DARREN HUTCHINSON: Sincere Or False Outrage? The Obama Administration Smacks Down AIG. “Prior to his inauguration, President Obama met with Democrats in Congress and threatened to veto any bills that placed tougher restrictions upon the usage of TARP funds. Some Democrats, seeking greater oversight surrounding the distribution and use of TARP assistance, proposed measures that would govern the second distribution of $350 billion in federal funds for the program. Now, the White House worries that voter disenchantment with banks and bailouts will kill public support for the President’s other initiatives.”
Related: Why Barney Frank’s Phony AIG Outrage is Worse Than the Bonuses.
UPDATE: HYPOCRISY: “I am mystified by Barney Frank’s desire to recall the AIG execs’ bonuses, not so much over the idea that corporate-welfare recipients should not have grandstanding demagogues chastising them for their hypocrisy, but rather the notion that someone of Frank’s ethical past would play Old-Testament railing prophet. . . . Frank received more than $40,000 in campaign contributions from the bankrupt Freddie and Fannie, despite his own role as supposed fiscal watchdog on the House Financial Services Committee. . . . So please, Representative Frank, Senator Dodd, and all the rest — give back all that campaign cash to our government, and then in silence endure what you helped to conceive.”