Geithner on AIG Bonuses: "outrageous failure of policy"

Today, Geithner called the bonuses, which were negotiated years ago, an "outrageous failure of policy."


On 1/28/2010:
"I'll carry the burden of those decisions forever, but I'm very proud and confident in the decisions we made," Geithner told CNN's Christine Romans. "The American people in the crisis got a very raw deal, but it would have been worse if their government let the financial system fail."

AIG was "the basic symbol of unfairness" and acknowledged that "people should be outraged by this," Geithner said. He urged Americans to turn their furor into support for measures in Congress to change the rules that govern banks and financial firms.

March 19, 2009 in an interview with CNN
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner confirmed Thursday that the department did talk to Sen. Chris Dodd about a clause he put forth in the stimulus legislation that would have strictly limited executive bonuses.

The Treasury Department was concerned that legislation that would restrict contractual bonuses would not hold up to legal challenges, Geithner said in an interview with CNN's Ali Velshi.

"We expressed concern about this specific version. We wanted to make sure it was strong enough to survive legal challenge," Geithner said.

"It's my responsibility; I was in a position where I didn't know about those sooner. I take full responsibility for that," he said.

Hey Geithner, on 9/17/2008, AIG accepted $85 billion from the U.S. government at which point the government took an 80% ownership in the company. To date, congress is still debating financial reform details. You want us Americans to “turn our furor into support for measures in Congress to change the rules”. WHAT MEASURES?

If you had some real life private industry experience Mr. Geithner, you might comprehend that when one owns 80% of anything, you call the shots. It is the natural order of things!