Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) on Monday night floated the idea of taxing American International Group (AIG: 0.9762, 0.1961, 25.14%) bonus recipients so the government could recoup the $450 million the company is paying to employees in its financial products unit. Within hours, the idea spread to both houses of Congress, with lawmakers proposing an AIG bonus tax. While the Senate constructed the $787 billion stimulus last month, Dodd unexpectedly added an executive-compensation restriction to the bill. That amendment provides an “exception for contractually obligated bonuses agreed on before Feb. 11, 2009,” which exempts the very AIG bonuses Dodd and others are seeking to tax. The amendment is in the final version and is law. Also, Sen. Dodd was AIG’s largest single recipient of campaign donations during the 2008 election cycle with $103,100, according to opensecrets.org. Dodd’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.
\ The Obama administration can't do anything about AIG's bonuses because they have a legal obligation to pay them. Never mind that in cases of bankruptcy, renegotiations with creditors-including employees, their unions, and pension funds-are not only legal, but customary and expected.
But the Obama administration can renege on legal obligations to care for veterans who put their lives on the line for their country.
I'm really quite unnerved by the alacrity that guys like Barney Frank and Chuck Shumer started shrieking out a call for a Bill of Attainder against those bonuses; the utter disregard for the law on display in the naked grandstanding by these guilty demagogues is chilling.
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Amid AIG Furor, Dodd Tries to Undo Bonus Protections He Put In
Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) on Monday night floated the idea of taxing American International Group (AIG: 0.9762, 0.1961, 25.14%) bonus recipients so the government could recoup the $450 million the company is paying to employees in its financial products unit. Within hours, the idea spread to both houses of Congress, with lawmakers proposing an AIG bonus tax.
While the Senate constructed the $787 billion stimulus last month, Dodd unexpectedly added an executive-compensation restriction to the bill. That amendment provides an “exception for contractually obligated bonuses agreed on before Feb. 11, 2009,” which exempts the very AIG bonuses Dodd and others are seeking to tax. The amendment is in the final version and is law.
Also, Sen. Dodd was AIG’s largest single recipient of campaign donations during the 2008 election cycle with $103,100, according to opensecrets.org.
Dodd’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.
Remember, Dodd is also the ( ... )
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The Obama administration can't do anything about AIG's bonuses because they have a legal obligation to pay them. Never mind that in cases of bankruptcy, renegotiations with creditors-including employees, their unions, and pension funds-are not only legal, but customary and expected.
But the Obama administration can renege on legal obligations to care for veterans who put their lives on the line for their country.
Am I missing something here?
Partial list of corporate lickspittles who are allowed to know what's in the secret copyright treaty the Obama administration claims is a matter of "national security"
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