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Public Opinion: Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, AIG, and the Wall Street Storms

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Dear Mister AIG,
Give the money back!
We the people are not happy with you! We are struggling in this economy just to keep a roof over our heads and keep our young ones fed. We don’t have jobs. We don’t have money. We have no credit and sometimes it feels like we have no hope!
How dare you argue that our money must legally be given out in bonuses to folks in your company who put us all in theses dire straights in the first place!
We the people have trustingly allowed our government to hand over our hard earned tax dollars in order to reestablish this economy. To keep your ship from sinking and keep us all afloat we said YES take our money and fix things!
The term “Fix things” does not equate to repairing executive bank accounts by allotting money we could feed our children with in huge bonuses! $165 million dollars is not chump change buddy! Can you imagine how many American families could stay afloat with that kind of money in the bank? Perhaps we should rethink our trust in government with these bailout funds for big business and insist that they allot all of that money to individual American citizens who could then give out giant bonuses to their children in not only the needs of daily life, but in education and hope for a better future!
I bet Jack the warehouseman and Joe the plumber would spend their share of the money a whole lot more responsibly then you have.
Yes sir, I believe that we should have a nation wide recall of all of the bailout monies and then vote to make government put that money in the hands of it’s citizenry who would then put it back in the economy. Houses would not be foreclosed. Children would not go hungry. Merchants would not go under. If we had the money, we would pay our credit cards, our home loans, our insurances, etc. We would shop again. Sounds to me like if we the people had that money then all would be back on track to being well in the world!
Do the right thing Mr. AIG. Send the money back!
We might remember you in a good light after this crisis has passed instead of as the company who laughed in the face of our poverty by stealing our money
to pay their executives bonuses for running their firm into the ground!
Sincerely,
We the People

Tereasa Sanders-Halligan of ID 2:18PM March 17, 2009

This has to be the most outrages abuse of trust ever witnessed in modern times. Here is a company already in the total financial collapse. Government steps in with a rescue plan by shoveling a truck load of taxpayer $$$ and it is immediately used for a $500K retreat for the executive ranks.
What a joke!
They should be allowed to perish in financial rubble they got themselves into. And judging how they tighten their financial constraints in the dire situations NO DOUBT they will be on the brink of another disaster before long.
Is the government going to supply taxpayer’s money to send them on a luxury junket again?
WAKE UP!

AR of CA 7:11PM October 10, 2008

Wall Street is simply learning what every person must learn eventually, Everyone must grow up sometime and acting irresponsible is only cute for toddlers. Disregarding lending standards by failing to perform basics such as verifying employment, credit, income, breathing status, etc... has bit everyone in the hind end. In addition, the massive spending spree known as the War on Terror has screeched to a near halt due to the exploding national debt. Anyone who believes that war spending somehow seeped into the Iraqi sand must get in line for their lobotomy because all that war spending simply went to defense contractors, political buddies and the greedy leeches in government. Now that the government is financially drained and markets are collapsing, can we please grow up and begin to act responsibly??? Stick those credit cards, cell phones, Ipods, etc... somewhere so they stop annoying everyone, take a deep breath and think about saving for that next gadget we want instead of slapping the plastic on the counter.

Ray Fisher of NM 11:38PM September 15, 2008

The housing market I've been saying for the last several years in a nutshell was GREED. That starts at the realtor pushing people they have to by now (to get the price up {more commish}) to the top. I've been saying that at a certain point you remove a mass of middle income on down out of the market. Sorry how many two 100K each family households do you know. Hence the bubble is upon us. A house is a house. Your wealth shouldn't be squarely tied to this only. Even the mortgage companies pressed for refinance to support a lifestyle. Couple this with people simply being ignorant that oil is finite. They wouldn't get out of the SUV's. Just kept driving thinking gas would always be cheap (look at other countries and we're finally catching up on the cost). The American consumer is a major part of this mess. Thinking some like Obama saying something like: "modernizing the rules of the road to suit a 21st century market" but didn't propose new steps Monday is fooling yourselves. He's just a consummate politician trying to get elected. He has to surround himself with a plethora of advisors to make a decision. Hard decisions need to be made. Quite frankly Obama has shown a lack of this decision making. For the record I'm a life long democrat voting consistently for a democrat president before Obama starting voting. However he shows the lack of true judgment in a crisis for my vote. The markets both financial as well as the housing still need serious correction. Yes America some solid tough times need to come up. However you want feel good and to get into it deeper. You can listen to a pied piper who is unqualified for the top position and lacks the decision making skills.

K of WA 8:06PM September 15, 2008

Investment firms: The problem wasn't mortgages, it was mortgage backed securities that even financial experts couldn't explain. But the return was high, so greed reigned. That's what happens with no regulation and management only concerned about next quarter's profit statement.
Automobile companies: They only looked 3 months ahead. See above. The incompetent management couldn't see that oil prices were on a steady rise? Anyone who read the daily news, on whatever format saw it coming. They should be fired. The workers and retirees at those companies will pay the price, along with the traditional stuckee, us taxpayers. Why is it that foreign companies in America at successful in building cars, management has a clue! And it's not about no union workers.
Stock market : Greed and a 280 percent turnover in stocks every day tells the story. It's a gambler's world, not an investor's. Lehman would have done OK except for the stock price. Gambling on a rumor on Wall Street is today's more.
Government: Simply living above their means, especially for the last 4 years. Get ready to open your wallet.

of AZ 7:51PM September 15, 2008

To the banking deregulation of the 80's. The GOP pushed for deregulation, but the Congress was controlled by the Democratic Party, and signed by President Reagan.
But we do need change, and I'm no longer certain that Senator McCain, as much as I respect and admire him, represents that change.
The upcoming debates need to focus on the economy and not the fluff that the media has focused on so far.

Dan S of MA 5:12PM September 15, 2008

The reason why we face a collapsing economy is because for the last eight years the Bush administration has bent over backwards to fuel the greed and imcompetence of big coporations at the expense of the working, middle class. The insistence by the Bush administration to continue cutting taxes for big oil coporations while we spend $ 9billion a month in Iraq according to the CBO.
It used to be that in times like these, the American president would rally WallStreet and the American people to each bear the shared burden of fighting two wars in the Middle East. Instead, under this president, mortgage banks went wild issuing flawed home loans, while oil companies take tax cuts and then raise prices, leaving the American consumer in a desperate spot.
John McCain is essentially promising even steeper tax cuts for the big coporations.Even former Fed. Chairman Alan Greenspan who has served presidents from Reagan to Bush 43 is warning against McCain's tax cut promise. Greenspan arg

of 1:28PM September 15, 2008

You could have bought Lehman Brother shares for $65 in February and held on to them today for twenty cents. Or you could have shorted (or bought puts or sold calls of) Lehman in February and be a very happy person today. There are always winners. Do as a leming and become one or stand out on your own.

K of WA 1:15PM September 15, 2008