Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DMaA who wrote (297011)	3/18/2009 2:54:10 PM
From: mph	3 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793838

3/16/2009 Remember Who ELSE got paid by AIG? Filed under: General — Karl @ 1:55 pm [Posted by Karl] As Pres. Obama tries to lead the “outrage” over bonuses paid to execs at troubled insurance giant AIG — and AIG’s payments to foreign banks, etc. — with the taxpayers’ money, let’s take a moment to remember which taxpayer employees got paid by AIG: Over time, AIG hasn’t shown an especially partisan streak, splitting evenly the $9.3 million it has contributed since 1989. In the last election cycle, though, 68 percent of contributions associated with the company went to Democrats. Two senators who chair committees charged with overseeing AIG and the insurance industry, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), are among the top recipients of AIG contributions. Baucus chairs the Senate Finance Committee and has collected more money from AIG in his congressional career than from any other company–$91,000. And with more than $280,000, AIG has been the fourth largest contributor to Dodd, who chairs the Senate’s banking committee. President Obama and his rival in last year’s election, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), are also high on the list of top recipients. AIG has been a personal investment for lawmakers, too. Twenty-eight current members of Congress reported owning stock in AIG last year, worth between $2.5 million and $3.3 million. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), one of the richest members of Congress, was by far the biggest investor in AIG, with stock valued around $2 million. The list also includes Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY). All of which is undoubtedly coincidental to strings not being attached to the AIG bailout in the first instance. Granted, the populist “outrage” over the AIG bonuses may be misplaced, as populism so often is. At least we can enjoy the prospect of those pols who fanned the populist flame looking impotent, hypocritical, disingenuous, or like the tools of their donors, instead of their constituents. –Karl patterico.com

To: DMaA who wrote (297011)	3/18/2009 2:56:35 PM
From: mph	3 Recommendations Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793838

Obama, Dodd Outraged at AIG Campaign Cash by Scott Ott for ScrappleFace · 48 Comments (2009-03-17) — As the furor over AIG executive bonuses threatened to bring the current economic recovery to a halt, President Barack Obama and Sen. Chris Dodd today threw fuel on the fire, announcing their “fierce outrage” upon hearing that the insurance giant had given each of their campaigns more than $100,000 last year. “While AIG was collapsing, and her executives crawling to DC with hat in hand,” said Sen. Dodd, D-CT, “my campaign, and then-Senator Obama’s were getting what can only be termed influence bonuses from the same firm. Naturally, I knew nothing about this, and I’m now seething with anger at the injustice.” President Obama and Sen. Dodd were the two largest recipients of campaign contributions from the beleaguered company, and the only politicians to garner six-figure amounts from AIG in 2008 — $103,100 for Sen. Dodd and $100,332 for presidential candidate Obama. AIG, which has received $170 billion in taxpayer cash from the federal government since September, gave more than $585,000 to Congressional and presidential candidates last year, favoring Democrats 3-to-1 over Republicans. In unrelated news, Sen. Dodd proposed legislation requiring AIG political gifts to be returned to the U.S. Treasury, “exempting only those campaign contributions made before November 4, 2008.” The senator’s office immediately issued a statement declaring that Sen. Dodd was not aware that he had proposed such the exemption. scrappleface.com