Bankers give money to Republicans because they don't want to be "kicked around" anymore since bailout

Bankers don't seem to be feeling any remorse for triggering the biggest financial crisis since the Depression and then getting bailed out by the government. They're not going to take it anymore! Well, they might take more money, but they're not going to put up with regulations and limits on their bonuses.

Wall Street Throwing More Money at Republicans
gothamist
Feb. 8, 2010

Fed up with name-calling and increased restrictions from the Obama administration, bankers are shifting financial support to Democratic opponents in the Republican party.

Bank officials say Wall Street is sending a message: “The expectation in Washington is that ‘We can kick you around, and you are still going to give us money,’ ” one top official at a major Wall Street firm tells the Times.

“We are not going to play that game anymore.”...




In a Message to Democrats, Wall St. Sends Cash to G.O.P.
New York Times
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Published: February 7, 2010

...this year Chase’s political action committee is sending the Democrats a pointed message. While it has contributed to some individual Democrats and state organizations, it has rebuffed solicitations from the national Democratic House and Senate campaign committees. Instead, it gave $30,000 to their Republican counterparts...

AIG Price Tag: $1,400 per Taxpayer Family

AIG Price Tag: $1,400 per Taxpayer Family
By ALICE GOMSTYN
ABC NEWS Business Unit
March 2, 2009

How much will each American family pay, on average, to bail out beleaguered insurance giant American International Group? Try more than $1,400.

The government's bailout of AIG now tops $160 billion. That and other government bailout spending could result in higher taxes down the road, experts say.
(ABC News/Getty)

The government's newly overhauled rescue package for AIG is $162.5 billion, according to government officials. Divide that by 111,609,629 -- the total number of U.S. households, according to the U.S. Census' 2005-2007 American Community Survey -- and the result is $1,455.97. That's nearly double the maximum tax benefit U.S. couples will receive under the federal stimulus package approved last month...

AIG insurance executives start spending $85 billion bailout--at a luxury resort

Insurance company executives know we love them, and that we wouldn't want them to tighten their belts now that they're on the dole. After all, if we'd wanted them to suffer, we wouldn't have given them $85 billion dollars, right?

The Washington Times
AIG execs hold $440K post-bailout retreat
Sean Lengell
October 7, 2008


Top executives at the failed insurance giant AIG spent more than $440,000 at a company retreat days after the federal government bailed out the company with $85 billion in taxpayer funds.

American International Group (AIG) paid the exclusive St. Regis resort in Monarch Beach, Calif., more than $200,000 for rooms — some costing as much at $1,000 a night — as well as more than $150,000 in meals, according to released documents an testimony during a hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Tuesday on Capitol Hill.

"Less than one week after taxpayers rescued AIG, company executives could be found wining and dining at one of the most exclusive resorts in the nation," said committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman, California Democrat.

The invoice also included almost $25,000 in spa and salon charges for pedicures, manicures, facials, massages and other services...