RUSH: Now, I’m going to put this AIG thing in perspective. The bonus money is just a cover. You gotta hear me on this. Everybody being outraged about the $165 million in bonuses is just a cover, ladies and gentlemen, for what AIG really did. ‘Goldman Sachs Group Inc and a parade of European banks were the major beneficiaries of $93 billion in payments from AIG — more than half of the US taxpayer money spent to rescue the massive insurer. The revelation on Sunday by American International Group Inc was another potential public relations nightmare, coming on the same weekend that the Obama administration expressed outrage over AIG’s plan to pay massive bonuses. The size of the payments also illustrates how seriously a potential collapse of AIG was viewed by the regulatory authorities. US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in an interview with CBS news magazine ’60 Minutes’ that the failure of AIG would have brought down the financial system. AIG, an embattled insurance giant that has received federal bailouts totaling $173 billion and is now paying $165 million in employee bonuses,’ they gave $93 billion to Goldman Sachs and other banks.
This is being covered up by the news on these bonuses, which are a smidgen, $165 million is a smidgen compared to $93 billion. So you could say that a lot of banks were bailed out with money that was not given directly to them. AIG was used as a clearinghouse. Government gives AIG $173 billion, and, bam, a total of $93 billion of that ends up at a bunch of European banks and Goldman Sachs. Now, where’s the outrage over that? There isn’t any outrage over that because that’s not being reported. Everyone’s got their underwear in a wad over the $165 million to employees. I mean, $165 million is a lot of money, don’t misunderstand, but out of $173 billion that AIG got, it’s a smidgen. Over half of what AIG got went to other banks in Europe and Goldman Sachs. I didn’t hear Obama address that. I didn’t hear Geithner address that. I haven’t heard Andrew Cuomo address that. All Andrew Cuomo’s demanding is a list of citizens. Andrew Cuomo is demanding a list of employees at AIG who got these bonuses, by four o’clock this afternoon. If his four o’clock deadline is not met, he says he’s going to issue subpoenas and seek court enforcement for that list of names. Meanwhile, $93 billion from AIG to Goldman Sachs and European banks, $165 million to employees of AIG.
Folks, don’t fall for this. It’s too late. I’m Paul Revere here shouting ‘the British are coming.’ The difference is nobody believes me. All right, let’s go to the phones. Carol in Buffalo, glad you called. New home of Terrell Owens, by the way, number 81. Great to have you here. Hi.
CALLER: Thank you. Thank you for taking my call.
RUSH: Yes, ma’am.
CALLER: I’m second generation of four generations listening to you. I was talking about the bailout and —
RUSH: Yes, ma’am.
CALLER: — the fact that the money was borrowed.
RUSH: Yes, ma’am.
CALLER: So even the money that they’re giving to these executives, it’s going to be given back, hopefully sooner or later. So they’re making this big thing, like you said, to cover up what’s really going on, which they’ve been doing all along.
RUSH: Well, your argument here is that these are loans that these companies are getting, right?
CALLER: Well that’s what they’ve led us to believe, isn’t it?
RUSH: Yeah, but remember, now, everything Obama’s teleprompter tells him to say has an expiration date. Barney Frank’s out there bragging, ‘We own 80% of the company, we’re going to start firing people. We own 80% of the company.’ Once the government gets its hands in something, I’m not aware of the government giving it back or taking its hands away. This is too exciting a prospect for people like Barney Frank and Chris Dodd and Nancy Pelosi, the other liberal Democrats up there. Carol, thanks much.
Here is Joe in Miami, nice to have you, sir. Hello.
CALLER: Yeah, Rush, I want to find out who’s responsible for them getting the bonuses. Isn’t it them, if they let ’em go bankrupt, the contracts would have been null and void, they wouldn’t have been up for those bonuses.
RUSH: That’s true, but you heard Bernanke say on 60 Minutes last night the financial system would have collapsed if they let AIG collapse.
CALLER: Yeah, but doesn’t AIG have any competitors, and if they do, aren’t those competitors getting a little angry about every time they think —
RUSH: They have competitors, but AIG does more than sell insurance. I mean, they’re a large insurance underwriter, there’s no question, American and international, but they bought into derivatives, they bought a whole bunch of worthless paper in the subprime mortgage.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: You know what? I’m looking at this New York Times blog entry here today on Andrew Cuomo. Andrew Cuomo has sent a letter to Ed Liddy, who was pardoned today. Obama’s teleprompter pardoned Edward Liddy, the current CEO of AIG. The prompter told Obama to say that Liddy had nothing to do with the bonuses, but apparently Cuomo’s not on board with that. Cuomo said he’s investigated the insurance company’s compensation plan since last fall. He has sent the letter to the government…
Liddy’s the government-appointed CEO, by the way. He’s the government-appointed CEO! (laughing) You know, I’m going to get a letter. I’ll bet you money I get a letter from AIG or my broker tomorrow saying my policies have been canceled. (laughing) No reason given. ‘You’re just too great a risk,’ even though I’ve never filed a claim. (laughing) Anyway, Cuomo is demanding the contracts guaranteeing these bonuses and the names of the individuals who developed and negotiated the contracts. So he wants the names of the execs who negotiated the contracts and the contracts, and he wants the names of the people getting the bonuses. Is he working out of the Reichstag or what? Does Albany have a Reichstag building in it? Or maybe there’s a Kremlin in it. This is the New York attorney general. Obama doesn’t have to lift a hand, he just has to have Andrew Cuomo go out and do his dirty work.
Have you seen the news of the tea party in Cincinnati over the weekend? Thousands of people showed up. These tea parties are blossoming and growing all over the fruited plain. People are fed up, and I’ll tell you what, it’s not about bonuses to AIG people. That’s not why these tea parties are taking place. These tea parties — God love you people doing them. These tea parties are taking place because people are tired of paying the freight for people who refuse to work, they’re tired of paying mortgages for people who are making no effort to pay them. They are tired of bailing out failed companies. They are tired of things like unions and card check being forced on small business. These tea parties are a direct result of an outrage at this administration for trying to wipe out the fundamental building blocks of this nation’s founding. That’s what’s under assault, capitalism and this nation’s founding, and that’s what these tea are all about. They’re not happening because of bonuses to people that work at AIG. One hundred fifty tea parties have taken place or are planned across the fruited plain.