President Obama appeared on the “Tonight Show” with Jay Leno on March 19, during the AIG bonus imbroglio.
He said, per FoxNews.com, that “he was stunned when he learned of the bonuses that bailed-out insurance giant AIG was paying its employees, and the payments raise moral and ethical problems. ‘The administration’s going to do everything it can to get them back,’ he said. But Obama added the bigger problem is the culture that allowed traders to claim them. He says that’s got to change if the economy is to recover.”
He says this of retention bonuses that AIG gave to people with relatively low salaries, to entice them to stay the entire year, when a majority of their compensation would be paid as year-end bonuses. These bonuses were as much as $3 million for a small handful of people.
President Obama, who had just flown cross country on his personal military jet to appear on an entertainment show at a cost to the taxpayer of several million dollars, concluded, “The larger problem is we have to get back to an attitude where people know enough is enough.”
He says this to Jay Leno, a man who in 2002-2003 reportedly made $20 million for his work on the “Tonight Show.” I didn’t watch his March 19 show, but I’ve always thought Leno was a smart guy, so I’m sure he didn’t bring up his own financial rewards.
We live in an asylum called America.
