Senator Elizabeth Warren Lashes Out at AIG for Biting 'the Hand That Fed Them'
If you thought the country's most outspoken big-money watchdog was going to take it easy once she got back to Capitol Hill, you were wrong. Today Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren flayed the American International Group, the massive insurance company that the Bush administration bailed out in 2008, for weighing a lawsuit against the federal government. The insurer now deems unfair the terms of its 2008 bailout, and on Wednesday its board will decide whether to join a lawsuit filed by its shareholders in 2011. Upon hearing the news this morning, the newly installed Senator Warren blasted out this statement from her office (via Business Insider):
Beginning in 2008, the federal government poured billions of dollars into AIG to save it from bankruptcy. AIG’s reckless bets nearly crashed our entire economy. Taxpayers across this country saved AIG from ruin, and it would be outrageous for this company to turn around and sue the federal government because they think the deal wasn’t generous enough. Even today, the government provides an ongoing, stealth bailout, propping up AIG with special tax breaks—tax breaks that Congress should stop. AIG should thank American taxpayers for their help, not bite the hand that fed them for helping them out in a crisis.
The potential lawsuit baffles for another reason: the company recently took out a massive ad buy devoted to thanking America for saving it from annihilation. Witness:
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