{"id":1714,"date":"2009-03-19T16:23:00","date_gmt":"2009-03-19T20:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/?p=1714"},"modified":"2010-01-04T21:41:08","modified_gmt":"2010-01-05T02:41:08","slug":"damn-the-constitution-full-speed-ahead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/19\/damn-the-constitution-full-speed-ahead\/","title":{"rendered":"Damn the Constitution, Full Speed Ahead!"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is beyond priceless<\/a>:<\/p>\n

WASHINGTON — The House gave strong approval to legislation intended to recoup bonuses paid by American International Group Inc. and other recipients of federal aid, after a sharp-edged debate that dramatized populist outrage over the government’s sweeping efforts to prop up the nation’s financial system.<\/p>\n

The legislation was rushed to the floor by Democratic leaders amid a storm of protest among rank-and-file lawmakers over AIG’s decision to pay bonuses to hundreds of current and former employees, while receiving more than $100 billion in taxpayer assistance. Approved on a 328-93 vote, the measure would impose a 90% surtax on the disputed payments, effective for bonuses made after Dec. 31, 2008.<\/p>\n

The legislation would apply widely to payments by all institutions that have received at least $5 billion in taxpayer aid. The special levy would be in addition to existing income taxes, and would apply to bonuses received by individuals with at least $250,000 in adjusted gross income.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To recap\u2026 Congress committed an act of supreme legislative malpractice by passing a Bill<\/a> that no one had to time read, much less digest or debate… and now they\u2019re compounding that mistake by passing what amounts to an unconstitutional Bill of Attainder to cover their tracks.<\/p>\n

Lovely,\u00a0 just lovely… Damn the Constitution, full speed ahead!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is beyond priceless: WASHINGTON — The House gave strong approval to legislation intended to recoup bonuses paid by American International Group Inc. and other recipients of federal aid, after a sharp-edged debate that dramatized populist outrage over the government’s sweeping efforts to prop up the nation’s financial system. The legislation was rushed to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[128,524,521,160,1365],"class_list":{"0":"post-1714","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-politics","7":"tag-aig","8":"tag-bill-of-attainder","9":"tag-bonuses","10":"tag-congress","11":"tag-taxes","12":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfpI7-rE","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1730,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/20\/the-last-grownup-john-kyl-puts-the-breaks-on-rush-to-tax-aig-bonuses\/","url_meta":{"origin":1714,"position":0},"title":"The last Grownup: John Kyl Puts the Breaks on Rush to Tax AIG Bonuses","author":"Jeff","date":"March 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"We got into this mess because Congress and the administration rushed through the Stimulus bill without sufficient time for legislators to review and debate the bill. Now Congress is trying to compound one set of mistakes with another by rushing through a bill to tax the retention bonuses paid to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1775,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/23\/unintended-consequences-aig-bonus-tax-could-have-painful-side-effects\/","url_meta":{"origin":1714,"position":1},"title":"Unintended Consequences: AIG Bonus Tax Could Have Painful Side Effects","author":"Jeff","date":"March 23, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Haste makes waste my grandmother used to say... When it comes to legislation haste often leads to unintended consequences. Take for example congresses rush to pass a 90 percent tax on the retention bonuses paid to executives at AIG (emphasis mine): Lawmakers bellowed with outrage last week following revelations that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Economy"","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/economy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1811,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/26\/let-the-exodus-begin\/","url_meta":{"origin":1714,"position":2},"title":"Let the Exodus Begin…","author":"Jeff","date":"March 26, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Jake DeSantis may have been the most public buts he's not the only one at AIG Finacial Products who's cleaning out his desk: NEW YORK (Reuters) - Several more employees are leaving the controversial financial products unit that brought American International Group Inc to its knees last year, according to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Economy"","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/economy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1708,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/19\/congressman-mccotter-slams-stimulus-yes-voters-for-protecting-aig-executive-bonuses\/","url_meta":{"origin":1714,"position":3},"title":"Congressman McCotter Slams Stimulus “Yes” Voters for Protecting AIG Executive Bonuses","author":"Jeff","date":"March 19, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm about ready to make Rep. Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan my adopted Congressman: \"Facts are hard things to disprove.\u00a0 Every single Democrat in this House that voted for that bill voted to approve and protect those AIG bonuses.\u00a0 Every single Democrat in the Senate that voted for that stimulus bill,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Economy"","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/economy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1700,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/19\/chris-dodd-was-against-aigs-bonuses-before-he-was-for-them\/","url_meta":{"origin":1714,"position":4},"title":"Chris Dodd Was Against AIG’s Bonuses Before He Was For Them???","author":"Jeff","date":"March 19, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"It's getting so you can't follow the twist and turns in the AIG retantion bonus kerfufle without a map... It now looks like Chris Dodd was against the bonuses before he was for them but now he's against them: For a while, the disappearance of an executive bonus restriction from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1695,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/17\/the-hits-keep-coming-chris-dodd-was-for-aig-bonuses-before-we-was-against-them\/","url_meta":{"origin":1714,"position":5},"title":"The Hits Keep Coming: Chris Dodd Was For AIG Bonuses Before He Was Against Them","author":"Jeff","date":"March 17, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"From Fox Business (emphasis mine): Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) on Monday night floated the idea of taxing American International Group (AIG: 0.9194, 0.1393, 17.86%) bonus recipients so the government could recoup some or all of the $450 million the company is paying to employees in its financial products unit. Within\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Economy"","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/economy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1714\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}