How Well Is President Obama Handling the AIG Bonus Outrage?

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From what I understand, if the bailout money went to every household in the country. Everyone would have close to 500,000 dollars. What would everyone do with that?? You think maybe it would be pumped back into the economy then? I think AIG's bailout money should be revoked.

Steve of OK 9:54AM March 29, 2009

My View is that the president is giving our taxpayers hard earned money to big corporations who are not worthy of these gifts and who should have done the right thing when they could.....but they did not....they deserve to go broke because they gave credit to people without proper assets and because the loaning companies failed to explain the real terms of the mortgage....in plain talk....deceptive advertising and promotion.... In my youth I had to wear a white shirt every working day......to day I will wear a white shirt at a wedding or a funeral.....cordially.....

Steve S. Roisman of CA 3:35PM March 18, 2009

If AIG now belongs to us 'WE THE PEOPLE' than I want to sell my share!!! IT's My Money and I want it NOW!!!!

D.W. Turner of LA 2:12AM March 18, 2009

I vote for all of the states in America to break away from Washington D.C. Let the crooks in Washington have at themselves. They do not know what America really stands for.
When you hire a man who was not paying his taxes to be in charge of the IRS, and Treasury Dept. how can anyone expect him to be honest with anyone's money. So far all I have seen from this administration is lies, confusion, spending money we don't have, and a horrible feeling of what could happen to we the American people. Something lawful needs to happen before all of our rights are taken away, and we are under a socialist government. Is anyone out there happy with the way Obama is handing things?
I used to be a Republican, I will not become a Democrat, Perhaps there needs to another party started. Any ideas?

Marge of IN 1:57AM March 18, 2009

This is a case of Congress and Obama attacking AIG and the individuals receiving the bonuses. We should all be outraged and frightened.
What are AIG and these individuals doing wrong? Well, AIG is living up to promises it made to its employees... that doesn't sound wrong, does it? And these individuals lived up to their side of the agreement with AIG. Still fine. In fact, neither did anything wrong.
We're upset because AIG took money from the government. Is that wrong? The US government handed out money with no strings attached, so AIG accepted the favor. Maybe that's not a great idea, but it's certainly not wrong.
No, the ones we should all be upset at is the congressmen and administration officials who offered the money in the first place. THEY handed our tax dollars to AIG, the company who hands out this kind of bonus. THEY then complained that the legislation THEY WROTE AND PASSED didn't include provisions they wanted it to. And somehow we're supposed to blame AIG for congress's mistakes?
But it gets worse. So AIG and the individuals did nothing wrong, and yet Obama and congressional leaders are seeking the largest punishments they can possibly attack these individuals with. Doesn't that sound just a bit frightening to anyone else? They screw up and seek to bring down private citizens in return?
We need to boot these clowns out of power, the sooner the better.

Chris Carlin of VA 5:30PM March 17, 2009

What on earth would someone do to warrent a 4 to 6 million dollar bonus. People are loosing their homes and livelyhood. Can the goverment sit and do nothing while the people they are suppose to protect suffer.
Its time for our goverment to stand up and fix the problem, no more double talk.

B.E.Thomas of NY 5:29PM March 17, 2009

Here are the first two paragraphs of The Declaration of Independence. It's up to us as the people of this country to take action.
"When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

TJ of NY 4:53PM March 17, 2009

yes you are a pigg to take the money & then give it to your constituts i hope you are taxed propley & dont enjoy your money

earl cloe of IN 3:00PM March 17, 2009

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 2:15PM March 17, 2009

Obama, as Bush before him, just keeps slopping the hogs in hopes that something good might come out of it. Let's see... Bush deregulated an already notoriously greed-based industry and said, the industry will regulate itself. We're now having to pay and pay for such foolishness.
The "industry" is only concerned with one and only one thing: their own personal profit. Their greed, hubris and dishonesty know no bounds. And sadly, the Obama administration is listening to the very folks who are at the root of the problem. AIG too big to fail? No one is too big to fail. Was Rome to big to fail?
If the current administration is still hell-bent on propping up failed policies and poorly run businesses, at least do this: Fire ALL the executives if a company takes tax dollars to keep it afloat. If these executives were such a great asset, then the company wouldn't need a bailout. Handing billions to the same idiots that crushed their company and OUR economy is sheer lunacy. We're seeing what they are doing with our money. Giving it to themselves!! And the excuse is, "We've got a contract!" Come on. What's it going to take to find a couple of ounces of common sense in Washington?
Hope? Change? Looks like business as usual to me.

Dorsey Dale of ID 2:07PM March 17, 2009