the media is really driving this story. it's crazy the way they are pushing it.

4 people. Bonuses are under $1mil each. I'm not concerned.

Fannie Mae is giving crumbs in comparison to the cookie jars AIG was giving as bonuses.

LegacyDL: Fannie Mae is giving crumbs in comparison to the cookie jars AIG was giving as bonuses.

None the less, you would think in this climate that bonuses would be off the table for the year.

It looks like welfare kings make way more than welfare queens.

Where's the neocon outrage we love to hear when some woman with 6 kids brings home her $200 a week and some gubmint cheese?

greenlight?
with that headline?

They should have called it a STIMULUS, because nobody seems to give a good goddamn about those kinds of payments.

newaddict: greenlight?
with that headline?

Agreed.

/"Electric Boogaloo" should be in there somewhere.

The bonus outrage is as dumb if not dumber than the earmarks outrage. Would you rather the government have the ability to knowingly violate contracts whenever it wants? Silly. . . pay them the bonuses, put strings on future cash that says "no more bonuses," done and done.

Hobodeluxe: the media is really driving this story. it's crazy the way they are pushing it.

Why focus on the hundreds of billions we have given away when you can focus on a few hundred million in bonuses? Makes perfect sense.

What do these people DO to deserve these bonuses? Save sickly babies from oncoming trains at great personal risk? Shelter and hand-feed abandoned seal pups every 2 hours? Donate vital organs to save Iraq war veterans with triplets on the way? Seriously, what is it they've done to deserve FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS OR MORE on top of the millions they already make!?!?

OozoSoozo: What do these people DO to deserve these bonuses? Save sickly babies from oncoming trains at great personal risk? Shelter and hand-feed abandoned seal pups every 2 hours? Donate vital organs to save Iraq war veterans with triplets on the way? Seriously, what is it they've done to deserve FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS OR MORE on top of the millions they already make!?!?

So the government should be able to invalidate contracts on the basis of "Upon retrospect, it was a bad idea to sign that"?

On the upside, we could balance the budget if my proposed "Dunk Tanks Across America" passes.

I'd much rather hear more details about Dick Cheney's assassination squad than "OMG rich people are being greedy!"

I find it odd that Freddie asked for a ton more money seeing how they are smaller than Fannie. The fail must have been even more massive than I imagined. their standards on the surface are similar to buy up loans.

OozoSoozo: Seriously, what is it they've done to deserve FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS OR MORE on top of the millions they already make!?!?

Well, if their job was to sell insurance and they get X% over Y amount (or something like that) as a bonus, than likely they sold a shiatload of insurance.

If it was "keep the company out of crushing debt" than they failed.

If it was "make it the year without getting fired" and they did that by contract, it is all they needed to do.

If it was "look out for the company and by any means possible keep us out of bankruptcy" it is a mixed bag, because they actually did do that (for now).

Don't hate that some people *can* make an obscene amount of money. Is it the bonuses, or the size. If it is the size it's not outrage, just jealousy.

This is like having your house burn down and being all "meh" and then loosing your shiat because you lost a nickel.

Pure insanity, a true WTF moment.

RemyDuron:
So the government should be able to invalidate contracts on the basis of "Upon retrospect, it was a bad idea to sign that"?

I didn't read my terms & conditions on a credit card. Holy shiat was I upset, outraged even when that balance transfer went from a 0% rate to a 14% rate after 6 months.

I sure wish I could "tax" my credit card company because I was too lazy to read and think about what I agreed to before I signed it.

Care about the 165$ million in bonuses. PLEASE.

It will make sure you don't pay too much attention to the fact that it's %0.01 of the money that farking AIG got in total (that they gave to Goldman Sachs and other banks).

Bonus Outrage II: Barney Frank Boogaloo!

Hobodeluxe: the media is really driving this story. it's crazy the way they are pushing it.

Why do you hate Hate Week?

Yes, yes, everyone keep your eyes on the big bad companies... direct your anger towards them....

The government will be over here, spending orders of magnitude more money...

timetokill: Yes, yes, everyone keep your eyes on the big bad companies... direct your anger towards them....

The government will be over here, spending orders of magnitude more money...

The companies are spending my frkking money you goddamned idiot.

Christ, its like half of Americans NEED to suck the master's dick. Goddamned losers.

Hobodeluxe: the media is really driving this story. it's crazy the way they are pushing it.

Interesting, isn't it?

RemyDuron: Silly. . . pay them the bonuses, put strings on future cash that says "no more bonuses," done and done.

This.

Water under the bridge. Yeah it sucks, but pay them their contractually promised bonuses (isn't that income then, taxed at a higher level? eh? eh?), pay more attention to the fine print next time, and move on. We have a ton of other problems to attend to.

There's been a lot of the same things rehashed over and over again on fark lately. Here's my breakdown of what's actually gonna happen:

Legalizing weed-0% chance

Anyone taking responsibility for the meltdown-0% chance

Bonuses getting paid to aholes-100% chance

Ticketmaster/livenation merger-100%

Congressional approval ratings-5% positive

Congressional reelection rate- 95%

Palin winning 2012 nomination-0%

universal health care-0% chance

minor solution to energy crisis-0% chance

America learning its lesson-0% chance


/We are taking it rough and dry constantly, and the only thing we are doing is biatching about it.
//Nothing's gonna happen about the bonuses, Caylee Anthony's grandpa will turn out to be her dad and we'll forget about the whole bonus thing
///did we ever resolve the uproar about the last round of bonuses?

Did Bawney Fwanks boy toy get a bonus?

Mosey:
Don't hate that some people *can* make an obscene amount of money. Is it the bonuses, or the size. If it is the size it's not outrage, just jealousy.

Don't hate the guy who after farking your wife just happend to take your wallet on the way out. That's just jealousy.

That was a right-pretty speech, sir. But I ask you, what is a contract? Webster's defines it as "an agreement under the law which is unbreakable." WHICH IS UNBREAKABLE!

OMG!!! THE PITA METER MOVED OFF CENTER! THE HORROR!


Quick, someone tell me what else to be outraged about.

PascalsGhost: timetokill: Yes, yes, everyone keep your eyes on the big bad companies... direct your anger towards them....

The government will be over here, spending orders of magnitude more money...

The companies are spending my frkking money you goddamned idiot.

Christ, its like half of Americans NEED to suck the master's dick. Goddamned losers.


Hey, moron -- the government is spending your money too! What's more, guess who is giving these failing companies your money? Bwahaha.


And what's more, I'm not siding with the companies here! I'm merely pointing out the shell game that is going on right before your eyes.

poot_rootbeer: WHICH IS UNBREAKABLE!

A half dozen professors (new window) say piss off, you.

So what is the TelePrompTer going to say about this one?

RemyDuron: The bonus outrage is as dumb if not dumber than the earmarks outrage. Would you rather the government have the ability to knowingly violate contracts whenever it wants? Silly. . . pay them the bonuses, put strings on future cash that says "no more bonuses," done and done.

I really don't have much choice, as to the government having the ability to void contracts. It's been a standard feature of American and Anglo-Saxon law for several hundred years.

Mother farking fark! Fannie and Freddie want full bonuses for their horrible criminal participation in mortgage fraud, predatory lending and enabling Hedge Fund criminals who bet against the American public that they would take the bate, take the bad subslime loans and fail to pay them. Not everyone would have failed, but when the Hedge Funds and CDO holders started spreading rumors wildly that EVERYONE stopped paying their expensive mortgages, (Chuck Schumer causing the first bank run on Indymac), having lifted the 70 year old Uptick rule on stocks allowing short sellers to attack the banks, cause more runs, and end all US bank liquidity, they won. They took trillions of US taxpayer money, first from our 401ks and now from our government bailouts claiming these entities are TOO BIG TO FAIL and having their government cronies who took their massive political donation money to force taxpayers, against their wills, to give them billions more dollars of bailout money to HONOR their criminal CDO's, Hedge Funds, Bad Banks, etc., with our future tax money. OMG. We are all idiots if we do not find out who each beneficiary from all the banks and Hedge Funds, all over the world who took our money (George Soros) and each and every politician who caused this so they could take power away from the people. We have a very corrupt government right now that we need to get rid of ASAP.

dillenger69: It looks like welfare kings make way more than welfare queens.

Where's the neocon outrage we love to hear when some woman with 6 kids brings home her $200 a week and some gubmint cheese?

Maybe you'd have noticed the conservatives blasting this crap if you'd bother to turn off the Cartoon Channel for a few minutes each day.

You're doing a heck of a job there, Timmy!

The Rest Are Bait: Did Bawney Fwanks boy toy get a bonus?

Oh I see, this is the "Barney Frank likes GAY ASS!" thread.

That's such a well-informed and nuanced position on the financial crisis. I am so grateful there are people like you who can really contribute to a productive debate about fiscal policy.

BLAME THE GAY EVERYONE! I HEAR THEY LIKE THE ASS! They even have a Butt Magazine, OMG scandalous!

Oh God, it's so bad, they are bringing Jimmy Carter to the White House.

Garble: I'd much rather hear more details about Dick Cheney's assassination squad than "OMG rich people are being greedy!"

Ooh, yeah. Me too.

Mosey: Don't hate that some people *can* make an obscene amount of money.

To be fair, in modern times it's only since the 80s that some people have made highly obscene amounts of money. In the past, the obscenely wealthy were royalty, maybe feudal lords, then robber barons.

Then for a long stretch in the middle of the 20th century we rarely had people making millions in today's dollars and a corresponding explosion of the middle class. I don't know exactly why. It may have had something to do with the high-tax $1 million plus tax brackets.

Then brackets were loosened, regulations were loosened, and we switched from a nation people perceived by its citizens as existing to serve freedom, liberty, and other lofty goals to a nation perceived by its citizens as existing to make them rich. (I think Fareed Zakaria cited a study where people said the former a few decades ago and the latter currently, but I can't find it.)

Nate at 538 makes a good argument for re-adding progressivity to the tax code by reinstating one or more $1 million-plus brackets.

I have a great solution to this problem. Lower wages for the bottom 45% who don't pay income taxes. Then shut them out of representation from congress.

That way, the top 65% who do pay income taxes can finally get the ear of their lawmakers, and can take the money that was being wasted on the poor and give themselves bonuses. Then they won't be so angry if the next round of CEO bonuses happens to be more than what a middle-class worker earns in a decade.

No representation without taxation!

Theological Farker: poot_rootbeer: WHICH IS UNBREAKABLE!

A half dozen professors (new window) say piss off, you.

Excellent link, with some good analysis. But face it, these people are hacks from no-name schools like Berkeley, Harvard, Columbia, Penn - where is the commentary from anyone on the faculty at Regent University School of Law?

LegacyDL: Fannie Mae is giving crumbs in comparison to the cookie jars AIG was giving as bonuses.

The "cookie jars" were obligated by contracts and they represented less than one-tenth of one percent of what AIG received in bailout money. For those of you less mathematically-capable, that is equivalent to running a story about how less than one cent out of a thousand dollars has been spent.

It is pointless, irrelevant pandering to the base by President Obama, which is interesting because he should have stopped doing that after he won the election. He has had some bad press lately so he is feeding a few rich people to the dogs.

This is a joke right? Some sort of prank? A 'rickroll' gone bad?

You know people are mad at the AIG folks who are following their contractual duties so that they don't get sued for breach of contract. The people who didn't do what they were supposed to do was the government, they are the ones who didn't restructure contracts before handing over money, they are the ones with an astonishingly scary lack of foresight. There is no way the crap that is being passed in Washington has covered all bases. Hasn't in the last 8 years and so far is starting off with a bang. I don't know about anyone else but it seems most of our politicians have the "head up their ass" syndrome.

BobtheFascist: 4 people. Bonuses are under $1mil each. I'm not concerned.

so estimated $500k each.

500K X 4 = $2 million dollars. Which IMO, is 2 million too many.

I agree that comparatively, this is a drop of water in the bucket. But to act 'meh' about it saying there should be no negative reaction is false. Someone kicking you in the shins today, is going to still piss you off even though someone raped your mother yesterday.

This is just another layer of icing on the cake that is the sell-out of the American people in favor of upper tier executives. It's bullshiat.

LegacyDL: Fannie Mae is giving crumbs in comparison to the cookie jars AIG was giving as bonuses.

...in comparison to the Twinkies factories the government's giving AIG

Hobodeluxe: the media is really driving this story. it's crazy the way they are pushing it.


As disgusting as it is obvious. The farking media OWNS you people, nothing in this country will EVER change until you get some control of these farks, or at least some accountability.

Remember that we are dealing with corporations here that owe allegiance to no nation, only to profit, in whatever currency there is.

Haha! Obama IS a terrorist!


/if you've been paying attention to his Town Hall address

Mosey: Don't hate that some people *can* make an obscene amount of money.

Yes, because god knows an increasing gap between rich and poor is not at all worrying or bad for the country. Yes, I do hate that some people can make an obscene amount of money. Because, although some create new money, most take that money from others. "Stealing the sweat from the brow of the worker" may be too extreme a metaphor, but really I do think there is a point where you can make so much money that you are a drain on society. When the gap between rich and poor is increasing, that's a good point to look at what's going on and what's wrong with it.

These bonuses were for one thing: staying with the company. That's it. And although I believe they should be paid (because of the contracts) I do not think anyone there was really exceptional and "earned" these bonuses.