President Obama wants AIG bonuses back, Dow fizzles after mostly good news
President Barack Obama was very clear about how he felt regarding recent reports of bonuses paid out at AIG (American International Group), that surfaced over the weekend. “This is a corporation that finds itself in financial distress due to recklessness and greed,” the President said in remarks made at the White House with Secretary Timothy Geithner present.
Obama went on to talk about the money that AIG has received from the U.S. Treasury and the $165 million in bonuses the company paid out on contracts signed be fore receiving TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) money. “I’ve asked Secretary Geithner to use that leverage and pursue every single legal avenue to block these bonuses and make the American taxpayer whole,” Obama went on to say.
Hear President Obama’s Remarks from the White House.
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo sent a letter to AIG requesting who received the bonuses (sent out on Friday), their job description/title, and performance. Cuomo set a deadline of 4 p.m. on Monday as at deadline, but had not heard back from the company when the time came and went. He’s now in the process of issuing subpoenas.
There’s no doubt that AIG executives should make it easy on everybody and return their bonuses. A company who today was UP sharply to 83 cents should do everything it can to inspire confidence. As an owner of AIG, I hope these execs make the right call and give the money back.
AIG CEO Edward Liddy says there’s nothing that the company can (legally) do about the bonuses, yet as a leader he should be able to persuade these execs to give way to their true bosses – the American people.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was poised to end up for a 5th consecutive day, up triple digits at some part of the day. But just before the closing bell, stocks dipped, and the Dow ended down about 7 points. It was still another good day for the Dow as stocks in the positive outnumbered those that were down 3-1.
I was watching Rick Sanchez at Georgia State host an entertaining show on the economy and for most of the show the green arrow was pointing up. CNN is devoting the bulk of their coverage to the economy this week. Sanchez referenced letters/emails he’d received advising the station to cover topics that people want to see instead of catering to the “American Idol” crowd all the time.
One letter cited the ratings and overall media coverage John Stewart’s interview with CNBC’s Jim Cramer had received. The writer asserts that Mr. Stewart is actually using facts (something that the media is having to come to grips with) to call Cramer on the carpet.
Stewart also rightly argues that viewers are a lot smarter than these shows give them credit for, and should be more serious due to the fact that people are trusting their money to the advice of the hosts. I give Cramer credit for taking the heat for the entire TV Financial guru market.
This post was written based on stories from Yahoo! Finance, The New York Times, Associated Press, and Politico.
