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  • March 21, 2009 08:40 AM EDT by Brian Sullivan

    A Few Other "Outrage"-ous Numbers For Congress To Consider

    money1

    A quick exercise.  Close your eyes and envision the difference between $165 dollars and $180,000 dollars.  One is a nice meal for a family of four, the other may be the value of their house.

    Or how about this: You may give a panhandler on the street one dollar, but would you casually toss him $1,000 dollars?  How about $1,000,000 bucks?   Big difference, right?

    Yet this is the same difference between the amount of money being given out by AIG in bonuses ($165,000,000) and how much the taxpayer through Congress, the Treasury and Fed have already dumped into AIG in total ($180,000,000,000).   A billion, after all, is a thousand million.  A trillion is a million million dollars ($1,000,000,000,000).    $1 vs. $1,000 vs. $1,000,000.

    The phony outrage and irresponsibly dangerous talk by politicans such as Charlie Rangel (who labeled the AIG workers "these people" and said they were "threatening our communities" in a House debate over the AIG tax bill) got me thinking about other costs and expenditures Americans face and where the AIG bonuses may fit into the grand scheme of things.

    With that in mind, here are some other numbers related to the economy, government spending, taxes and other things.   I have put all the numbers into millions (not billions or trillions) and used different font sizes to better illustrate the point.

    $165 million - AIG bonus amount

    $180,000 million - Approximate amount spent so far by the Government for total AIG bailout

    $56,000 million - Amount of the above that's gone to bail out foreign banks

    $29,500 million - Total spent by U.S. states to cover costs of prison inmates in 2001

    $3,300 million - Cost of medical care that year for those same prison inmates

    $1,240,000 million - Approximate total value in dollars of all homes sold in at peak of real estate bubble in 2006 (using average of $200,000 per home)

    $62,000 million - Approximate total commissions paid by consumers to realtors and their companies (using 5% commission) per home sale in 2006

    $2,000 million - Approximate total amount spent by home buyers on appraisal fees for those homes sold in 2006 (based on HRH avg. fee data)

    $19,000 million - Amount California estimates it will spend toward general "health & human services" out of the federal stimulus money

    $144,000 million - Tax increase faced by Americans over the President's proposed cap-and-trade system according to the non-partisan Tax Foundation

    $144 million - Estimated amount of federal taxpayer dollars Wisconsin will spend on "weatherizing" government buildings

    $659 million - Amount paid by New York City & State so far to build the new Yankee & Mets stadiums

    $450 million - Estimated additional amount Yankees & Mets save from generous tax breaks

    $1,100,000 million - Amount IRS collected from Americans in income taxes in 2007

    $590,000 million - Estimated amount of those taxes paid by just 5% of American households

    $0 - Total net tax bill of an estimated 43 million American households

    100 - Likely percent of those same "taxpayers" who are outraged their "tax money" is being squandered

    No one should defend the AIG payouts.   But we as taxpayers can defend our time and money, and Americans are smart enough to realize when both are being wasted.  Perhaps politicians such as Rangel need to take a step back and look at the bigger picture.   After all, as Fox Business has shown you through the exclusive documents we've obtained, many in the government were fully aware of the AIG bonuses and caved in on them.

    Pay it back and move on.   We have bigger problems - and numbers - to worry about.

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Ron

The big question is where all the toxic assests came from? One million homes in foreclosure at $200,000 each equals 200 billion dollars. Let the low-lifes have free housing and save the extra $800 billion that wall street is stealing from the taxpayers.

March 24, 2009 at 6:09 pm

Bob

I do not understand the ire at the employees who received the bonus, when we all know if your company offered you a bonus, you wouldn't be turning it down. As for performance, it is all relative; they are usually based on sales and nothing is mentioned that the sales have to be profitable. So if they reached the goals set by the company then why go after them when it is the companies fault that the money was paid.

March 23, 2009 at 3:45 pm

jim

People get lost in the unfairness of the bonus money. The government screwed up, get over it and move on. This is turning out to be a red herring. While there is all of this furor over the bonuses, congress is passing the GIVE Act and planning on hammering all of us with cap and trade, the real economy destroyer.

March 23, 2009 at 1:56 pm

philip

Brian, enjoy your reporting but the 100,000 million stuff has got to go. I understand it for this report, but lets not make a habit of it as it is very annoying. Anyone not understanding what the number 1.8 billion means should not be investing anyway. You should do a report explaining that one very common version of a retention bonus is to retain a person for a set amount of time and after that agreed time frame they recieve their bonus and leave the company...that was the deal. Not uncommon!

March 23, 2009 at 10:47 am

Newell Scott

Where is the outrage about Franklin Raines' 90m bonus? I know Barney Frank says he will look into Fannie's bonuses, but is the bus driving by Raines' house? What are the names of all those at Fannie and Freddie employees who received bonuses?

March 23, 2009 at 9:21 am

Chris

Don't lose sight of the fact that they are trying to pass a new tax...one that can then be modified to encompass more people one that has of all things THE PUBLICS SUPPORT....that makes a cha-ching sound to the libs and a few conservatives

March 23, 2009 at 8:29 am

andy K

The only thing Rangle, Dodd. Frank and almost all others see is getting reelected. They have tunnel vision and only see what is best for them. We the people need to step back and look at the bigger picture. These guys have to go and I mean on both sides of the aisle. Come on America, dont get tunnel vision and dont have a brain fart. Dont forget this petty bickering and idiotic solutions when it comes time to vote again. Vote other on every ballot and dont fall for the same old line of experience counts. It doesnt. they have proved that. Also drop the AIG sitcom. This is a smoke screen for whats really going on in the shadows. Be prepared America, I bet it isnt going to be pretty

March 23, 2009 at 7:38 am

Julie

Call me crazy, but a "bonus" should be paid out based on performance, correct???? Performance is based on accomplishing the goals the company has set forth. So, if the financial Arm of your company did NOT perform, then what the hell are they getting bonuses for??? Secondly, why do they keep changing the wording on whether these were bonuses or retention bonuses. I believe there is quite a difference between the two. If they were retention bonues, why did employees leave without having to pay back the money??? IMHO

March 23, 2009 at 5:32 am

SKB

The picture at the head of the article, That was taken at the scene of one drug bust in Mexico. The mexican Government now has that money. What was in the picture was about one half of what was sezied. Yet I nothing was mentioned about how much money is flowing out of the country because the front line in the war on drugs isn't being manned or fenced or protroled like any other front line in a war. If it was, billions of dollars wouldn't be flowing into mexico drug gangs and they wouldn't be inporting automatic wapons from all over the world.

March 23, 2009 at 4:42 am

Cindy

To the group of people protesting in front of AIG exec's homes: Get a life and quit complaining!! Quit thinking complete strangers who you never heard of before a week ago, owe you THEIR money. This is MY outrage! I am fed up with those less fortunate or are facing adversity not only EXPECTING but DEMANDING those who have more to HAND IT OVER and pay their mortgages, etc! Charity comes from the heart; it is not demanded or expected by those getting it! Those who want to HELP, WILL HELP!! There are quite a few rich people out there. Should we all cruise their neighborhoods, hand out letters begging for money when we're having some problems? This is ABSURD! If or when I am faced with foreclosure or job loss or whatever, the last thing I plan on doing is seeking out a rich executive and try to make him feel guilty about my situation!

March 22, 2009 at 3:45 pm
(2 Replies)

Joe

It should have been Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, and the rest of the slim in congress that should have been in Liddy's chair. Now that congress has sent the message that contracts are only valid when convenient, what do we base our business on? +1 on the article.

March 22, 2009 at 1:29 pm
(1 Reply)

John

OK, maybe these AIG guys are over paid? Have we ever considered they may be underpaid? The fact is that AIG was a conduit for the mega financial institutions world-wide and is at the core of some 5 TRILLION of various credit default swaps and related derivities. I bet there are just a handful of people who understaad these complex instruments and most of them have to be unwound. Have we ever considered if these guys quit, go to work for a contraparty that AIG may not be able to replace them? This puts the goverment (us) at risk of losing 5 TRILLION. Maybe we ought to at least consider this possibility?

March 22, 2009 at 11:09 am

6ftrabbit

@ William "Perhaps politicians such as Rangel need to take a step back and look at the bigger picture." Perhaps politicians such as Rangel should instead start wearing body armor to bed.

March 22, 2009 at 9:37 am

FireNWater

Does anybody know what "a Thousand Trillion" is?? . . . . . .

March 22, 2009 at 8:35 am

Joie

so what?why is everyone so "outraged" at any of the AIG bonuses?These were contractual agreements before the bailouts took effect period. All these self righteous people crack me up. Here they are picketing, screaming, acting defiant and god knows what else to make a small point. How come no one is outraged at the ongoing bare miniumum of a 25% loss per yr by the Pentagon on their budget? In only 2001 almost 10 years ago the loss of their budget was 2.1TRILLION DOLLARS. Can you imagine what that is now? And all of these dummies are worried about a few mill here and there....and I bet they think they are being patriotic while they are at it too. If you are truly patriotic, and you WANT to be outraged like these hypocrites so badly do,why not be outraged at that? Its far more money. I don't see any single one person in our government,in our press,especially in the public outraged at one of the most outrageous loss of money of all! None of these picketers, writers or government officials have the guts to get on camera and create an outcry against the Pentagon. No, they would rather choose a corporation because they are easy to pick on. Writer Brian Sullivan needs to get a New Clue not a New Idea and so does everyone else who is pretending to be so deeply offended over this AIG madness.People, you need to wake up and start reading more, do more homework about US of A so you can understand what is going on w/YOUR economy.Just watching TV won't do it.

March 21, 2009 at 8:01 pm

Cindy

RIGHT ON, BRIAN! Awesome illustration!

March 21, 2009 at 12:15 pm

about this blog

  • Brian Sullivan joined FOX Business Network (FBN) in April 2008 as an anchor. He co-anchors the 10am-12pm ET hours of the FOX Business block. Prior to joining FBN, Sullivan served as an anchor for Bloomberg Television where he hosted the programs Morning Call and In Focus.

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