Taxpayer anger threatens bailout plans
With taxpayer dollars on the line, anger over AIG is threatening government support for future bailouts. John Dimsdale reports on whether the federal government will have support to help anybody else.
A fistful of money (REKINC1980/iStockPhoto)
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Kai Ryssdal: Even in normal times, as Paul Kedrosky was alluding to, the economy doesn't exist in a political vacuum. With trillions in taxpayer dollars on the line, the politics can become almost overwhelming. And the news of the AIG bonuses threatens to do just that. Our Washington bureau chief John Dimsdale reports now on prospects for more government help for anybody.
PRESIDENT OBAMA:To protect American taxpayers and to...
JOHN DIMSDALE: At the White House this afternoon, President Obama was at some pain to express his outrage at AIG's bonuses.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Cough, cough, excuse me, I'm choked up with anger here.
Members of Congress who'll be asked to sign off on future bailout money for banks were even sharper in their criticism of the government's aid for AIG today. Politically powerful committee chairmen said the government is rewarding incompetence and recommended that some at AIG be fired. This anger risks undercutting congressional support for future bailout money. The White House is asking for another $700 billion in stand-by aid for banks. Clifford Young with the polling firm Ipsos Public Affairs says Americans are generally opposed to any more money.
CLIFFORD YOUNG: Now this has a lot to do with underlying American values. Americans, compared to most other people around the world, are very anti-government.
But Young says Americans are also very pragmatic.
YOUNG: When you make the case it has to be done in order to get the economy going and the financial system working, close to a majority of Americans are actually in favor of some sort of government fix.
So the challenge for the White House is to rally the anger, but avoid a backlash against a taxpayer-funded rescue. President Obama will try to frame that message before a big audience when he appears on NBC's Tonight Show this Thursday.
In Washington, I'm John Dimsdale for Marketplace.
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From MI, 03/17/2009
I feel that we as Americans should not have to pay for others to just sit around their homes and be able to get money. One of the reasons America was formed was because we were sick of others telling us what we can and can not do, as well as others getting money and not even doing anything for it. So we are really just going back to how things were befor we broke away from England.
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