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Well Well Well
Looky here, you idiots who voted for Obama are being lied to every
Bill
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123777083390610069.html
Geithner Aides Worked With AIG for Months on Bonuses
By MICHAEL M. PHILLIPS and SUDEEP REDDY
WASHINGTON -- Since the fall, senior aides to Timothy Geithner have
The extent of their involvement, which wasn't widely known, raises
Mr. Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will be grilled
Treasury officials say the department's staff kept Mr. Geithner in the
This account of how Mr. Geithner and his aides were apprised of the
* Video: Geithner On Public Anger, The Political Climate and The
As New York Fed president, Mr. Geithner was central to AIG's initial
After Edward Liddy took over as AIG chief executive, the company hired
AIG received an expanded government rescue in October and another in
In early November, the Fed, outside auditor Ernst & Young and AIG
AIG cited the retention plan in a public filing in early November, and
Fed officials declined to make Ms. Dahlgren available to comment on
Lawmakers were also scrutinizing AIG's operations. Some raised the
In late January, news outlets reported that AIG planned a total of
On Feb. 28, as government officials worked on a fourth AIG bailout,
It was an intense weekend, as Treasury and Fed officials frantically
On March 2, AIG announced both record losses and $30 billion in fresh
The following day, Mr. Geithner appeared at a hearing of the House
Treasury officials say the AIG problem didn't register with Mr.
The following day, March 11, Mr. Geithner, alert to the potential
According to Mr. Liddy's sworn testimony from that hearing, Mr.
A Treasury spokeswoman said Mr. Liddy was "wrong." An AIG spokeswoman
Over the weekend, administration officials contended the uproar
"I think Geithner is going to survive this -- I think he has the trust
day. You're too damn stubborn to admit it.
closely dealt with American International Group Inc. on compensation
issues including bonuses, both from his time as president of the
Federal Reserve Bank of New York and as Treasury secretary.
fresh questions about whether Mr. Geithner could have known earlier
about AIG's $165 million in bonus payments. When the bonuses sparked a
political firestorm last week, Mr. Geithner said he learned about
their full scope in early March, just days before they were paid.
by Congress on Tuesday in a hearing that is likely to focus heavily on
AIG. The flap has prompted lawmakers to seek curbs on an array of
bonuses, tested the Obama administration and undermined Mr. Geithner's
standing as he attempts to implement measures to stabilize the
financial system.
dark until March 10. "Secretary Geithner, who has been actively
engaged in shaping and executing the president's broad economic
agenda, takes full responsibility for not being aware of these
programs" before that date, Treasury spokesman Isaac Baker said Sunday
in a written response to questions.
AIG bonuses was based on interviews with government officials,
lawmakers and congressional testimony.
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$85 billion bailout in September, which was carried out in a
tumultuous four-day period.
consultants to look at its payment plans around the world. One of Mr.
Geithner's top bank supervisors at the New York Fed, Sarah Dahlgren,
became the government's lead overseer of AIG. She sat in on AIG board
meetings, joined at times by other top Fed staffers, and also
participated in compensation-committee meetings. It isn't clear
whether the issue rose to the board level until this month.
November, bringing the total to about $150 billion, including $40
billion in Treasury funds.
officials began examining through a committee the bonuses set to be
paid to AIG's financial-products division, including those that
sparked last week's furor. The committee concluded that the bonuses,
which were in contracts signed before the government takeover,
couldn't be legally blocked, according to a person familiar with the
matter. The Obama administration has since agreed with that legal
interpretation.
Fed officials were aware AIG planned to pay $55 million in bonuses to
financial-products employees the next month. Mr. Geithner remained
involved in major AIG matters, seeking updates from Ms. Dahlgren and
other top Fed staffers. He recused himself from dealing with aid to
specific companies around the time of his Nov. 24 nomination as
Treasury secretary.
the bonus issue.
matter of the AIG bonuses at a hearing in December where they grilled
Neel Kashkari, a Bush Treasury official who remains at the department.
$450 million in bonuses to help retain employees winding down the
complex trades in the unit at the heart of the company's collapse. In
the weeks that followed, Mr. Liddy and other AIG officials briefed
some lawmakers about the retention payments and other aspects of the
AIG rescue.
the New York Federal Reserve Bank emailed Stephen Albrecht, a Treasury
lawyer, laying out the AIG bonus issues and promising further detail,
according to two people familiar with the email. Mr. Albrecht did not
return a call seeking comment.
prepared to close the AIG deal. "When we heard there was this
executive compensation thing floating out there, we thought, 'We'll
deal with this later,'" said one Treasury official.
Treasury aid.
Ways and Means Committee. Rep. Joseph Crowley, a New York Democrat,
asked the secretary about more than $160 million in bonuses that AIG
would be paying to financial-products employees "in the coming weeks."
Geithner at the hearing amid the other issues he faced. Mr. Baker, the
Treasury spokesman, acknowledged that information about the financial-
products bonuses was "in the public arena...for many months." But, he
said, it wasn't until March 10 -- five days before the big batch of
retention payments were due -- that department staff spelled out the
situation for the secretary.
political fallout, called Mr. Liddy to protest the bonus payouts. At a
congressional hearing last week, Mr. Liddy described the call as "open
and frank."
Geithner indicated on the call that he had learned about the bonus
"situation about a week" earlier.
said the CEO was passing on his impression from the conversation. "If
that impression was incorrect, he certainly defers to the Treasury
secretary," she said.
wouldn't derail their efforts. President Barack Obama and a pair of
Republican senators -- Judd Gregg of New Hampshire and Charles
Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the Finance Committee --
disagreed with those calling for Mr. Geithner's resignation.
of the president," Rep. Elijah Cummings (D., Md.), an Obama ally and
early critic of AIG's bonuses, said in an interview. But "he has to
put a very high-powered microscope on AIG," he added.