AIG's Relationship With Obama
CBS News
Transcript
on a day when much of washington churned with anger over aig bonuses the president simply changed the subject with a series of lighthearted events celebrating st patrick's day he never mentioned aig in public leaving that to press secretary robert gibbs who defended embattled treasury secretary tim geithner the president has complete confidence gibbs insisted the aig bonuses would be even bigger if geithner hadn't intervened last week but gibbs had nothing on the central question of when the president learned of the aig bonuses i have not talked to the president specifically about when he was informed he insisted the president's expression of outrage yesterday over aig was real even though his economic team had just signed off on the bonuses i don't think anybody on capitol hill should doubt the genuineness of the outrage and he could not say what will happen later this year when aig employees are scheduled to get yet another 230 million dollars in bonuses the federal government owns 80 of aig can the president simply say no we're not making those money again i'd refer you to a contract lawyer which i'm not one frustration over bank bailouts is reflected in the new cbs news poll with 48 percent feeling resentful over giving money to banks there is some good news for the administration while 41 percent of americans think the economy is getting worse that's down 10 points from last month and the percent who think the economy is getting better has more than doubled from 8 to 19 on a grim no 84 percent think the recession will last at least a year but americans are willing to be patient with 60 percent saying they can wait a year or two for the president's plan to work with secretary geithner under relentless attack late today the treasury department issued a timeline showing what he knew and when the bottom line he didn't learn about the bonuses until exactly a week ago that raises the question though if he didn't know who did and why didn't they do more this story is going to go on and on maggie no doubt about that chip reid at the white house thank you chip
New Rules For Madoff Victims
CBS News
Transcript
like thousands of madeof investors John and Reena graner were discipline Savers raising their two daughters in a modest home on Long Island Saving for college and retirement all gone how much did you think that you had 700,000 every year since their marriage in 1991 they paid taxes on the income from their madeof Investments any idea how much in taxes just the taxes I got to say 200,000 each year they filed IRS tax forms based on Phantom profits reported on their Investments by maid off who is now locked up in New York City awaiting sentencing in June even though the grineer made no withdrawals made off scam forced investors to pay taxes on investment gains profits that turned out to be phony if I was paying taxes on false profits I expect the government to give me my tax money back today IRS commissioner Douglas Schulman issued new rules for victims of made off and other Ponzi schemes to get some of their money taxpayer May deduct uh all of theed earnings on which the investor paid taxes today's ruling involved the IRS theft loss deduction here's how it's expected to work for the granies 95% of their original madeof investment is tax deductible that's about $285,000 so are the phony profits of $400,000 made off claims they made the final amount would be reduced produced by any recovered funds from insurance or other payouts they should be able to rec recoup several hundred th000 in taxes the gr's attorney praised the new guidelines they've attempted to be compassionate about it um they've attempted that to provide relief to a broad population of people that are affected by it board into the American Dream Work Hard save your money do the best you can for your family I want my money back for the granaries and other madeof victims with billions wiped out today's news may be the first step on the long road to financial recovery Randle Pinkston CBS News Kings Park New York
Reaction to AIG bonuses
CNN
Transcript
When a child breaks his curfew, he should get grounded. When someone commits a crime, he should be punished. And when an employee brings his company and our economy to the brink, he's not rewarded with multi-million dollar bonuses paid by the taxpayers. Congress is taking several affirmative steps to deal with this outrage. Of course, we're talking about AIG and the bonuses. Two weeks ago, the President's spokesman said that they were confident that they knew how every dime was being spent at AIG. But clearly, they didn't know what they were talking about. I think this is outrageous, and I think the American people are rightly outraged that their tax returns are not going to be paid. I think the American people are rightly outraged that their tax returns are not going to be paid. My colleagues and I are sending a letter to Mr. Liddy informing him that he can go right ahead and tell these employees that are scheduled to get bonuses that they should voluntarily return them, because if they don't, we plan to virtually tax all of it. He should tell these employees if they don't give the money back, we'll put in place a new law that will allow us to tax these bonuses at a very high rate, so that it's returned to its rightful owners, the taxpayers. So for those of you who are getting these bonuses, be forewarned. You will not be getting to keep them. Where were they when they were about to hand them a check for $30 billion on this issue? It is hard to believe they were truly surprised about these bonuses a mere two weeks later. If we can't kill the big bonuses, we are going to tax the big bonuses. We are going to tax the big bonuses back. It is a clear, it is a fair, it is a transparent, it is the most efficient and effective way to recoup the losses that taxpayers experienced. My bill simply creates a new bracket in the tax code for people who took the taxpayers' money through TARP and then tried to rip off the taxpayer through a big bonus. It would tax bonuses in excess of $100,000 for TARP recipients at a 100% tax rate. It's pure and simple. From my standpoint, it's irresponsible for corporations to give bonuses at this time when they are so sucking the tit of the taxpayer. We need to make sure that we move along to give an ethic to corporate America. Today I introduced H.R. 1542, the AIG Taxpayer Protection Act. And despite the fact that the United States government owns 80% of AIG and has put in over $100,000, over $170 billion, AIG still paid out 165 million bonuses on Sunday. The American people are outraged. AIG's defense for this action was that it was contractually obligated to make these payments. Well, we are saying that we are obligated to get this taxpayer's money back.