MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript: AIG's CEOs

Interview

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SCHULTZ: Let`s bring in Congressman Keith Ellison of Minnesota. Congressman, good to have you with us on the program tonight. I want to read to you what AIG CEO Robert Mimoshi told the Wall Street Journal regarding bonuses that company paid executives during that bail out in 2009. He says, "The uproar over bonuses was intended to stir public anger, to get everybody out there with their pitchforks and their hangman nooses, and all that. Sort of like what we did in the deep south decades ago and I think it was just as bad and just as wrong."

What is your reaction to that, the uproar against bonuses? He is defending the bonuses and comparing it to something of a very dark age in American history.

REP. KEITH ELLISON (D), MINNESOTA: So, you see lynching is when you get killed by a mob and getting $100 million in bonuses is when you get a lot of money that you really don`t deserve after running the country into a ditch. They`re a little different.

And the fact that the CEO doesn`t know that, I think makes him not qualified to be a CEO. I mean, look it is the government that charters corporations. The government says that a corporate charter is an instrument that that corporation relies on to exist. And I`m hoping that the people who are the shareholders of that company and the top management are asking themselves a very simple question which is "Is this the right guy for our company to (inaudible) of our company?" And I think that they should .

SCHULTZ: But Congressman .

ELLISON: . tell them to go.

SCHULTZ: It is -- OK, you want him out, correct?

ELLISON: Yes, I think it would be a wise move .

SCHULTZ: OK.

ELLISON: . on AIGs part, yes.

SCHULTZ: All right. Now, there`s still some pretty hot filled (ph) gambling and speculation going on on Wall Street. There`s no guarantee that we`re not going to be going down on this road again. And I`ve had a lot of callers to the talkshow and I`ve talked to numerous people that say, "Never again will we ever go down this road to have somebody too big that we just -- we absolutely have to bail them out because those are too big to fail." .

ELLISON: They`re right.

SCHULTZ: . what does this signal to you -- what does this signal? What should this gentleman`s attitude in the context of what he said signal to lawmakers in Washington about what needs to be done about Wall Street?

ELLISON: Well, I mean after he and the people like him nearly ruin the economy cost $17 trillion in the value of homes, unemployment, massive wreckage in the economy, he`s unrepentant and feels like he was put upon because somebody ask some questions about the massive bonuses that he got.

Could you possible imagine this gentleman working with us in a constructive way to make sure that the economy is working and that there are proper rules and regulations to make sure that there not abuses and that we don`t take the economy again.

I mean he`s leading the charts to say that, "You know, Wall Street should be unregulated, it should not have any accountability, and it should grow as big as they want, and if they screw things up, we all have to go to come to bail him out." That attitude is exactly the opposite of what you would expect of somebody who is responsible for a major important American corporation. And so I think that the shareholders really needs to say, "Is this guy our guy?" and if they keep him .

SCHULTZ: Yes.

ELLISON: . that`s an indication, and if they get rid off him, that`s also important information too.

SCHULTZ: Switching topics, you were at a rally in Washington there today, the "Fight for fair pay for workers". Do tell us what went on.

ELLISON: Well, you know, Ed, you say switching topics but it`s kind of the same topic isn`t it, it`s the other side of the coin. On the one side of the coin .

SCHULTZ: Yes, it really is.

ELLISON: . you know, you got to a rich CEO who got a bonus and he`s complaining because people ask him questions. And on the other side, you got people who`s saying, "Look, you know, we work for federal contractors and we make less than a livable wage, we`re making $7.25 to 8 bucks to live on, we have no benefits." And as a matter of fact, you know, the people who own the contracting company with the federal government are making a whole lot of money. And it just makes sense that we could get an executive order from President Obama that would say that, "If you want a federal contract, you have to pay a responsible wage to the people working for you." You cannot .

SCHULTZ: You say the President can give an Executive Order that would affect wages on that level?

ELLISON: Yes, it could. Yes.

SCHULTZ: You can`t submit a bid unless you`re going to pay workers? That`s what you want them to do?

ELLISON: Right, you can`t submit a bid unless you`re going to pay a reasonable wage to your workers. You cannot get yourself wealthy by government dollars of the backs of people who are frying the chicken, cleaning up the buildings, making sure that they`re safe, and all that people do in these federal building every single day.

SCHULTZ: Yes.

ELLISON: So I was standing with them and we got 49 members of Congress and 15 members of the Senate to believe -- who believe those workers are right and deserve that Executive Order from the President.

SCHULTZ: All right, we`ll follow up on that. Thank you Congressman Keith Ellison, I appreciate .

ELLISON: Thank you sir.

SCHULTZ: . your time tonight.

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