This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, March 17, 2009 - U.S. Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond went on the attack today on the Senate floor, blasting "the bonuses being paid to AIG after the taxpayers had to bail out the bank again."
But Bond, R-Mo., also faulted President Barack Obama's administration for "not blocking this misuse of taxpayer money when it approved the release of additional $30 billion for AIG earlier this month and for continuing to fail to address the root of our economic crisis."
“The failed senior executives and the board of directors should have been fired when the government first had to step in and rescue the company,” said Bond. “If any worker in Missouri or in any state across the nation drove their company into the ground – they would be fired. They wouldn’t receive a bonus.; This double standard for Wall Street versus Main Street is another reason why Americans are so mad about how their tax dollars are being used.”
In particular, Bond blamed ;Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner "for failing to prevent this payout. AIG’s intention to pay these bonuses has been no secret, and the administration was completely aware of the payments," the senator said in a statement. "When the administration gave AIG an additional $30 billion in taxpayer funds earlier this month, Treasury Secretary Geithner could have ensured taxpayer dollars wouldn’t be used to pay the some $170 million in bonuses."
Bond said the debacle was "just another example of (Geithner's) failed leadership."
But Bond contended that the greater problem was the Obama administration's "ad-hoc and knee-jerk reaction to each crisis," when he said has "resulted in throwing billions in good taxpayer dollars in to failing banks."
"Instead of this failed approach, the administration needs to be focused on fixing the root of the problem -– the toxic assets clogging our credit system,'' Bond said.
He reiterated his own plan called the "American Credit Cleanup Plan," which Bond said is patterned after the Reagan administration's handling of the savings-and-loan problems in the 1980s. Bond’s approach, which he calls "tried and tested," hinges on three steps:
"1) Identify failing institutions;
"2) Remove the toxic assets, protect the depositors, and remove the failed leadership; and
"3) Return healthy, cleansed banks into the private sector."
