A.I.G (Whose To Blame)

President Barack Obama and his top aides expressed outrage at reports that AIG went ahead with $165 million in bonuses even though the company received more than $170 billion in federal rescue money. Obama directed Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to see whether there was any way to retrieve or stop the bonus money -- a move designed as much for public relations as for public policy. "I mean, how do they justify this outrage to the taxpayers who are keeping the company afloat?" Obama said Monday in announcing a plan to help small businesses. As finger pointing was raging around washington, report sour that congress was awared of the bonuses that A.I.G executives were schedule to get. Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, acknowledged Wednesday that he, as Bloomberg News put it, "weakened a provision dealing with executive pay in last month's stimulus legislation at the request of the Obama administration." The provision inserted in the bill instead expressly allowed companies that received taxpayer bailout money to pay retention bonuses that were part of employment contracts signed before Feb. 11, 2009. That would include the AIG bonuses, although Dodd has said he didn't know about the AIG bonuses at the time. The senator told the bloomberg news that he was told to change the amendment voted on by congress by officials of the administration.
So my question is who are those officials and why aren't they held accountable for that yet? It seems like politics all over again. It doesn't help that Dodd is the top recipient of campaign contributions from AIG employees since 1989, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Dodd told the Connecticut Post that he will return any contributions that can be linked to the bailout money. "I don't want those contributions he told the post." President Obama has said he takes full responsibility for everything that happen with A.I.G since he is the president. This is one difference with the current president and the former. The president is always ready to admit to the American people when he and his officials are at fault. That's the leadership of a true president. The Treasury Department was supposed to be minding the store. It was Treasury’s responsibility to watch how these funds were used. Obviously, they fell asleep on the job. Well, they need to wake up. Americans are fed up with their hard-earned tax dollars going to the people who got us here. They deserve to know how this happened. And the Administration and the Treasury Department needs to assure the American people that this will never happen again. The chairman of the insurance giant should make sure we tax payers get more of that money back or else the government should not give them the 30 billion more they are requesting. We too need help.