Fisher on $100 Million AIG Bonuses: “Slap in the Face to Ohio Families who Have Lost their Homes and their Jobs”

Treasury Dept. Should Eliminate Bonuses for Those Who Created Financial Crisis

Calls for New Accountability on Wall Street, Consumer Protections

COLUMBUS - U.S. Senate candidate and Ohio Lt. Governor Lee Fisher released the following statement in response to reports that AIG plans to dole out an additional $100 million in bonuses:
 
“Enough is enough. AIG’s insistence on paying bonuses to the very same people who caused this economic meltdown is a slap in the face to the Ohio families who have lost their homes and their jobs. Even as taxpayers have propped up AIG with an unprecedented bailout, the company spent $12 million of our money over the last two years lobbying Washington to preserve these bonuses. It’s simply unconscionable that Ohio families and businesses are struggling to access credit and make ends meet while the reckless Wall Street bankers and Washington lobbyists who spurred this financial crisis continue fleecing the American people. The Treasury Department has the power to end these outrageous bonuses, and they should stop them immediately."

Fisher is calling for a series of steps to ensure that reckless Wall Street investments never jeopardize our economy again. Specifically, he urged the Senate to act quickly and create a consumer financial protection agency to crack down on predatory loans and hidden fees. Fisher also believes we need to put an end to the notion that any bank is ‘too big to fail’ by reinstating rules that separate risky investment banking and trading activities from the commercial activities of traditional banks that take deposits and offer consumer loans.

The Fisher Wall Street Accountability Plan

• Prevent the predatory and risky mortgage lending that has fueled the foreclosure crisis, halt ballooning credit card fees and hidden charges that have led to rising bankruptcies

• Investigate outrageous overdraft fees charged by banks without the consent of their customers, soaring credit card interest rates and other fees charged by financial firms

• Write loan and credit card terms in “plain vanilla language”

• Prevent banks from becoming “too big to fail” by reinstating rules separating risky investment trading from traditional consumer lending