Grassley clarifies his call for AIG execs to commit suicide: I want ‘contrition,’ ‘remorse,’ ‘full responsibility.’
Grassley clarifies his call for AIG execs to commit suicide: I want ‘contrition,’ ‘remorse,’ ‘full responsibility.’
Angered over the AIG’s decision to dole out bonuses to its top employees, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) yesterday caused a stir when he suggested the company’s executives should follow “the Japanese example” and resign or kill themselves. Grassley appeared this morning on Bloomberg TV, where he was given a chance to clarify his views. “Of course I don’t want anyone to go commit suicide,” he said. “But I do want some contrition. I want showing of remorse. I have not heard a single apology from a single Wall Street CEO.” He continued:
In the case of the Japanese, you know, they do one of two things. They either go commit suicide or they take a deep bow and say apologies and then sometimes resign. But they take full responsibility. And we’re not hearing that.
And obviously, I don’t want anyone to kill themselves because I don’t believe in that sort of thing. But I do believe that when you have done bad for your company, for your stockholders, and eventually for the taxpayer…you ought to say I’m sorry.
Watch it:
Responding to Grassley’s comments from yesterday, AIG spokesman Nick Ashoosh told MSNBC, “The remark is very disappointing. But AIG’s employees continue to work with poise and professionalism to take care of policyholders and repay taxes.”
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog Roll
This would be more convincing if Congresscritters would start admitting error and apologizing to their constituents whenever they screw up–which is never going to happen.
March 17th, 2009 at 10:45 amAIG’s employees continue to work with poise and professionalism to take screw policyholders and repay their own debts before they worry about the American public.
March 17th, 2009 at 10:46 amI actually agree with a Republican. They should kill themselves.
March 17th, 2009 at 10:46 amWooops,
AIG’s employees continue to work with poise and professionalism to screw policyholders and repay their own debts before they worry about the American public.
(fat fingers Tuesday)
March 17th, 2009 at 10:47 amIt’s time to play the shame game. Start naming names.
http://www.pufferfishblog.com/
March 17th, 2009 at 10:48 amGrassley clarifies his call for AIG execs to commit suicide: I want ‘contrition,’ ‘remorse,’ ‘full responsibility.’
Yeah, all the stuff we didn’t get from the bush execs…
March 17th, 2009 at 10:51 amBut, but, but Limbaugh said that they should be able to keep every last penny of their bonus.
Did Grassley check with Rush first?
¶ AIO
March 17th, 2009 at 10:52 amAIG should be blamed only inasmuch as they didn’t take the time to realize that it’s not business as usual.
No one raised this much stink when certain bonuses were handed out under Bush’s bailout because it was a wink wink nudge nudge that this was expected.
It’s a new game, and AIG got caught
March 17th, 2009 at 10:52 amNot quite related to the suicide comments, but this should be interesting once it’s posted over on Raw Story:
Reid: Bill to rescind AIG bonuses expected within 24 hours: Soon…
March 17th, 2009 at 10:53 ami like grassley but sometimes he speaks from his a$$ more than his brain.
if he wants aig’s execs to commit suicide, may be congress and the incompetent folks who worked for bush will be next in line. remember, congress also dropped the regulatory ball on this one, and grassley has been in the thick of this mess, too.
way to go, senator. you just condemn yourself.
March 17th, 2009 at 10:53 amShouldn’t Grassley take his own medicine?
March 17th, 2009 at 10:54 amOK — Grassley admits there’s a difference. (duh)
Even though I’m offended by calls for suicide, public executions, and boiling in oil (and Grassley wasn’t the only offender in tha department), I’m willing to concede a couple of points to Grassley in his comparison of us to the Japanese.
While I certainly don’t want anyone to commit harakiri, I do admit that the Japanese tend to do the “taking responsibility” thing much better than we do. I suspect that’s because the concept of honor is still very important in their culture, whereas it’s kind of lost meaning in ours. Either that, or the idea of honor has become associated less with character and more with how much money one has.
Is there a way we can get back to valuing honor? Or is it to remain forever a quaint, outdated concept?
March 17th, 2009 at 10:56 amBill Maher recommended that we hang a few Wall Street executives at the Stock Exchange to set an example.
March 17th, 2009 at 10:56 amI applauded when I read Grassley’s statement earlier. And, yes, watching the AIG execs commit seppuku is much more palatable than torturing or executing them. Doing so will just embolden the terr…er…Wall Street set.
March 17th, 2009 at 10:56 amI don’t care how much poise you have. When you run your company into the ground while pocketing millions in bonuses you are showing anything but professionalism.
March 17th, 2009 at 10:58 amLook, I’m against violence. But these SOBs are stealing from the taxpayers of this country. What ever happened to shame? We have these guys ripping us off. Sports stars reaping millions for bad behavior. Pop singers who aren’t even talented making a killing. And don’t forget Octomom, who is hanging out with Dr. Phil and moving into a $500,000 home. Why do I even get up in the morning?
March 17th, 2009 at 10:58 amThe Japanese understand the cultural value and importance of personal shame. All we understand is guilt. After due process, the guilty parties in this instance should be cained in public (one good whack should do it), have their assets stripped (all assets), and be jailed for a long, long time.
March 17th, 2009 at 11:00 am.
WOW…
… Compare the last thread to this thread and what does one see?
One is a Party man determined to seek retribution on behalf of the people…
… The other is a Riech wing wacko advocating torture.
.
March 17th, 2009 at 11:02 amOkay, GOOPers, how about we take a look at bonuses paid to management at Halliburton, KBR, Blackwater, etc.? That was all taxpayer dollars, too, and we were getting robbed blind.
PEACE
March 17th, 2009 at 11:03 amI’m all for a samuri lay-off system for De Bush folkes, most of Congress, financial jerk-hoffs, and most all conswere-vatives in Radio and TV. Oh and that guy who live down the street who parks in front of my house, when he can park in front of his.
It seems to me the only solution to me. Do you think they will listen?
March 17th, 2009 at 11:04 amI don’t think many would describe the current actions of many AIG employees as “poised” or “professional”.
March 17th, 2009 at 11:06 amand eventually for the taxpayer…you ought to say I’m sorry.
Visions of peewee herman in the Cheech and Chong movie.
March 17th, 2009 at 11:09 amI’m sorry I took the money, I’m sorry I took the money, I’m sorry, III’m sorry.
I’M NOT SORRY I TOOK THE MONEY !! Bwahhh ha ha !
folks,
it is time to stop reading the paper and watching tv and starting thinking with a calmer head. these idiots in the msm and people like grassley are inciting violence. where have these great “protectors” been during the last 8 years when wall street was raking in billions of greedy dollars? and now, everyone is jumping on the bandwagon.
sure the story is “hot” and it taps into the popular anger, but this is popularism at its worst: groupthink (or group-non-thinking), mob-mentality, blaming others, etc. this may not stop until someone die of violence. by then the msm will just pretend that “it was only reporting the news.” what a shame.
March 17th, 2009 at 11:09 amExcellent point spencers mom! I’m sure we would all like to know how much American taxpayer went down the contractor rbbithole under their no-bid contracts with President Cheney.
March 17th, 2009 at 11:11 amCould we also get a healthy dose of that remorse, contrition, accountability from the entire cast and crew of BushitCo?
March 17th, 2009 at 11:15 amI have lived in Japan and am fluent in Japanese. While it is true that some disgraced public figures resign or commit suicide, in some cases their secretary or other staff member takes responsibility and kills himself, instead. Also, harakiri is no longer the preferred method of suicide. For disgraced politicians, hanging oneself after drinking lots of liquor is the most common method nowadays, though recently one jumped to his death from a high-rise.
March 17th, 2009 at 11:15 amIt should be required that senators take a course in how Wall street and its alphabet soup of innovative wealth creation actually works. If they did AIG would have never been bailed out.
As it is over ONE HUNDRED FIFTY++ BILLION has been pumped into a insurance company turned Zombie [thru a hedge fund in its bosom] whose total stock value is less than ONE BILLION.
150 billion for something worth 1 billion does not compute.
March 17th, 2009 at 11:25 am“And obviously, I don’t want anyone to kill themselves because I don’t believe in that sort of thing.”
Then why do you say it, dickhead?
March 17th, 2009 at 11:25 amceltic cynic Says:
“And obviously, I don’t want anyone to kill themselves because I don’t believe in that sort of thing.”
Then why do you say it, dickhead?
Because pro-life ends at birth?
PEACE
March 17th, 2009 at 11:31 am“But AIG’s employees continue to work with poise and professionalism to take care of policyholders and repay taxes.”
While the higher AIG execs are waiting -with poise, of course!- for the bonus checks to be deposited in their bank accounts.
They will use that money to generate jobs by spending it at bars, restaurants, by hiring help to keep their many mansions clean, and hiring nannies for their children.
Thanks for your concern, tax payers.
March 17th, 2009 at 11:32 amThe government bailout is a an attack on the principles of Capitalism.
The value of any company reflected in its common stocks traded daily is nothing more than its assets minus its liabilities.
In the case of these companies their stocks traded have negative values.
In principle, these companies who cannot meet their obligations are called ‘insolvent’.
What happened in the last 6 months or so, is these giant corporations survivability became a US gorvernment task and headache, which it should not be,based on Free Market princioples.
Corportaions should measure risk and they should insure that risk.
The irony here is the biggest insurer of them all, AIG company went in billions of dollars under and asked to keep the life support plugged using government’s money,so other banks can survive too.
Something wrong is here..how could this happen?
where were these government bodies,which supposed to watch over their companies,and examine their periodical audits?
Now we hear about AIG is sending checks abroad to foreign banks,and now their executives and other corporate executives are getting bonuses in the millions of dollares payed by Uncle Sam.
Summers who is chairing the Presidents economic council team said..”probably we can’t do anything about it”,then you hear the rhetoric of Senator Grassley regarding corporate executives…”Let them commit suicide..”!!
If these companies were medium or small companies,they are already a history.
But these companies executives are not just getting bonuses, they are increasing also the value of their worthless holdings of stocks before the bailout to a worthy stocks now. So, they are gaining both ways.Thanks to Uncle Sam.
So if a coporate executive have 300,000 shares @ .50 cents a share, and now it is worth $10.00 that’s a nice gain too,which could not be accomplished without taxpayers money.
The stock bonus legality argument is a weak one, BECAUSE BONUSES WERE OFFERED UNDER NORMAL OPERATIONS CONDITIONS,BUT THE CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH THE CORPORATIONS NOW OPERATE ARE NOT A NORMAL ONES AND UNSUAL CONDITIONS.
STOCKS ARE OFFERED NORMALLY WHEN COMPANIES DO WELL.
IN THIS CASE COMPANIES WERE AT THE BRINK OF COLLAPSING.
SINCE THE US GOVERNMENT WAS THE TOOL THAT KEPT THESE COMPANIES ALIVE, THEN THE US GOVERNMENT MUST HAVE A ‘SAY’REGARDING THESE BONUSES PAID.
We cannot have it both ways, socialism for big coporations which are sucking US taxpayers dollars in huge sums,and Capitalism for little companies who cannot survive the huge tide and were let to vanish,and with no bonuses.
March 17th, 2009 at 11:32 amIt’s a long way from hara-kiri to just saying you’re sorry.
Grassley is just another cornfed Republican namby-pamby…
====
March 17th, 2009 at 11:33 amDont expect an apology, these greedsters think nothing of scamming taxpayers, to them its ‘business as usual’ as they are con men and, really, they are probably laughing at how ignorant government is.
March 17th, 2009 at 11:39 amdbschell Says:
I actually agree with a Republican. They should kill themselves.
Personally, I prefer they be incarcerated with a big,burly,mean and horny cell mate calling the shots.
March 17th, 2009 at 11:42 amExit Stage Left Says:
Personally, I prefer they be incarcerated with a big,burly,mean and horny cell mate calling the shots.
_____________
You want some scrawny, pasty-faced little Wall Street greed head locked up w/ Dick Cheney? You sadist…
March 17th, 2009 at 12:04 pmA show of contrition, especially from scoundrels, must be demanded. Let me recommend the fantasy headline over at Cabbage Rabbit Review (www.cabbagerabbit.com)as a means of demanding contrition. When will we come out from behind our computers and, like the despised French, hit the street?
March 17th, 2009 at 12:24 pmJust in case you morons in congress haven’t figured out was is going on, let me make it simple for you -
-This is a cash grab before they lose their jobs when the company goes Bankrupt.
Was that simple enough for you?
March 17th, 2009 at 12:26 pm….while we’re daydreaming…… why not ask George W. Bush to kill himself? Cheney, Rumsfeld, KKKarl Rove, suicide anyone? PLEASE?
March 17th, 2009 at 1:33 pmBut it would be just that—a “show” of contrition. Anyone with the chutzpah to give themselves bonuses after a record breaking loss such as is AIGs, is likely not capable of true remorse. The rarified air of financial corporations is an environment where predators can roam freely. If sociopaths are 3 to 5 percent of the general population, I’d wager they constitute 50 percent of the CEO population at minimum. The environment is a “good fit” for people without conscience.
March 17th, 2009 at 1:56 pmTake back the money. Make them work for free until they fix it. Put ankle bracelets on them and keep them under house and office arrest until they correct the problems they caused. If they can’t, jail them.
March 17th, 2009 at 2:05 pmSuicide is too good for these basterds.
SKdeA Says
March 17th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Make them work for free until they fix it. Put ankle bracelets on them and keep them under house and office arrest until they correct the problems they caused. If they can’t, jail them.
_____________________________________________________________
You’re talking about BushCo — right?
March 17th, 2009 at 2:08 pmWell he DID offer the choice of either resigning or killing themselves.
Admittedly, an over-the-top hyperbole.
But lets be sure to note that the AIG Bailout was the Bush Bailout to the rich, without conditions.
March 17th, 2009 at 2:15 pmie, “Nothing has changed at AIG.”
March 17th, 2009 at 3:13 pmHey Chuck Grassley,
I want Congress to lead by example. Hari Kari away, big fella.
March 17th, 2009 at 3:21 pmWhat is it about the Republicans that make them love death in all it’s forms. Grassley now clarifies. Maybe, but his first knee jerk reaction was to call for death. That says plenty about who he is. About who they are as a party.
All the Republican calls for responsibility. That in itself is new. After eight years of YES regarding everything Bush wanted. And in case anyone thinks OK, but that is over now. Yes Bush is gone, his criminal enterprise is gone. But the after effects will be years before we can wipe them out. That is why it is important not only to do all we can to hold someone in the Bush crime family accountable, but while we wait, probably in vain, it needs to be said often, just who put us where we are.
And the obstructionism of the Republicans is still here. Still here with it’s propaganda machine that continues to grind out lies and re-writes history. If we forget that, then they will be back. Back for new wars, back for new criminal enterprises and back with another assault on the Constitution. If we allow them or any party to do that again, we deserve to be a dictatorship that we almost were.
Stay focused and keep your memory intact.
March 17th, 2009 at 4:02 pmYeah, but you missed the fun part where Grassley went on to complain about AIG’s “sucking on the tit of the taxpayer.” Oh, those Ioway farmboys are so quaint!
The Constant Weader at http://www.RealityChex.com
March 17th, 2009 at 10:53 pm