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Universally despised insurance firm AIG would seem to have at least one friend -- a friend in a very high place indeed.
Congressional Black Caucus founding member Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) has raised some eyebrows by questioning whether it is right to heavily tax the bonus payments AIG execs received from taxpayer funds.
Some have even said Rangel, the House Ways and Means chairman, is protecting AIG because it is a New York-based firm.
Nonsense. ...
Rangel is right to question the propriety of putting an 80 or 90 percent tax on the ill-gotten bonuses. Yes, it is sickening that our tax money was used in such a shameful way. But using such a back-door method to twist the tax code into doing what feels good in the short-term but is ethically wrong would be a mistake.
What happens the next time some unpopular faction receives a gift at the public's expense? Do we simply tax the hell out of it to make the problem go away. The problem is that using the tax code as a baton could devolve into a political game -- giving the majority party the power to tax whomever it doesn't like.
The problem with the AIG mess is that the same government officials who were supposed to be watching our money goofed. They didn't put any strings on our money. AIG totally outflanked them.
Now, members of Congress and the federal government want me to get all upset at the insurance company for doing business as it sees fit. It's slimy business, true, but where were our government protectors when we needed them?
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CBC Member Charlie Rangel Behaving Badly Re: AIG
Comments: (20)
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By: Nunya on 3/23/2009 5:20AM
If my race is decreasing, that means I'll be the minority. So I can live off YOUR tax dollars. Free rent , food ,smokes , and housing.
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By: Jamie on 4/10/2009 10:45PM
Be careful what you wish for. No more white folks, no more medicine, ipods, cars, planes, and other goodies out technology brought you. Back to the grass huts and animal skins.
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By: BrigitteAntoinette on 3/21/2009 7:16PM
People, please! Get angry at what happened, not at a group! The Bible says "man cannot direct even his own steps". Meaning, we cannot lead ourselves, how do we expect to lead another person. It also says, "do not put your trust in noblemen". Meaning, trust in God, not man!
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By: Observer on 3/21/2009 9:22PM
Charlie Rangel has been a receptacle for money from corporate interests for years. He turned a blind eye to the drugs flourishing in Harlem, so that long time brownstone owners were forced out from crime and he took money from white developers to push out families in tenements. We lived in Harlem because we could live no where else, and he delivered Harlem into the hands of whites.
So he is getting money from AIG. Are we surprised? Does he not look like a man drowning in his own excess?
As for where were our regulators? Who wrote this? Credit Default Swaps are not regulated. We are actually giving money to AIG so that they can honor private contracts on exotic financial instruments to major investment banks, many in Europe. So why not defalte their bonuses by the government which is now a de facto owner. It is our money bailing out private contracts, that were not subject to oversight.
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By: Missy on 3/22/2009 10:19AM
video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7886780711843120756
copy and paste
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By: Betty on 3/22/2009 1:42AM
Well he is saying the opposite here:
http://www.c-span.org/Watch/watch.aspx?MediaId=Congress-A-16509
This bill: HR1586 (google it) passed in the house 3-19-2009
This bill is to get the bonuses back from the AIG people, and I saw on c-span Senator Rangel argue passionatly to get this bill passed in the House of Representatives.
So the next day he is backing down? How many Senator Rangels are there?
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By: Missy on 3/22/2009 10:40AM
ED
Were you there when the congress was giggling over not reading the bill, you bumb ass, there was over 1000 pages and they were given to the comgress 24 hours before they HAD to sign it.
You as a Demacrap would go to hell for him if BO ask you to.not to worry, we will see hell on earth from this NARCISSISTIC if not taken out of office. Can't you see he is a bag if hot air, he can't walk on water, but his chit can float.
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By: John Lindsay on 3/22/2009 11:41AM
tired or tired's attitude: "He will be elected again because Blacks don't care about criminal behavior from black people."
JL: That's a lie. Predominantly Black juries send Black criminals to prison every damn day.
The problem with the bonuses is the fact that "many businesses are continuing to 'do business as uual'.....without regard to the economic crises...because they're expecting the federal government to bail them out."
That thinking has to change.
Each company that provides bonuses for performance and/or any other incentives....should have a clause in their policies that convey....."any time the company is in major financial duress....bonuses and/or other incentives previously negotiated will not be paid."
Of course, some companies will seek to exploit such a clause, and if they do...word would quickly circulate among prospective contractors, etc. that said company are crooks.
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By: quita on 3/23/2009 8:34AM
charlie rangel wants to go against obama's budget because he doesn't want to pay any taxes..if the voters of harlem need to get rid of him because harlem district area went towards obama and rangel called him stuipd during the primary election.you think gops are bad; well look at him.rangel needs to be replaced and let another fresh person gets his political seat.
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By: Rick on 3/23/2009 2:21PM
Boy it's scary to read some of the comments on this blog, but here's mine. I was not completey convinced of this stimilus package for this reason. Money can't be controlled in this faction. There will be other problems with bailouts that many people will not like. We have to wiegh the options. Can we go on with banks and lending institutes or do we need to prop them up. If proping them means the aig mess then do we continue proping or do we let it all fail and start over from the very beginning, If we start over only the very, very rich will be able to live the way we live today, the rest will fall back to the colonial days and live that way. So you have to make a decision. do you go on with the way things are are do you change them, it's up to us the american consumers because the banks are not going to change.
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