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An Open Letter to Barney Frank, Christopher Dodd, and Charles Schumer

Submitted by Cahnman on Tue, 03/17/2009 - 15:05
in

Dear Senators Dodd and Schumer and Congressman Frank,

First things first, let me congratulate you for reaching a level of hypocritical grandstanding I thought impossible even for the United States' Congress.

Congressman Frank, you blocked oversight at Fannie and Freddie while you were dating a high ranking Fannie official.

Senator Dodd, you took a bribe from Angelo Mozillo to filibuster George W. Bush's attempts to reign in criminal excesses at Fannie and Freddie.

Senator Schumer, the 100% tax rate you propose on Wall Street bonuses violates the ex post facto clause in the United States Constitution.  Not that you care when you're up for re-election this cycle....

Furthermore, all three of you were crucial players in the decision to bailout Wall Street.  While you may personally disagree with some of the decisions those firms have made, the fact remains you had an oppotunity to let said firms fail six months ago.  Instead of letting Wall Street fail; you failed.

Once you decided to bail these firms out, you implicitly accepted responsibility for any unpopular business decisions said firms made.

Against that backdrop, I find your grandstanding over the compensation paid by the American International Group (AIG) utterly nauseating.  Said compensation, while perhaps unwise from a narrowly defined business perspective, is standard practice in the financial services industry.  Gentlemen, if you didn't want AIG engaging in standard business practices; THEN YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE BAILED THEM OUT IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!

Don't get me wrong: AIG screwed up and THEY SHOULD FAIL as a result (the fact that their screw up is a direct result of Elliot Spitzer's bullying is a topic for another day).  That said, Gentlemen, you are standing in the way of AIG's creative destruction.  Until you are willing to let AIG fail, your whines about executive compensation ring hollow.

Sincerely,

Adam Cahn

Austin, TX

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Comments

How is it that Schumer says

Submitted by Lonestar Bill on Tue, 03/17/2009 - 15:39.

How is it that Schumer says that Americans don't care about $9 Billion in "porky" earmarks, but can get worked up over $165 million in contracted bonuses? Why don't they READ the legislation before voting on it?

Giving bankrupt companies billions of dollars with no oversight or expectations is not leadership, it's madness.

It is amateur hour in Washington DC.

 

Heh!

Submitted by Cahnman on Tue, 03/17/2009 - 15:48.

Good Point Dude!

By the way, given that we both live in the Lone Star State, you BETTER vote for Rick Perry next year!

Adam

Of Course!

Submitted by Lonestar Bill on Tue, 03/17/2009 - 17:24.

But its a long road.

How is it that Schumer says

Submitted by Lonestar Bill on Tue, 03/17/2009 - 15:39.

How is it that Schumer says that Americans don't care about $9 Billion in "porky" earmarks, but can get worked up over $165 million in contracted bonuses? Why don't they READ the legislation before voting on it?

Giving bankrupt companies billions of dollars with no oversight or expectations is not leadership, it's madness.

It is amateur hour in Washington DC.

 

kucinich, among others, was calling for clawbacks

Submitted by RisingTide on Tue, 03/17/2009 - 16:00.

and graham has called for nationalization.

Would you sacrifice your children for the sake of your oaths to your country?

Kindly think about what you're asking of our President, before flipping out.

9 billion is all a matter of perspective -- most people getting those earmarks seem to like 'em, after all.

Tester reads his legislation, even the stuff that the republicans pitch a bloody fit about "not having time to read."

Kucinich?

Submitted by Lonestar Bill on Tue, 03/17/2009 - 16:26.

I guess no one listened to him (SUPRISE). And he has sooo much credibility.

Thats the whole point . ..NOW they talk about clawbacks and the fingerpointing begins.

I'm asking the President and the Congress to carefully craft legislation rather than use scare tactics to fast track poorly written, problematic, politcally motivated crap. I don't think I have to sacrifice one of my four children for those idiots to do that (however, catch me on the right day . . .)

Who do you think were the largest recipents of AIG donations in the past few years .  .? Could it be the big, fat, stupid crook from AIG'shome state? Paging Mr. Dodd . . .who was second? (Hint-he's no CEO, but he plays one on television . . .)

http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/toprecips.php?id=D000000123

 

I've got credible sources saying that at least one of the banks

Submitted by RisingTide on Tue, 03/17/2009 - 16:34.

has threatened Obama's two daughters. And they've got the money and influence to pull off an assassination like that.

Don't you dare get between me and my Kucinich hate! MINE! But in all seriousness, the progressive caucus as a whole raised some great ideas, that the centrists and republicans said "no way in hell" to, so that they would look "socialistic" or some other jazz

Did you see what Kanjorski had to say? I know people in finance, and they said that if we didn't pass the bailout, we would have declared martial law in America. (Just in Time should be known permanently as Nearly Fail Logistics).

I'm not surprised about Dodd and AIG -- but he'll get more razzies from me for the bankruptcy bill he helped get through. Bad Dodd, no biscuit.

Would you rather have Tim Johnson take over, though? He is after all, next in line...

Riiiiiiight

Submitted by Cahnman on Tue, 03/17/2009 - 16:42.

The banks wanted to go after Sasha and Malia.  I hope you pardon my skepticism.

I hope this helps.

That is all.

Cahnman out.

you are incorrect in tense.

Submitted by RisingTide on Tue, 03/17/2009 - 16:47.

the comment was "if you nationalize us, then..."

in almost entirely unrelated news, the holocaust of weed has been postponed until after the next election or until such time as they actually have a seat in parliment.

how many billions do you suppose it would take?

Submitted by RisingTide on Tue, 03/17/2009 - 16:50.

for people who think of 100 billion as one chip in the game.... and who are fighting like cornered rats to not lose their jobs....

well, some things are possible when people are almost unbelievably stupid. I mean, look, someone had to actively talk the bush admin out of planning a terrorist attack on American shores. These are the sorts of things that we hope our leaders are smart enough not to do. Unfortunately, that isn't always the case, and the people on top of wall street are just as stupid as the rest of the Bush cronies.

burn baby burn!

Submitted by RisingTide on Tue, 03/17/2009 - 15:57.

yeehaw, let's all sit around the fire and trade tales about how America used to have cities!

yeeehaw, bankruptcy is fun!

Giving bankrupt companies

Submitted by ryan on Wed, 10/07/2009 - 11:53.

Giving bankrupt companies billions of dollars with no oversight or expectations is not leadership, it's madness. These are the sorts of things that we hope our single lawyers are smart enough not to do. I'm asking the President and the Congress to carefully craft legislation on getting ex-girlfriend back rather than use scare tactics to fast track poorly written, problematic, politcally motivated crap.