Psssst! They’re All Lying!!!

When it comes to Barack’s Bailout Bonanza Brouhaha, everybody responsible for the current “outrage” about the debacle is lying their head off through their perfectly capped teeth.  Case in point, The Dodd Amendment supposedly “snuck” into the stimulus bill that allegedly restricted the bonuses to be paid executives employed by companies receiving government handouts.  First, the amendment was there, then it wasn’t.  Dodd said he didn’t change it, then he said he did. The exact sequence of events seems deliberately fuzzy.  What, exactly did Dodd do, and when did he do it?

By February 4, Obama had angrily shaken his finger at “shameful” Wall Street executive excess and had issued new rules regarding their future compensation that even he, via MSNBO, admitted were “symbolic.”

The limits would not apply retroactively to any bank that received money from the first half of the $700 bailout allocated by Congress. For example, the restriction would not apply to such firms as American International Group Inc., Bank of America Corp., and Citigroup Inc., that already have received such help.

But Obama touted the broad symbolism of his action.

February 10, the International Herald Tribune noted that the toothless language was all Geithner’s:

The Obama administration’s new plan to bail out the nation’s banks was fashioned after a spirited internal debate that pitted the Treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, against some of the president’s top political hands.

In the end, Geithner largely prevailed in opposing tougher conditions on financial institutions that were sought by presidential aides, including David Axelrod, a senior adviser to President Barack Obama, according to administration and congressional officials.

Geithner, who was to announce the broad outlines of the plan on Tuesday, successfully pushed back against more severe limits on executive pay for companies receiving government aid. He resisted those who pushed to dictate how banks will spend their rescue money.

On February 14, the Wall Street Journal reported that Christopher Dodd had inserted retroactive limits on bonuses into the stimulus bill that the Obministration opposed.  They also reported that Dodd was pressured by Treasury Secretary, Turbo Tax Timmy Geithner, tax cheat (TTTG,tc) and Lawrence Summers:

The administration is concerned the rules will prompt a wave of banks to return the government’s money and forgo future assistance, undermining the aid program’s effectiveness. Both Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Lawrence Summers, who heads the National Economic Council, had called Sen. Dodd and asked him to reconsider, these people said.

However, it seems that the language allowing bonuses to be paid to people with existing contracts was always included:

The bill carves out an exception for those whose employment contracts require payment of an annual bonus. Some top finance-industry executives don’t have contracts; the language in others’ agreements may or may not exempt them from the restrictions.

Politico’s report of Dodd’s amendment is even more detailed, and again points to Geithner as the driving force behind opposition to strict limitations on executive bonuses.  Their report also makes clear that Dodd’s rules exempted contracts existing before February 11:

Additionally, the rules in the stimulus bill apply not only to companies that receive bailout funds in the future, but also to those that have received TARP money in the past – although executive bonuses doled out in contracts signed before February 11 would not be impacted.

So, nobody “snuck” anything anywhere; the President and his Boy Wonder have always been about protecting the banksters while appearing to sympathize with their victims, and when Dodd says the language in the stimulus bill was the result of lobbying from the Treasury Department, it seems he’s the only one who’s not lying.  Yet, in today’s coverage of Dodd’s apparent “No I didn’t, yes, I did,” tap dancing, Politico makes no effort to clear things up, instead taking the “he told CNN he didn’t, right before he told them he did” easy way out, only adding to the confusion, and shifting the blame away from TTTG,tc, where it obviously belongs.

Additionally, the stimulus bill provision allegedly proposed by Senators Ron Wyden, Democrat, and Republican Olympia Snowe, to tax executive bonuses at 35% was also killed by the Obministration, namely Geithner and Summers.  The two Senators seem reluctant to include the head honcho in their blame game, though, if Fox News is quoting Wyden correctly:

“I think the administration, at best, is sending mixed messages,” he said. “You have the president being very forthright and very blunt…My sense is that the economic team has not followed up.”

Obama owns his mom’s boss‘ “uniquely qualified” kid, has foisted him upon the American public, and continues to back him unequivocally.  Any, and all, confusion surrounding the bailout bonus issue is the result of Obama’s purposeful rabble rousing and misdirection, plain old-fashioned Obama ass kissing, and sloppy media “Obamessiah can do no wrong” cheerleading disguised as journalism.  Even the allegation that Dodd was deliberately trying to protect AIG because of his relationship to the company loses steam when the fact that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and others have been screwing the loophole, too, is considered.  Remember, Obama wants you mad, otherwise, you might balk at his “ambitious” budget plans to change capitalism and enact fundamental, foundational change.