NYT: article summary

Fed Cheif Calls for Scrutiny of Executive Pay Policies
Mar. 21, 2009

Ben Bernanke stated that regulators need to better monitor the financial stability and compensation policies of companies too big to fail, such as AIG and Citigroup. After AIG received $170 billion in government aid the company paid out $165 million in bonuses to executives. In rebuttal, Bernanke sought out legislation and passed a bill that would tax bonuses paid out this year by companies that received government aid at a rate of 90%. Bernanke believes management compensation policies should be aligned with the long-term prudential interests of the company.

Outline For Final Paper

Thesis:
How does the media represent the role of gov. when it intervenes in capitalism?
Why does government help capitalism
What written laws are there about government involvement with capitalism
What rights and responsibilities does this give the government

Supporting Evidence
Method for analysis
Argument of media
Argument of public

Objects of Analysis
5 days of of news covered in the New York Times regarding the AIG crisis
5 days of of news covered on Democracy Now
Perspectives of Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly on the same subject

Questions For Research

1. How do I find 5 days for the AIG Scandal in NYT?
2. What key words should I use to find information on laws written about governments role in capitalism?
3. How can I find research information about my subject from a Rush Limbaugh perspective?

Ideas for final paper

The object of this blog is to write down some topics for possible discussion for my final paper.
(1) The threat of government interference in the businesses of the economic bailout.
Should the government be allowed to give out money and then make rules on how the money should be spent? Did the government go too far by forcing GM CEO to resign. Is the government actually working in the best interest of the society by controlling bailouts.
(2)Financial reporting in respect to AIG and its downfall.
(3)Home mortgage crisis. What happened to cause this crisis, how does it effect the economy.

Too much Control

After checking out these websites dedicated to the media reform movement, I came across the one issue in the market of media. Too much control exists in the few hands of conglomerates. As few as five large companies control the stories heard through the media outlet. As I see it, the internet is the last frontier for journalism. The internet is the last true outlet that isn’t being controlled by a large media source. Without the internet being censored it allows for individuals to publish their own versions of stories and to lean bias however they deem. This brings up the next issue I see with the media outlet; Determining good information from biased information. Yes, there are always two sides of a story but if you don’t know what side you are getting then you can’t formulate your own standpoint. Without a standpoint there is no way to properly digest the news and to become an informed consumer.

Financial Crisis: AIG

As it stands right now, our economy is sitting in the toilet ready to be flushed; unless we can revive the laying waste that is our financial market. President Obama commented on a 60 Minutes interview on the situation at hand and believes that in retrospect the action taken to grant AIG the aid of a bailout was the right decision. AIG is one of the largest insurance companies of America and if we can help them get back on track it will ultimately help get the rest of the economy back on track. Obama also stated that Wall Street needs to realize that they cannot expect to get the same perks and privileges that they’ve had in the past because of the downturn the economy has taken, and they had a large stake in causing it with their shenanigans.

AIG Lynched

AIG received over $170 billion in taxpayer money in the recent bailout from the government. The company is also 80 percent owned by the government, and AIG had the audacity to try and pay employees bonuses totaling $165 million. First off, I don’t think any employee of any company deserves a bonus for poor performance. Secondly, how dare AIG try to use tax payer money to reward these bums, especially in the conditions of our economy today. The Daily show on Comedy Central as well as NY Times has covered this issue recently and both share the same opinion as I do. The same department responsible for the almost failure of the company would be receiving an undeserving bonus; well the government plans to stop that from happening one way or another. The senate met and demanded that the bonuses be returned or a new tax plan would be put in effect to get the money back. Now my only concern with that plan is if the money is stopped from being handed out in bonuses, wont other taxpayers have to pay new taxes to get that money back? I don’t know about you but im tired of taxes being raises to cover companies’ wrong doings.