So, the bonuses were to be paid, it would appear, on paychecks to be cut on Sunday at AIG.
From The Wall Street Journal via Josh Marshall, Secretary Geithner and AIG CEO Edward Liddy apparently spoke on Wednesday about the bonuses, with letter to follow on Saturday, referring to the Sunday payments.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, Chairman Barney Frank of the House Financial Services Committee is talking on Fox News Sunday, via Reuters, about how “[w]e need to find out whether these bonuses are legally recoverable.”
Of course, being Barney, he wasn’t done, per TPM:
“Who said and at what point, ‘We’re going to give these bonuses no matter what.’ And I do think it’s inappropriate for those people to stay in power at that company,” he said.
I commented to a friend earlier this evening that I really think this bonus story is going to turn tomorrow. This is the Citi plane; this is the step too far. Once the Hill gets running in the morning, egged on by the CNN/MSNBC/FoxNews/etc. machine, this is going to be the “picture of greed” for the day. Once you add in John Aravosis’ smart observation regarding the way the auto unions were treated by the Republicans during the auto industry bailout discussions, I think you’ve got the perfect storm for a true Washington turning point.
I don’t see how this money stays in the hands of those who received it on Sunday.
More important, why did Geithner not blow this up on Wednesday or Thursday? Was Liddy not clear until Saturday as to his decision on the bonuses?
This is going to blow up — big — in the morning. Just watch.
[UPDATE: Bloomberg, with quotes from Lawrence Summers that sound a little too weak and deferential to AIG from my view.]
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Chris Geidner is the award-winning senior political editor at D.C.'s Metro Weekly and has written for The Atlantic Online, The American Prospect, Advocate.com, Salon and other publications, as well as at his blog, Law Dork. In 2011, he received the Excellence in News Writing Award from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for his coverage of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" repeal. Prior to moving to D.C. in 2009, he served as an attorney on the senior staff at the Ohio Attorney General's Office and had earlier worked for a leading Columbus law firm. An extended biography can be found