lest we forget.....AIG got their bailout money from bu$h* & cheney not President Obama

[spanone]

just a reminder....

On October 9, 2008, the company borrowed an additional $37.8 billion via a second secured asset credit facility created by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.<29> From mid September till early November, AIG's credit-default spreads were steadily rising, implying the company was heading for default.<30>
On November 10, 2008, the U.S. Treasury announced it would purchase $40 billion in newly issued AIG senior preferred stock, under the authority of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act's Troubled Asset Relief Program.<31><32><33> The Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY) announced that it would modify the September 16th secured credit facility; the Treasury investment would permit a reduction in its size from $85 billion to $60 billion, and that the FRBNY would extend the life of the facility from three to five years, and change the interest rate from 8.5% plus the three-month London interbank offered rate (LIBOR) for the total credit facility, to 3% plus LIBOR for funds drawn down, and 0.75% plus LIBOR for funds not drawn, and that AIG would create two off- balance-sheet Limited Liability Companies (LLC) to hold AIG assets: one will act as an AIG Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Facility and the second to act as an AIG Collateralized Debt Obligations Facility.<33><31> Federal officials said the $40 billion investment would ultimately permit the government to reduce the total exposure to AIG to $112 billion from $152 billion.<31>


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aig

[pnwmom]

1. Right. They had $180 billion in help from the Bush administration.

Now the new administration might have to kick in another $30 billion.

But it's Bush's baby.

http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-CreditCrisis/idUSTRE52F06320090316

November 6 - AIG says the total owed under its $85 billion credit facility from the United States stands at $61.3 billion as of November 5, including interest and fees. AIG companies also borrowed $19.9 billion under a separate $37.8 billion securities lending agreement, raising to $123 billion the total amount the government has put at AIG's disposal.

SNIP

December 2 - AIG and the government say they have reached an agreement to clear the insurer of its obligations on about $53.5 billion in toxic mortgage debt. The Fed has established two funds to hold mortgage assets linked to AIG.

SNIP

March 2 - Treasury and Fed announce a third new aid plan for AIG, putting $30 billion more at its disposal, and easing terms and conditions to give the insurer a billion-dollar-a-year break on interest and dividend payments.

[spanone]

2. the media will never report this i'm afraid

[pnwmom]

3. I know. They're trying to hang this around Obama's neck. n/t

[KittyWampus]

7. Unless Obama nixes those bonus contracts & forces AIG to sue for them, he DESERVES to take a hit

Obama knew, we knew how fucked up Bush/Cheney and Republican rule was leaving the country.

That is not excuse, and there can be no excuse, for continuing to allow AIG to call the shots and stick their middle finger up at the Obama Administration and the public.

Geithner should have demanded those bonuses be canceled, renegotiated or be subject to clawback. Instead, he bent over and took it and in the process made himself and the Obama Administration look like ineffectual tools.

Team Obama is already dithering and refusing to play hardball with the Banks etc.

[KittyWampus]

4. But it's Team Obama who is STILL allowing AIG to call the shots and end up looking impotent tools

of the corporate class.

[spanone]

5. i think their hands are tied...i don't think they are impotent tools

[KittyWampus]

8. Their hands are most certainly not tied. Not when it came to those bonuses and not when it comes to

restructuring Banks that are failing.

[spanone]

10. how do you know that?

Barack Obama's crusade against excessive Wall Street pay has hit an obstacle, with his administration admitting that it could not stop the nationalised insurance giant AIG from paying $165m (£118m) in bonuses.

AIG has received $170bn in government money since being saved from bankruptcy in September. The bulk of the bonuses will go to employees in the very business division that wrecked the company's finances.

Politicians have reacted with fury. Members of the administration took to television studios yesterday to insist that contracts written during the boom times had left their hands tied.

Larry Summers, the president's chief economic adviser, said: "The whole situation at AIG is outrageous. What taxpayers are being forced to do is outrageous." But he added: "We are a country of law. There are contracts. The government cannot just abrogate contracts. Every legal step possible to limit those bonuses is being taken."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/obama-fails-to-halt-aigs-165m-bonus-payments-1645749.html

[KittyWampus]

11. as it's been pointed out ad naseum, those bonus contracts could be canceled or

renegotiated or, if the monies have been already paid, subject to clawback proceedings.

And if the parties involved don't like it, they can sue. Which means they and their financial dealings would be subject to very public scrutiny in court.

[spanone]

13. so you're saying Obama could have canceled the bonus contracts but didn't?

i have not read that anywhere.

[Jakes Progress]

6. That's why many of us hated "bipartisanship"

It was just an anchor that republicans would use (and have done so successfully) to link the economic mess to President Obama in the public mind. The administration should not have been coy about blaming the crisis on the past administration from the first day. It may be too late now.

[kentuck]

9. And who was in charge at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York?

Did you say Tim Geithner?

"Federal officials said the $40 billion investment would ultimately permit the government to reduce the total exposure to AIG to $112 billion from $152 billion." Haven't they received more than that already??

[ljm2002]

12. And none of this will matter...

...as long as President Obama is led down the garden path by the fools who helped create this mess in the first place, namely Larry Summers and Timothy Geithner.

They can wring their hands and say they can't do anything about it, but the anger that is brewing is not going away. If they refuse to take bold action, including taking control of an institution that we own 80% of, then they and Obama deserve to take the hit.

Sorry, that's what it means to be the leader of a country: when it comes to the great policy decisions, the buck stops right there, on the President's desk. You can say it's the Republicans and the MSM who are trying to pin it on him -- and that is true, as far as it goes. But let's get real: he signed up for it. He pinned it on himself when he ran for and gained the job as President of the United States. It's his now, and unless he figures out how to harness the anger that is building, it will turn against him. That's just how it is. He's a politician, he has to know this.

[slipslidingaway]

14. AIG: Geithner's Outraged? He Should Be Embarrassed

http://seekingalpha.com/article/126139-aig-geithner-s-outraged-he-should-be-embarrassed

"...When the Bush White House agreed to bail out General Motors (GM) and Chrysler, it required those companies to renegotiate their labor contracts—that’s right contracts—and they are doing just that to keep their federal largess.

The Obama Treasury, headed by Tim Geithner, is forcing the terms of that deal on the United Autoworkers.

Why did Secretaries Paulson and Geithner not require the same at AIG? Remember Geithner was president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank and a key player when financial giants like Citigroup (C) and AIG were being bailed with the taxpayers’ cash. Those bailouts continue, with easy terms for the bankers and their contracts, on Geithner’s watch.

The threat was the same with AIG and GM. If either shut down, the economy would plummet into chaos and depression we were told.

So Mr. Geithner, instead of being outraged at AIG’s last revelations, perhaps you can explain to all of us why a UAW worker earning $29 dollars an hour must give back wages and benefits to keep their company alive, while the architects of the biggest financial disaster in history get to keep their gold plated contracts.

Mr. Geithner, we are waiting for your answer."