As a spiritual-futurist, I have a BA degree majoring in history. One cannot know the future without knowing the past which holds clues to what is on the horizon. The world is in such a rapid expansion of knowledge that we are close to entering a tipping point that will forever change earth as we know it.
It seems that the press is always in need of someone or something to grab their attention, if only for a few days. It's also obvious that slowly the infatuation with Obama is dimming and the gloves are coming off. So, think it not strange that people want to know how it is that Obama has allowed (what did he know and when did he know it?) AIG to pay such outrageoous bonuses?
Barack Obama's Big Bang Theory of Governance is starting to face its first big test among the new president's fellow Democrats. At the White House Tuesday morning, Obama began the day with a sharp push-back against the idea that his uncommonly ambitious agenda on health care, energy and other initiatives is too much, too soon. And adding fuel to the fire was the AIG issue. Is this how everything is going to be done?
As Obama's remarks echoed on Capitol Hill, it soon became clear that the skeptics are not just Republicans.
One headline has Barack Obama getting paid a BONUS fro AIG as well- more than $100,000. Of course what the sgtory line tells us is that AIG gave Barack a $100,000+ campain contribution. So, what's new? Every large corporation makes campaign pledges and contributions.
Edward M. Liddy, chairman and CEO of American International Group Inc. since last fall, faces tough questions Wednesday from members of Congress over the princely employee bonuses paid out by the money-losing insurance giant that have outraged lawmakers and much of the American public. AIG, which has received $170 billion in government assistance, is paying more than $200 million in bonuses to keep employees from fleeing its troubled financial products division. On Wednesday, Liddy will pull up a chair at a congressional witness table and take the heat.
Meanwhile, here is rising doubt among Democrats - particularly moderates already concerned about the big costs and deficits called for in Obama's budget - that either Obama or Washington have enough bandwidth this year to stimulate the economy, overhaul the failed financial sector and move on to a far-reaching domestic agenda. "From the standpoint of the Congress, there's only so much that we can absorb and do at one time," Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, told POLITICO Tuesday. "To maintain a schedule like the one we've got at this moment, throughout the year, I don't know if it will be healthy."
The fear at the Wite House is that the AIG bashing could turn into White House bashing. Maybe? :-)
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