The Many Faces of US Politics...

[Tyrones own]

TO
Where do you stand on the Geithner plan?
I'm not sure to which bill of goods you refer- can you elaborate (sorry if I'm being lazy not searching back through previous threads but I'm getting older you see...)
HB

No, the bill of goods that I speak of is the list of podium punching, finger pointing, campaign winning promises Obama made yet had never any
intention of coming good on, you must be getting old HB...isn't it obvious for all to see that it was going to take nothing less than the rug to be pulled
completely out from under the dreamy eyed keyboard warriors in support of their Hero to ever silence the adoration and love for the man who was going to deliver so much

Regarding the Geithner plan, The reason I don't like it is I think it's nothing more than an extension of the last one,
Ladened down with risk to the taxpayer while opening the door to offering these same criminals on Wall St, Banking institutions and
Head fund managers a massive leverage vehicle in which to fill their coffers again with much less risk than the tax payer
is being subjected to, having said that...I'll def be watching the Put/Call ratio's myself on these particular stocks,
could be some scalping opportunities to be had

[heganboy]

oh that bill of goods.

I'm not sure that anyone in their right mind in this day and age can expect that what a politician says to get elected will have a direct correlation to what they actually do when they get in the door...

However that being said, situations change and imho (which isn't exactly humble) he seems to have done a "fair" job of steering a course fairly close to that which he indicated he would attempt (and when I say attempt he promised he would absolutely do it on the campaign trail).

but yes- it would take avolte face of epic scale to lose his audience, such is the benefit of popularity. And in the US its the personality (or public facing persona) that wins the election, not the best policies. Dont forget this is the same country where 46% of young females polled last week believe Rihanna was to blame for the beating she took at the hands of chris brown...

Anyways, the risk to the tax payer is higher than should reasonably be expected, but the payoff could actually be pretty good too and these times are far from reasonable.

I'd be much happier with a well funded and well staffed regulator, and a huge change in the reliance on self regulation.

The leverage game is I think in end days as far as publicly traded investment vehicles, but there will always be a market for the "dark" investment fund, and as long as there is an awareness in the market (probably through regulated advertising or disclosure) that these vehicles are exactly that then I think the highly leveraged funds will still have their place.

as for the imbalances in the market right now, I wouldn't have the mortgage riding...

and TO- one more thing- any chance you'd change the thread title to the american politics thread?

[Tyrones own]

and TO- one more thing- any chance you'd change the thread title to the american politics thread?

I suppose I could HB as the unadulterated shameless drooling does seem to have subsided on here for the great one,
not for long though i'm afraid...the hard core former cheer leaders amongst us are no doubt sitting reading this thread with wee red faces
seething with anger and embarrassment as to how an IQ-less conservative like myself could ever have found his way to the top of the heap
amongst such far superior liberal minds.
Luckily they have the option to shun me and that seems to be their vehicle of choice here and that's great and all but they'll also know that all that
does is gift me an open Mic and an unimpeded platform from which to explain exactly how I was right all along, one lie and corrupt decision at a time
...or would that be giving them too much credit..mmm  

[heganboy]

all that does is gift me an open Mic and an unimpeded platform

I think its time to get nervous.

What are your thoughts on the AIG bonuses thought this week?

loved this
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/25/opinion/25desantis.html

[Tyrones own]

Nervous........ Ba ... Ba  ...

I don't currently subscribe to the NY times HB and so not sure of what i should be nervous about
Fill me in.....

[Tyrones own]

Could Pelosi now be condoning ethics actions of those damned Republicans for the last 8 yrs
seems there was and is nothing to report after all, especially now that it's all Democratically controlled ...surely this cant be so

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/20459.html

[Tyrones own]

FFS this shit is everywhere you turn

http://www.nypost.com/seven/03252009/news/nationalnews/dodds_wife__too__had_money_link_to_aig_161237.htm

[Diet Coke]

Tell me what would/could McCain have done different if he'd been elected?

[dec]

FFS this shit is everywhere you turn

http://www.nypost.com/seven/03252009/news/nationalnews/dodds_wife__too__had_money_link_to_aig_161237.htm

Wow, Dodd's wife worked for a company back in 2004 that AIG had shares in . That is earth shattering news.

[heganboy]

ah c'mon I'm all for cleaning up politics but no witch hunts and every one across the board feels the same pain.

interfering with page boys- life sentence
undeclared business interests- loss of position plus fine
undeclared wife's business interests- revoking of right to divorce or live separately from same wife
starting wars unnecessarily- life sentence plus fine

I also think that politicians fines and punishments should reflect the amount of money it costs to get them elected

[heganboy]

Nervous........ Ba ... Ba  ...

I don't currently subscribe to the NY times HB and so not sure of what i should be nervous about
Fill me in.....

yeah but you'll read stories on the NY post?
anyway: here's the aig thing?

he following is a letter sent on Tuesday by Jake DeSantis, an executive vice president of the American International Group’s financial products unit, to Edward M. Liddy, the chief executive of A.I.G. It ran in The New York Times’s op-ed section.

DEAR Mr. Liddy,

It is with deep regret that I submit my notice of resignation from A.I.G. Financial Products. I hope you take the time to read this entire letter. Before describing the details of my decision, I want to offer some context:

I am proud of everything I have done for the commodity and equity divisions of A.I.G.-F.P. I was in no way involved in — or responsible for — the credit default swap transactions that have hamstrung A.I.G. Nor were more than a handful of the 400 current employees of A.I.G.-F.P. Most of those responsible have left the company and have conspicuously escaped the public outrage.

After 12 months of hard work dismantling the company — during which A.I.G. reassured us many times we would be rewarded in March 2009 — we in the financial products unit have been betrayed by A.I.G. and are being unfairly persecuted by elected officials. In response to this, I will now leave the company and donate my entire post-tax retention payment to those suffering from the global economic downturn. My intent is to keep none of the money myself.

I take this action after 11 years of dedicated, honorable service to A.I.G. I can no longer effectively perform my duties in this dysfunctional environment, nor am I being paid to do so. Like you, I was asked to work for an annual salary of $1, and I agreed out of a sense of duty to the company and to the public officials who have come to its aid. Having now been let down by both, I can no longer justify spending 10, 12, 14 hours a day away from my family for the benefit of those who have let me down.

You and I have never met or spoken to each other, so I’d like to tell you about myself. I was raised by schoolteachers working multiple jobs in a world of closing steel mills. My hard work earned me acceptance to M.I.T., and the institute’s generous financial aid enabled me to attend. I had fulfilled my American dream.

I started at this company in 1998 as an equity trader, became the head of equity and commodity trading and, a couple of years before A.I.G.’s meltdown last September, was named the head of business development for commodities. Over this period the equity and commodity units were consistently profitable — in most years generating net profits of well over $100 million. Most recently, during the dismantling of A.I.G.-F.P., I was an integral player in the pending sale of its well-regarded commodity index business to UBS. As you know, business unit sales like this are crucial to A.I.G.’s effort to repay the American taxpayer.

The profitability of the businesses with which I was associated clearly supported my compensation. I never received any pay resulting from the credit default swaps that are now losing so much money. I did, however, like many others here, lose a significant portion of my life savings in the form of deferred compensation invested in the capital of A.I.G.-F.P. because of those losses. In this way I have personally suffered from this controversial activity — directly as well as indirectly with the rest of the taxpayers.

I have the utmost respect for the civic duty that you are now performing at A.I.G. You are as blameless for these credit default swap losses as I am. You answered your country’s call and you are taking a tremendous beating for it.

But you also are aware that most of the employees of your financial products unit had nothing to do with the large losses. And I am disappointed and frustrated over your lack of support for us. I and many others in the unit feel betrayed that you failed to stand up for us in the face of untrue and unfair accusations from certain members of Congress last Wednesday and from the press over our retention payments, and that you didn’t defend us against the baseless and reckless comments made by the attorneys general of New York and Connecticut.

My guess is that in October, when you learned of these retention contracts, you realized that the employees of the financial products unit needed some incentive to stay and that the contracts, being both ethical and useful, should be left to stand. That’s probably why A.I.G. management assured us on three occasions during that month that the company would “live up to its commitment” to honor the contract guarantees.

That may be why you decided to accelerate by three months more than a quarter of the amounts due under the contracts. That action signified to us your support, and was hardly something that one would do if he truly found the contracts “distasteful.”

That may also be why you authorized the balance of the payments on March 13.

At no time during the past six months that you have been leading A.I.G. did you ask us to revise, renegotiate or break these contracts — until several hours before your appearance last week before Congress.

I think your initial decision to honor the contracts was both ethical and financially astute, but it seems to have been politically unwise. It’s now apparent that you either misunderstood the agreements that you had made — tacit or otherwise — with the Federal Reserve, the Treasury, various members of Congress and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo of New York, or were not strong enough to withstand the shifting political winds.

You’ve now asked the current employees of A.I.G.-F.P. to repay these earnings. As you can imagine, there has been a tremendous amount of serious thought and heated discussion about how we should respond to this breach of trust.

As most of us have done nothing wrong, guilt is not a motivation to surrender our earnings. We have worked 12 long months under these contracts and now deserve to be paid as promised. None of us should be cheated of our payments any more than a plumber should be cheated after he has fixed the pipes but a careless electrician causes a fire that burns down the house.

Many of the employees have, in the past six months, turned down job offers from more stable employers, based on A.I.G.’s assurances that the contracts would be honored. They are now angry about having been misled by A.I.G.’s promises and are not inclined to return the money as a favor to you.

The only real motivation that anyone at A.I.G.-F.P. now has is fear. Mr. Cuomo has threatened to “name and shame,” and his counterpart in Connecticut, Richard Blumenthal, has made similar threats — even though attorneys general are supposed to stand for due process, to conduct trials in courts and not the press.

So what am I to do? There’s no easy answer. I know that because of hard work I have benefited more than most during the economic boom and have saved enough that my family is unlikely to suffer devastating losses during the current bust. Some might argue that members of my profession have been overpaid, and I wouldn’t disagree.

That is why I have decided to donate 100 percent of the effective after-tax proceeds of my retention payment directly to organizations that are helping people who are suffering from the global downturn. This is not a tax-deduction gimmick; I simply believe that I at least deserve to dictate how my earnings are spent, and do not want to see them disappear back into the obscurity of A.I.G.’s or the federal government’s budget. Our earnings have caused such a distraction for so many from the more pressing issues our country faces, and I would like to see my share of it benefit those truly in need.

On March 16 I received a payment from A.I.G. amounting to $742,006.40, after taxes. In light of the uncertainty over the ultimate taxation and legal status of this payment, the actual amount I donate may be less — in fact, it may end up being far less if the recent House bill raising the tax on the retention payments to 90 percent stands. Once all the money is donated, you will immediately receive a list of all recipients.

This choice is right for me. I wish others at A.I.G.-F.P. luck finding peace with their difficult decision, and only hope their judgment is not clouded by fear.

Mr. Liddy, I wish you success in your commitment to return the money extended by the American government, and luck with the continued unwinding of the company’s diverse businesses — especially those remaining credit default swaps. I’ll continue over the short term to help make sure no balls are dropped, but after what’s happened this past week I can’t remain much longer — there is too much bad blood. I’m not sure how you will greet my resignation, but at least Attorney General Blumenthal should be relieved that I’ll leave under my own power and will not need to be “shoved out the door.”

Sincerely,

Jake DeSantis

[Tyrones own]

Tell me what would/could McCain have done different if he'd been elected?

Absolutely nothing different at all DC and I'm man enough to admit it because lets not forget, he wasn't elected due to the unfortunate circumstances of being unable to
measure up to the might of a man who by all accounts was without any shadow of doubt going to right all the wrongs of the last 8 years by ushering in a yes we can attitude,
transparency, and sweeping change like nothing ever witnessed before type administration to Washington..fcuk it I was almost even convinced myself towards the end of the campaign
but thankfully I was able to regain my common sense of reality..unlike some

[Tyrones own]

FFS this shit is everywhere you turn

http://www.nypost.com/seven/03252009/news/nationalnews/dodds_wife__too__had_money_link_to_aig_161237.htm

Wow, Dodd's wife worked for a company back in 2004 that AIG had shares in . That is earth shattering news.

Because for obvious reasons ye had nothing at all to add to my many other points of substance i thought I'd throw
this in just for shits and giggles and sure enough... Welcome back Dec

[Tyrones own]

yeah but you'll read stories on the NY post?

Only because I don't have to register with them to click on a link

Anyway that's a fair damning letter to have published in the NY Times, I'd say that's a man at peace with himself tonight!

[Tyrones own]

I posted this shortly after the election but it seems I was a tad early with it....
now might have been a more appropriate time with so many of our finest missing in action

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3_95F5e-Ac