this is being used as a fundraiser appeal. horse race instead of getting the job done. very effective on both sides. all sides do this when there s this kind of filibuster. wendy davis on her marathon. dana, thanks for joining us. as we head to the break, something for the panel. the ceo of aig, the big insurance giant said in an interview the criticism of outsized bonuses to company executives on wall street the aftermath of financial meltdown was akin to the lynchings that happened in the south. really? talk about that coming up. [ taps baton ]
there is no doubt that geithner s legacy will loom large over the obama administration and the american economy for years to come. starting with his role as head of the new york federal reserve, he was pivotal is the rescue regime and the ugly glory. he s been a lightning rod for criticism and apparent unwillingness to hold wall street accountable for the financial crash. those choices have reprecushions to day for the millions of workers and borrowers. he rescued the giant aig was is appreciate fwhad company that aig is airing commercials thanking american people for their generous assistance. we re a leading global company in america. we paid every dollar america lent to us. everything plus a profit of more than $22 billion. for the american people. thank you, america. not everyone at aig, however, is to grateful. the company s former chairman
and saved their hide, trying to sue us because they didn t like the life lenawee threw them? to be sure. aig itself is simply saying, we re doing this because we have legal duty to our shareholders as well to see whether or not we can get some more money from them. but they haven t decided and they will have a meeting of their board of directors tomorrow morning where they re going to listen to lawyers for mr. greenberg and lawyers from the treasury and from the new york fed and then they re going to decide in a couple of weeks. and aig actually put out a statement this afternoon saying we re still very thankful to taxpayers for the money that they gave us and helped us survive, but we also have this duty to shareholders as well. greta: they have a fiduciary duty to shareholders, but if we hadn t bailed them out, they wouldn t have a fiduciary duty to anybody because they d be in the gutter. there s such thing as the bottom line and hope they have enough sense, i m happy for
wire, congresswoman maxine waters is ripping them apart as a lot of people are. did anyone force aig to take the bailout? no, that s one of the main arguments that the government made. no one forced aig s board back during the the financial crisis to take this bailout. they chose to take it, they chose to give the government an 80% stake. they chose to pay this loan with a high interest rate. no one really forced them to take it and that s sort of what the government says, it was entirely their choice. now, the government s out of their 80% stake, is that right? and what was the interest rate? the interest rate was pretty high. i don t feel the exact percentage, but the government itself has said that it was punitive and it was meant to be a punishment, it was meant to punish aig for getting in that situation where it had to be bailed out by taxpayers in the first place. did anyone feel like after all the american taxpayers, thank you, pr campaign and now we re sort of kicked i
greta: and that s this of course is now. aig considering joining a 25 billion dollar lawsuit against the very people who saved the company, that of course is the taxpayers. and that does mean you. that s right, as a thank you for the 182 billion dollar bailout to save their neck, they say sue the federal government. and michael, tell me why are they thinking of suing the federal government, the taxpayers? sure. so, aig is actually saying that they re being asked whether to join this lawsuit that was filed by their former chief executive, a man named maurice greeneberg, who has cue sued, arguing that the rescue of aig violated shareholders rights and was too punitive and punished them too much. and so, he sued the government and basically asked aig to come in and repre and other shareholders as well. greta: well, this is it lit everybody on fire on a bipartisan basis, but on greta