I wanted to make one more point about the revelation from Andrew Cuomo’s letter to Barney Frank that some of those getting “retention” bonuses are gone from AIG.

I have participated in the preparation of a number of “retention offers.” In every case it was in exchange for the recipient agreeing to stay, and offered because the recipient was an employee who was expected to do exceptional service to the institution.

These AIG “retention bonuses” seem to have nothing to do with merit (in the service of the institution) and nothing to do with the long-term interest of the instution. Instead they seem to be good-old-boys slipping taxpayer dollars to good-old-boys.

IMHO, we shouldn’t, and don’t need to, put up with that.

I think I need to go looking for torches this weekend. (I have the pitchfork.)

The word on the street is that short selling is (and has been) the way to big gains on Wall Street. When short selling is the word on the street, its time to go long.

Did that come straight from STREET.COM?

AIG’s “system” has or is crashing, as is this entire business line. I supposes the wider financial system hasn’t yet crashed, but it must be deeply discounting the instruments at issue here. Which suggests the wider market for these instruments has crashed, but everybody is pretending otherwise until each player gets a fix on its own losses.

There’s a terrible financial mess out there and it needs to be cleared up and the people are angry at silliness like bonuses for failing companies. While Republicans might try to take advantage of this moment to bash Obama it is the public anger which should lift Democrats in Congress as they regulate regulate regulate the financial industry.

This shall be a real stress test. Do not turn off your Internet.

The Goopers want to embarrass Obama by using the AIG Retention Bonuses to show his ‘incompetence.’

That’s fine. Turnabout is fair play.

The Dems should summon the AIG FP Traders, and the AIG Executive Management Team from the Feb. 2008 time-frame, to Congress – next week, if possible.

On camera, in front of America, those AIG Thugs should be made to give the Whole History of the ‘retention bonuses’ for 2008.

Why? Because those Traders knew that 2008 was going to be a Tank Year before it happened – and then they wrote their “Too Clever to Stop Us” Retention Bonuses – tied to their 2007 bonus levels – which they then Steered All the Way Through the Bailout.

I guarantee there’s a Story in there – a story of calculated and conspiratorial Greed – that All Took Place on Bush’s Watch – involving AIG, Goldman-Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Paulson and Bush.

So, we parade those Arrogant AIG Criminals in front of the cameras – and Nothing Good can happen for the Goopers – but We might, at long last, begin to see into the Massive Incompetence and Ciminal Culpability of the Bush Administration, who dumped this on US.

If I had to guess, and it’s just a guess, I’d say the entire Financial System ‘broke’ sometime in late 2007/early 2008. However, rather than deal with it then, the Bush Administration directed ‘key’ players on Wall Street to ‘cook the books’ until the new administration came in, and – guess what? – “I’ll even get you a Big Bailout, with no strings attached, and no liability, too, before I leave.”

Doesn’t that sound just like something Bush would do?

Let’s have the Goopers join US in finding out the Truth – in the bi-partisan spirit of cleaning-up Wall Street for the good of America!

So we are about to drill down to the management of retirement funds.

Anyone hear what the Repubs are suggesting be done about this? It HAS to be crickets.

Word is that Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.), chair of the House Armed Services Committee’s subcommittee on strategic forces and a staunch superdelegate for presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, is in line for a top post at the State Department, most likely for the undersecretary for arms control and nonproliferation slot…

And Ellen while knows nada, zip, zero about arms control and nonproliferation, getting her butt out of Congress is probably a plus.

Z