The AIG "Executive Bonus" Bailout

The Los Angeles Times ran the AIG story on the front cover, but it wasn't directly addressed to Obama and how he's losing more and more support. It's directed at the question: what banks have been paid after AIG "received an $85 billion loan from the Fed in September"? The purpose for asking is: "Did AIG make a deal with their bank clients to pay less than what was in the contracts in order to save U.S. funds"? The government bailed out AIG because of their investment in these banks. They didn't want AIG to be the cause of all these other banks failing. The story continues on about all the anger felt by this news.

In The Times Business section, they use Bloomberg News to report on Obama's plan to help small businesses by getting them loans. The story was reported yesterday on Bloomberg.com and in the Washington Post, but both the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times did not have the story until today. Interestingly, the Los Angeles Times focused on the future of today's meeting.

The Washington Post ran a story on Obama's effort to get Congress to pass a $3.55 trillion budget. His campaign, the Democratic National Committee, will rely on a list with 13 million e-mail addresses on it. David Plouff who was Obama's campaign manager and is now "a conduit to the army of Obama volunteers" sent an e-mail getting people to go door to door to get more signatures in support of Obama's budget. Though the story is more focused on Plouff, Obama's presence is still in the story.

The New York Times wrote the small businesses story today in a blog the Times call "The Caucus" It was posted at 1:43 p.m. with this image. The caption says, "President Obama and Secretary of Treasury Timothy F. Geithner met with small business owners and community lenders..." The Obama administration will use $15 billion to buy up securities linked to small-business loans. Small businesses have been struggling because of the credit freeze. These funds will be used to jump-start small businesses.


Photo: Doug Mills/The New York Times





The AIG story was also in the New York Times. The focus was on President Obama demanding the U.S. Treasury "to pursue every single legal avenue to block these bonuses". Other money issues pertaining to AIG were also addressed.

Athena