All over the nation, tax payers are heated with anger over the absurd AIG scandal. AIG, an insurance company that remains afloat solely due to the bailout, recently gave out $165,000,000 in bonuses to the company's executives. To put it another way, taxpayer's money was distributed in such a way that the rich are getting richer and the purpose of the bailout is retracted in one fell swoop. The current CEO of AIG, Edward Liddy insisted that these bonuses were put in before he became CEO. As he is looking to pick up the pieces and salvage the company, everyone is looking for someone to blame. Even the DailyShow with Jon Stewart created a skit regarding who is to blame. Congress concluded that Senator Chris Dodd was heavily a part of this and is to blame for putting in this provision.
President Obama, who so vehemently encouraged Congress to pass this bailout, called AIG reckless and greedy. In a two minute speech regarding the scandal (shown below), Obama said he asked Secretary of Treasury Geithner to block these bonuses. He remained positive, stating we need reform and taxpayer's need protection. A few days ago, Obama went on The Tonight Show with Leno and asked the American people to cut Geithner some slack. He insists that the Secretary of Treasury has so much on his plate and that he is doing an excellent job. Meanwhile, Edward Liddy is asking for those who were paid over $100,000 dollars in bonuses to repay the company half the bonus. The good news is some employees have already given back their entire bonus.
However, this AIG outrage proves that there are definitely holes in the bailout. Now that the money is distributed, it is in the hands of the executives of those companies. As proven by AIG, corruption and mismanagement can easily prevail, and all that taxpayer money and the effort that went into earning it would be for naught. Let us hope that this is a rare occurrence and the remainder of the $700 billion is put into good use!
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Obama and the Economy
In President Obama's first speech to the joint Congress, he discusses a variety of issues. He opens with discussing the recession, a topic of conversation in almost every household. Throughout the speech, he discusses issues facing the country using a central theme of responsibility. He opens up his speech discussing the major issue facing America; the economy. As a country, we have been very irresponsible. We have delayed reform. We have spent money we didn't have, which piled up into more and more debt. We were only focused on short term gains. He boldly blames the banks, insisting that they gave out loans irresponsibly. Obama made clear that we will not push these problems to another day and the time is now! He claims that his economic plan will not only resolve today's economic issues, but will keep the country in prosperity!
His economic agenda: More jobs. He will create 3.5 million jobs over the next two years. He gets very personal in his speech, discussing 57 Minneapolis police officers who were on duty that night because they didn't get laid off. What a brilliant orator. He makes his remedy to this economic chaos sound better by discussing tax cuts. Tax credit for college, which I find brilliant. Not only is he targeting every American household with a family member in college or college-bound, but through targeting education through economic agenda, he makes government spending sound positive. Skeptical? Oh, don't you worry. Joe has that one covered- an oversight team will be run by Joe Biden himself. Want to know where your money is going? Recovery.gov... Obama is not wasting any time. This site will show you how and where your tax money is being spent. Why wouldn't you trust an administration that is so brutally honest, they tell you exactly what's happening, in an unprecedented fashion, the internet?!
He then discusses the domino effect: NO lending.. people can't buy things.. if people can't buy things, that means our economy will worsen. We need to restart lending. Auto loans, college loans, small business loans especially. Obama wants them to thrive to keep economy running.
He then spoke of the animosity some may have towards his plan. He knows people are bitter. After the eight-year administration from hell, people are looking to Obama to pick up the pieces in one fell swoop. He knows this decision of helping banks is unpopular and people are infuriated. But making decisions out of anger and not complying with his agenda is irrational. We need to help banks so we can help the American people! Domino effect. The result of helping the banks? Confidence will return.. our economy will recover.
His economic agenda: More jobs. He will create 3.5 million jobs over the next two years. He gets very personal in his speech, discussing 57 Minneapolis police officers who were on duty that night because they didn't get laid off. What a brilliant orator. He makes his remedy to this economic chaos sound better by discussing tax cuts. Tax credit for college, which I find brilliant. Not only is he targeting every American household with a family member in college or college-bound, but through targeting education through economic agenda, he makes government spending sound positive. Skeptical? Oh, don't you worry. Joe has that one covered- an oversight team will be run by Joe Biden himself. Want to know where your money is going? Recovery.gov... Obama is not wasting any time. This site will show you how and where your tax money is being spent. Why wouldn't you trust an administration that is so brutally honest, they tell you exactly what's happening, in an unprecedented fashion, the internet?!
He then discusses the domino effect: NO lending.. people can't buy things.. if people can't buy things, that means our economy will worsen. We need to restart lending. Auto loans, college loans, small business loans especially. Obama wants them to thrive to keep economy running.
He then spoke of the animosity some may have towards his plan. He knows people are bitter. After the eight-year administration from hell, people are looking to Obama to pick up the pieces in one fell swoop. He knows this decision of helping banks is unpopular and people are infuriated. But making decisions out of anger and not complying with his agenda is irrational. We need to help banks so we can help the American people! Domino effect. The result of helping the banks? Confidence will return.. our economy will recover.
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