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Spitzer cites early warning on excesses of AIG, others
BY MICHAEL HILL The Associated Press

    NEW YORK — Eliot Spitzer has a few words to say about the AIG bonus brouhaha: I told you so.
    The former New York governor battered American International Group with charges of corruption long before his own dizzying downfall in a prostitution scandal. He has used this latest financial scandal to strike his old populist, Sheriff of Wall Street themes and, just maybe, mend his reputation —though critics contend that he bears a share of the blame for the insurance giant’s historic near-collapse.
    Spitzer says the AIG bonus issue is “penny ante” compared to the billions of the insurer’s bailout money funneled to bad banks, and that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner owes America an explanation, quickly.
    As for all those politicians piling on AIG this week? Been there. Done that.
    “We pursued AIG and Wall Street’s structural failures in a way that others shied away from because it was politically unpalatable for them to address those issues,” Spitzer told host Brian Lehrer Wednesday on WNYC Radio in New York City. “Now it is the fl avor of the month. Everybody is jumping up and down serving subpoenas, beating their chests trying to be tougher than the next person.”
    On CNN Thursday, Spitzer said his initial probes came from AIG’s “effort from the very top to gin up returns whenever, wherever possible and to push the boundaries in a way that would garner returns almost regardless of risk.
    “Back then I said to people, AIG is the center of the web,” he told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria.
    Spitzer pursued AIG for years when he was New York’s attorney general. The company eventually announced in 2006 that it would pay $1.64 billion to resolve allegations that it used deceptive accounting practices to mislead investors and regulatory agencies. AIG’s veteran chief executive officer, Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, was forced to resign in 2005 after a long and contentious, sometimes ugly battle with Spitzer.
    “He obviously believes history has vindicated him,” said John Coffee, a professor of securities law at Columbia University, “and wants to remind America that he was there first.”
    The tough talk raises the question about whether Spitzer, who now tends to his family’s real estate business, is mounting a comeback bid.
    It would be a long shot. The trail for a married politician caught soliciting high-priced prostitutes would likely be prohibitively steep. For someone like Spitzer, who became governor largely because of his Mr. Clean reputation, it would be even tougher.
    And anyway, when he resigned last March, Spitzer promised to work for the common good “outside of politics.” Spitzer politely declined to talk about AIG or other issues when contacted Thursday by The Associated Press.
    “I’ve got a day job now,” he said.
    Coffee suspects Spitzer is more concerned about reclaiming a legacy than mounting a comeback. Jeffrey Stonecash of Syracuse University’s Maxwell School said the recent comments fi t Spitzer, a natural crusader zealous about rooting out financial crimes.
    “He really does have a strong moral streak, as weird as that may sound given what happened to him,” said Stonecash, who teaches political science. “This provides him an opportunity not only to express that concern, but maybe to resurrect himself.”
    Spitzer’s comments have the side effect of highlighting controversies about his dogged pursuit of AIG and Greenberg. Critics, mostly on the political right, claim that by forcing out Greenberg and creating turmoil at AIG, Spitzer laid the groundwork for the debacle roiling the country today. They note that Spitzer eventually dropped some of his charges against Greenberg, that Greenberg hasn’t been found guilty of other charges, and that Greenberg continues to fight back in court.
    In 2002, AIG gave $5,000 to ...................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar00501

Listen, my fellow 'web'kins....this entire AIG thing is nothing more than liberal smoke and mirrors. Everyone in 'the know' knew exactly what AIG and all of the rest of these corp exec's were doing......even Spitzer. Who do you think nabbed Spitzer....the wall street bunch.

First...we will get poorer under obama. Our homes will lose even more value in the months ahead. We will be paying higher taxes and more jobs will be lost. So let me ask everyone, will it make you feel better to have those nasties at AIG have to give  back bonuses when you are in the unemployment line? Will it make you feel better when your house devalues to a point where you can't afford it or sell it? Hardly. This is just a liberal smoke and mirror, dog and pony, wag the dog show at it's best. Do you REALLY think the government is worried about $100 Billion when we are in debt by the trillions? Peanuts to them.

Second....get ready for the next wave of tax increases to hit us. I mean somebody has to pay for this debt...and it's you and me. Just watch...the next thing obama will do is tax your employer paid health insurance as income to YOU! That's right, you will be paying income tax on what your employer contributes to your health care.

And third...if obama wants to tax the so called rich, how will the welfare state of NY continue to exist? It is the wealthiest that keep this state afloat. Might as well call in Kurt Russell, put a fence around NY and play the movie 'escape from NY'.

So ya see...AIG is just one problem pebble in the sand. The government will basically be saying...'see, we took care of those nasty rich corp. execs. But that is not the main problem. The problem exists with the entire bail-out. Rewarding failure. And obama is not done bailing out yet!

I said that obama was way over his head...and he clearly is. All he has going for him is his tele-prompter and his arrogance that the sheople perceive as knowledge.

Even Obama's economic advisers are saying that if the debt goes to 9.3 trillion as predicted by economists it will become impossible to pay our debts and our economy will fail and then we really will be in deep doo doo.

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A familiar name behind the unraveling of AIG

    The latest subterfuge by a lemmingslike Congress, to confiscate the legitimate earnings of AIG executives they had just recently approved, demonstrates an ineptness the electorate should not tolerate.
    The dollar amount causing the tax vendetta is trivial in relation to dollars our government wasted to shore up AIG finances. Our tax dollars were used to bail out derivative investors around the world. Taxpayers made good the bad bets by AIG hedge funds. What the media has yet to grasp is that AIG until recently took no part in insuring credit swaps and the like. What changed?
    AIG founder Hank Greenberg recently stated in an interview (paraphrasing), “I never had a hedge fund group nor would I have started one on my watch.” That is when I realized who really initiated AIG’s destruction. In 2005, a New York attorney general accused Hank Greenberg of wrongdoing. He prosecuted the case in the media, not by trial. That miscarriage of justice forced Greenberg to leave AIG; the new management promptly put in place the hedge fund mentality that subsequently destroyed AIG.
If I haven’t clearly identified the person who initiated the loss of billions of stockholder and taxpayer wealth, as well as the destruction of a great American company, does the name Spitzer ring a bell?

WALLACE J. HUGHES
Charlton

http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar00707

EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM KNEW WHAT WAS GOING ON.......ask Ms.Martha Stewart......she was a lamb probably because she was a woman......
Spitzer was a man but used as a lamb differently.....I bet Tony Soprano would be proud of the tactics used........