Due to the confusion and misconceptions surrounding the AIG bonuses and the excuses that are being made now in Congress and the Executive Office regarding contracts legally with respect to our Constitution, there is quite a bit of information that has been left out by both the mainstream media and politicians in the process.
As one who was an early victim of the mortgage and foreclosure crisis in this country after “owning” my Phoenix, Arizona home for over 12 years, at one point during my ordeal was also placed in such a situation.
Although the bankruptcy laws changed several years ago in the U.S. (due to actually the BANKS lobbying for tightening of the laws with respect to unpaid debt), there was one portion of it that did not change with respect to restructures during bankruptcy, either personal or corporate.
In such matters, total net worth and assets are up for grabs, and the first to be satisfied in any such proceeding are the creditors with those confiscated assets, during which time a “payment schedule” is also part of the court action for any and all creditors who cannot be satisfied by accumulated assets.
With respect to contracts such as the bonuses received by the AIG executives, the court looks very closely at any and all contracts for their legality and validity, and also any such agreements entered into 18 months prior to the filing of the action which is then closely scrutinized.
This procedure is undertaken, so that those who are contemplating bankruptcy cannot transfer their assets to either other individuals or attempt to protect them through contractual relationships.
Maybe this also was why this “bankruptcy” of AIG and the other banking institutions was removed from the statutory and Constitutional provisions through bankruptcy court to begin with, and in order also to keep a low profile and details out of public view.
After petition the federal courts n such matters, all bankruptcy records and court filings become then a matter of public record. The press, I’m sure due to what has occurred thus far, would have an even greater field day with such mandated disclosures and most likely the public even more up in arms about what has transpired.
The fact that many of those executives who are receiving those public funds in the form of these excessive bonuses are the very same top level executives who it is claimed ran the company into ground quite clearly would bear close scrutiny as to just when those “contracts” were executed, and whether or not in their provisions they were “excessive.” Since few lower level executives get million dollar bonuses, it is clear that those bonuses are not going to middle management.
For a company on the verge of potential bankruptcy to the degree where not even a formal bankruptcy action in the federal courts was entertained but instead resulted in a direct plea to our Congress as an “emergency,” would appear that these top level executives had plenty of forewarning.
Due to more and more information now becoming public through various press coverage around the globe, it is even questionable that there is or ever was a true bankruptcy at this point of its U.S. division rather than as reported by the British press the financial troubles instead lying with its London Mayfair “casino” office and home “corporate” base.
Which makes the fact that the U.S. Treasury and it’s citizens are now left holding the bag and bailing out this entity in the first place not only suspect, but unconstitutional on it’s face. Whether the Federal Reserve is a private institution of international banks matters not a whit since this enormous “debt” is now being billed to the United States and its citizens.
While the British economy also may have indirectly suffered, my basic question is this: Is Great Britain also involved in helping to payoff off AIG’s now 170 billion and counting debt, or just the U.S. citizens and Treasury?
Or is that another “treaty” which Congress has put on the back burner while they are posing for the cameras with their excuses and “mea culpas,” in order to shift blame and thus salvage their careers and continue to plot to minimize the collateral damage such as the “tax” solution passed by Congress this week?
How much interest is racking up daily now while they conduct their interviews for Fox, CNN and MSNBC?
London Mayfair office UK articles:http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/mar/02/mayfair-office-brought-down-aig
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23661603-details/The+man+who+broke+the+banks+from+his+Mayfair+office/article.do