Money Beat

The only way we can wake up the AIG execs will be if individuals start to move their business away from the company and funnel it towards other firms. It is beyond belief that the same individuals who almost destroyed the company can get bonuses that aren't performance based. Those who gave the contracts out should also be investigated.

Mr. Greenburg's reality and moral compass settings are a little out of whack. It's called "Madoff Syndrome"
We need a way to bring T.Roosevelt back to kick some "corporate butt." How about some serious anti-trust enforcement Pres. Obama?

You wonder if there is more to this story. AIG surely holds a lot of information on oversees companies and their balance sheets. This info could prove useful to our intelligence apparatus. Maybe that is why they are too big to fail. Just trying to think outside the box because all this money for them keeps increasing.

No more money f0r AIG!!!!

AIG exec's are a step below the guy who cleans up puddles at a porno theater. Matter of fact all the execs are like that.

Greenberg's son Jeffrey ran Marsh & McLennan, WTC1 floors 94-100.

http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2008/08/20/the-ghost-in-the-machines-the-mystery-of-the-wtc-hard-drive-recoveries/

Hank Greenberg was convicted of bid rigging in 2006 - why would anyone believe what this "Grinch that stole the Economy" says?! AIG is corrupt to the core, it's time to take control and liquidate the company. Certainly throwing good money after hasn't helped.

How can you fault anyone for pushing the envelope to receive millions in a so called bonus that is legal. The problem may have started with AIG taking advantage of our tax payers dollars but the ultimate decision was in the Congress and Senate and the White House. Remember back when it was hurry up and pass this stimulus bill "the sky is falling" "no time to consider consequences" "just pass the d--n bill." Does anyone out there not think that maybe the "fire" wasn't as hot as they tried to make us believe. I think it boils down to - "if we (politicians) treat this like the world will collapse, people won't look so close at what we are doing." Believe me, we have some very intelligent people running our lives and they had to know that "conditions" must be placed on the kind of money that was basically being given away. If the government offered me a mil without conditions - d--n tooting I'd take it.

AIG and its execs are at fault. Note their business ethics are not much, if any, different than any other large American business. American business relies on continual pressure at all levels to 'attain' acceptable performance. Enron used to be the bad-boy example. Now its AIG. We'll see who surfaces belly-up next.

I am not a fan of TARP. I do realize the central position AIG plays in our monetary/banking system. If the banking system had collapsed we would be singing a different tune about what we should have done. Americans are so insulated from hyperinflation or the thought of the complete collapse of the US Dollar we cannot comprehend the danger of not saving the banking system. AIG needs to be broken apart and never allowed to provide insurance to banks for capital ever again. Nor should another company be allowed to step in and do the same thing.

BAILOUTS by definition are a BONUS to ALL of these BAILOUT BUSINESSES! "In Debt We Trust."

Hank Greenberg was on the Charlie Rose showlast year and offered to put together a group of investors to bail out AIG for $80 billion. The government refused. He said all other areas of the AIG insurance business were in the black and profitable. Greenberg said he knew how to stop the bleeding. Instead the govenment went in and paid twice the amount and is clueless as to how to restructure the debt. Go to the Charlie Rose Show and watch the whole interview.

Present and former AIG top executives are pointing fingers at each other. "He did it!" "No, the guy over there did it!" "That is right, the guy who worked last night did it!" All of them deny responsibility until they accuse the janitor of having messed the AIG accounts!But remember guys what goes around comes around! What goes up always comes down! and always u can keep running but can never hide.

methinks he protesteth too much

ACTUALLY, HANK GREENBERG WAS AN HONORABLE MAN AS WAS THE COMPANY FOUNDER C.V. STARR.

MY UNCLE WAS A GOOD FRIEND OF BOTH.

WHEN THE OLD GUYS LEFT, IT WENT DOWNHILL IN A HAND BASKET.

THE NEW AIG 'KIDS' ARE NOT HONORABLE MEN.

Why should AIG be paying bonuses and it won't even pay Penford, a Flooded business in Cedar Rapids, Iowa the 50 million dollars it should get from its insurance? why should Penford have to take AIG to court to get its money

Let's start blaming the right people first - like former Republican Senator Phil Gramm (TX). A few days after the Supreme Court made George W. Bush president in 2000, Gramm stuck something called the Commodity Futures Modernization Act into the budget bill. Nobody knew that the Texas senator was slipping America a 262 page poison pill. The Act was designed to keep regulators from controlling new financial tools described as credit "swaps." These are instruments like sub-prime mortgages bundled up and sold as securities.

Under the Gramm law, neither the SEC nor the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) were able to examine financial institutions like hedge funds or investment banks to guarantee they had the assets necessary to cover losses they were guaranteeing.

Read this: President Clinton signed it into Public Law (106-554) on December 21, 2000.

President Clinton signed it into Public Law (106-554) on December 21, 2000.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodity_Futures_Modernization_Act_of_2000

I am a REALTOR in Tampa, Fl. and I am appalled at the way foreclosures are being handled by the banks. Back in early 1990 I did a lot of REO properties for Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and various banks. The banks were very receptive of putting properties on the market that were marketable example, new carpet, paint, roof etc... if needed so an owner occupied buyer would be able to purchase it. The trend that I am seeing now is disgusting! Bank owned properties are now so abandoned that they have been victims of vandals removing everything from counter tops to removal of appliances, air conditioners and the works! This makes it impossible for a First Time Home Buyer to be able to purchase a home because their lenders will not approve these properties for FHA/VA loans therefore making it impossible for new buyers to get the $8000 tax credit. Yes, inventory of these homes are decreasing but because they are being bought by the investors that are paying cash, fixing them, and turning around and selling it for a profit! I say with the stimulus package that these banks received, put at least the necessary repairs for these properties it will do the following:
1. GIVE CONTRACTORS WORK TO FIX THESE PROPERTIES, THEREFORE GIVING THEM WORK
2. PROPERTY VALUES IN A NEIGHBORHOOD WILL NOT DECLINE AS MUCH.
3. GIVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO NEW FIRST TIME HOME BUYERS TO PURCHASE THESE HOMES INSTEAD OF THE NON-OCCUPANT INVESTOR.

It overall is a win- win situation for everyone. The banks did it before, why not now?

What we are told is that a bank will not do a thing! They have to be "as is". That makes no sense to me.

Maria Estrada, Tampa Fl

If the US economy itself isn't too big to fail, then why is any US company to big to fail?

Greenberg himself said AIG shouldn't have been bailed out in his Congress. testimony.Now how do you explain that?

Seems that all of those former(?) Goldman employees at Treasury have some explaining to do.