Follow The Money

This just up on Huffington Post regarding the sweet, green talk by some CEOs and the not-so-green politicians they are funding.

Best AIG bailout response

From the Daily Show, of course.

Threatened Corporate Gutting of Climate Solutions

Another piece on the threat of the corporations and complicit Senators hijacking solutions to climate change, posted as a guest blog on Joe Romm's ClimateProgress blog, the top climate blog in the country.  Joe's blog is the one stop we all need for staying current on the climate fight.

President Obama: Push AIG into Chapter 11 to Stop Those Bonuses

I still can't figure out why, but Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, despite all the handwringing, definitely wants AIG to be able to pay the bonuses to its employees.  Maybe we should think of it as hush money, Neither AIG brass or the regulators who have been playing this game with them for years now, want disgruntled AIG employees telling the public just how much, and for how many years, these people knew about the financial scam at AIG.  Keep 'em quite with a paltry $165 million.  

But President Obama says to do everything possible to stop the payments of the bonuses.  It's easy.  AIG can avoid paying those bonuses if the company declares bankruptcy, chapter 11 reorganization.  It's that simple.  Make it happen Tim.  Or is there something else we should know?

Senator Lieberman Attempts to Turn Climate Policy into Corporate Boondoggle

Corporate welfare isn't confined to Wall Street, AIG and our largest banks.  Senator Joe Lieberman is trying to turn federal policy to stop global warming into the latest corporate boondoggle.  I just posted it at Huffington Post.

Fat Lady Sings for AIG

Tonight AIG finally buckled under political pressure and released a list of its clients, financial counterparties, to whom it had been sending some of the $160 billion bailout money from taxpayers, many of the same US and foreign banks that have been hammered financially for making all the stupid bets on collateralized mortgages.  This on the same day that it's chairman is arguing, apparently with a straight face, of AIG's need to pay out $170 million in bonuses in order to keep its most talented people.  

Here's the deal, it's completely over.  AIG must fail.  We have to stop plowing taxpayer money into the shaky bets that went bad and are now worth ZERO!  There is no rescuing this stuff. These are not mortgages, these are the bets that the mortgages wouldn't go bad en masse.  They did.  AIG's finished.  Oh but what about their other healthy insurance divisions?  No problem. Those get sold off to new owners.  The fraudulent market in credit swaps is what must disappear, not be bailed out.  

So why would the US Government still be trying to hold onto the division of AIG that should be closed down, it's executives put in jail?  Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is why.  Last year as President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York he worked to bail out AIG.  He's either tied to AIG's fortunes in ways we can't see or he made a mistake and is doubling down on it now as Treasury Secretary. The problem is, his mistake becomes our mistake.  Bring on Chapter 11.

Mark-To-Market

Failed bankers are now bringing a request to Congress to get rid of mark-to-market pricing for their assets.  They claim the real financial crisis is driven by accounting rules forcing them to put their assets on their books at real prices, not at the inflated prices from when the bubble was in full stretch.  

Sounds like a great idea and not just for bankers.  My kids want to use old grades if they get some bad new ones.  My wife wants to count the dinner she made last night and not cook tonight.  If she does cook, I want to count the cleaning I did last night so I can avoid cleaning tonight.   

At least now that bankers are flush with taxpayer money, it may be time for me to get a big loan. Naturally, I want to count the salary I used to make and the assets I used to have as collateral. Sound fair boys?  If it works for you it can work for me.  And think of how it will help your golf game.  Always use whatever was your best score historically.  In fact, take your particular best shots on a course, played over a series of years, you'll be a virtual Tiger Woods.

This could get fun.  I can't wait to try it in Vegas.