Geitner And Congressional Dems Knew Of AIG Bonuses Weeks Ago

U.S. Treasury Tim Geitner's claim that he was unaware of planned bonuses paid out to AIG execs until March 10th was caught in a lie by AIG president Edward Liddy in his testimony before Congress. DealBook busted Geitner on an apparent lie.

Representative Joseph Crowley, Democrat of New York, asked the Treasury secretary in an open hearing what could be done to stop American International Group from paying $165 million in bonuses to hundreds of employees in the very unit that had nearly destroyed the company.
Timothy F. Geithner, the Treasury secretary, responded by saying that executive pay in the financial industry had gotten 'out of whack' in recent years, and pledged to crack down on exorbitant pay at companies like A.I.G. that were being bailed out with billons of taxpayer dollars.

The exchange took place before the House Ways and Means Committee on March 3 — one week before Mr. Geithner claims he first learned that the failed insurance company was about to pay a round of bonuses that have since caused a political uproar.




The video clearly shows Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-NY) questioning Geitner on the compensation and bonuses slated to be paid out to AIG execs on March 3rd. Despite the plain spoken and detailed summation of the pending compensation packages outlined by Congressman Crowley in his remarks to Geitner Treasury Spokesman Isaac Baker has the chutzpah to say with a straight face, Secretary Geithner was not aware of the timing or full extent of the contractual retention payments or the other bonus programs until his staff brought them to his attention on March 10.

They must take the American public for absolute and complete fools!

The mask is coming off and even this administration's former cheering section is waking up to the train wreck now being played out in D.C.

The Politico writes on the leading media liberals starting to get way past the fading glow of Obama.

It's not unusual for Barack Obama to take a little friendly fire from the Times. But it's perhaps unprecedented for him to get hit on the same day by columnists Frank Rich, Thomas Friedman and Maureen Dowd—and in the paper's lead editorial. Their critique punctuated a weekend that started with a widely circulated blog post by Paul Krugman that said the president’s yet to be announced bank rescue plan would almost certainly fail.

The sentiment, coming just two months after the president was sworn in, reflects elite opinion in the Washington-New York corridor that Obama is increasingly overwhelmed, and not fully appreciative of the building tsunami of populist outrage.