Co. Inc. of Plano, Texas

The likelihood of this happening is roughly equal to a full scale alien invasion - it