AIG

'Today' Slams Citi for Trying to Switch from Bonuses to Salary Hikes

admin — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:10:24 +0000

Julia A. Seymour

Catherine Maggio

Just last year the government claimed bailouts of major banks like CitiGroup were necessary to prevent economic collapse. But now that banks are turning a profit NBC is returning to attacks on pay.

A June 24 segment of “Today” attacked CitiGroup’s “internal discussions” to raise salaries (by 50 percent in some cases) and other major banks with footage from the 1987 movie “Wall Street,” AIG protest footage and an unemployed Michigan woman.

Prominent Times Op-Ed A Real Riot

admin — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:06:00 +0000

An inflammatory op-ed in the Sunday Week in Review wants people "storming angrily into the streets" over the banking bailouts.

Clay Waters

Is the Times wishing for civil disobedience? The prominent placement in the Sunday Week in Review of an inflammatory op-ed by Sudhir Venkatesh, professor of sociology at Columbia, certainly begs the question.

Fox News Host Beck Slams Connecticut AG: 'You are an Insult to George Washington'

admin — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 23:30:42 +0000

Jeff Poor

Fox News Channel host Glenn Beck has already shown he’s a rating success and is leaving a mark in cable news. However, he may have pulled one of his most successful performances yet.

Beck interviewed Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal on his March 30 broadcast. But, the radio and TV host took the opportunity to tell Blumenthal what he thought of his investigation into the bonuses received by American International Group (AIG) executives – whose company received federal bailout money.

Despite Calls for Resignation, Media Support Geithner

admin — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 19:12:54 +0000

Julia A. Seymour

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is in trouble. He’s faced multiple controversies since his nomination, beginning with his own failure to pay all his taxes to his recent admission that Treasury was responsible for the A.I.G. bonus payouts.

Liberal Economist Krugman Explains Populist Backlash Will Cause Geithner Plan to Fail

admin — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:03:04 +0000

Jeff Poor

Talk about unintended consequences. All this populist anger ginned up by congressional Democrats, the media and the Obama administration is going to hinder the Treasury Department’s strategy to rescue the banking system.

Paul Krugman, the liberal New York Times columnist and winner of the 2008 Nobel Prize in economics explained to Bloomberg News on March 24 that this is just what is happening.

Times' Liberals Turn Against Obama

admin — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 18:30:00 +0000

Has Obama's "Katrina Moment" arrived? Maybe, says Frank Rich: "A charming visit with Jay Leno won't fix it. A 90 percent tax on bankers' bonuses won't fix it. Firing Timothy Geithner won't fix it. Unless and until Barack Obama addresses the full depth of Americans' anger with his full arsenal of policy smarts and political gifts, his presidency and, worse, our economy will be paralyzed."

Clay Waters

Politico's Jonathan Martin noticed that the liberals who dominate the Times' opinion pages turned en masse on their former favorite Barack Obama over the weekend, even the president's biggest fan, respected economist-turned-left-wing-anti-GOP-fulminator Paul Krugman. (Times Watch covered Maureen Dowd's reversal earlier this month.)

No "Tea Party" Coverage, But Tiny Leftist "Bus Tour" of AIG Homes Gets Ink

admin — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:32:00 +0000

The media outnumbered the protestors in a 'bus tour' protest of the homes of AIG employees in affluent Fairfield, Conn. - yet the Times completely ignored a larger protest against Obama's big spending plan in Ridgefield, Conn.

Clay Waters

A left-wing "bus tour" protest prowled the affluent neighborhoods of Fairfield, Conn. on Saturday afternoon, looking for AIG execs to harass. The protest, run by a group sponsored by unlabeled leftists ACORN, were railing against the bonuses paid out to employees of the struggling insurance giant.

Times Forgets Sen. Dodd Is a Democrat

admin — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 19:11:00 +0000

There was only one thing missing from the paper's front-page story on the backlash against Sen. Chris Dodd's A.I.G. bonus-guarantees: His Democratic party affiliation.

Clay Waters

Two stories in the lead story box Friday, both related to the populist fury over the bonuses granted to employees of the American International Group (A.I.G.) - $165 million in bonuses granted to 463 employees, on top of the $170 billion of tax money already given to prop up the stricken insurance firm.

CNBC Hosts Question Alleged Tax Cheat Rangel's Authority on AIG Retroactive Taxes

admin — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 18:39:49 +0000

Jeff Poor

In the wake of the American International Group (AIG) bonus controversy, some have called the plans of congressional leaders to tax those bonuses at a rate of 90-100 percent “legislating with a vengeance.”

Fox Biz 'Happy Hour' Co-Host: 'AIG Bailout Funds Terrorism'

admin — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 14:03:49 +0000

Jeff Poor

While there has been a lot of outrage over taxpayer money being used to fund $165 million in bonuses paid out to American International Group (AIG) executives propagated by the media, Fox Business “Happy Hour” co-host Cody Willard suggested the bailout money is going to something far worse – terrorism, specifically al-Qaida.

Santelli: AIG Bonuses Only Millions, Let's Focus on Billions and Trillions

admin — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 18:17:43 +0000

Jeff Poor

Since his now-famous Chicago Tea Party outburst from the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in February, CNBC’s Rick Santelli had seemingly disappeared from the spotlight.

However, on CNBC’s March 17 “Squawk Box,” Santelli, using similar theatrics, noted that the Obama administration as been very concerned about $165 million in bonuses paid out to American International Group (AIG) executives, even though they were recipients of bailout money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

Congress and Excess

admin — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 10:11:46 +0000

L. Brent Bozell III

Outrage burst forth from lawmakers in Washington when the story broke that insurance giant AIG still planned to dole out $165 million in bonuses to executives while it teeters near bankruptcy, kept afloat by taxpayers. But the outrage is mostly coming from hypocrites. Just days earlier, President Obama signed an omnibus spending bill with $12.8 billion in self-serving earmarks for legislators during the economic crisis. How can the president and Congress lecture AIG? Don't the earmarking hogs look like hypocrites?

Bernanke: 'Too Big To Fail' Not Fair to Smaller Banks

admin — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 13:49:47 +0000

Jeff Poor

Whether it’s AIG, the automakers or many of the beleaguered colossal Wall Street institutions – there’s a mantra that is repeated throughout the media – they’re too big to fail.

Perhaps it’s too little too late – after bailouts for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG and the $700 billion Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) to prop up struggling banks, in addition to an $838 billion stimulus package that just made its way through the Senate. But Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke refutes the notion that any institution is too big to fail.

The Media's Top 10 Worst Economic Myths of 2008

admin — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 20:40:45 +0000

Julia A. Seymour

Paul Detrick

Each year the Business & Media Institute looks back on the year's news and selects the top 10 worst economic myths. Here is our 2008 list:

10. Capitalism is dead or dying.

9. Gas at $4-a-gallon, blame the oil companies.

8. Fannie’s failure

7. Barack Obama sends stocks soaring, but not sinking.

6. Alternative energy: All gain, no pain

5. The economy has a fever and the only prescription is more bailouts.

4. Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

3. Oil prices will skyrocket to $200 a barrel, gas to $15.

Econ 101: Financial Bailouts and the Rule of Law

admin — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:46:15 +0000

Gary Wolfram, Ph.D.

Friedrich Hayek wrote of the importance of what he called the rule of law over the rule of man. His point was that in order to be free to act according to our own plans we must know what the rules of the game are, for what reason they are promulgated, under what conditions they will hold, and that these rules are the same for everyone.