MSNBC "The Ed Show" -Transcript
Interview
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REP. BRUCE BRALEY (D), IOWA: Well, one of the things that we learned loud and clear when this same financial products division drove our global economy off the cliff was that AIG needed to wake up to the reality that most middle class Americans deal with every day and start learning a lesson.
When we had a hearing on this in Oversight with the CEOs who were working at AIG when the head of that division was fired, Ed, it was shocking to learn that the day after they fired him, they gave him a severance package that included a million dollars. And each of those CEOs could have terminated those payments under the terms of his agreement and had done nothing.
Now it"s time for Congress to teach them a lesson. And my friend Peter Welch has a plan to do that by making sure that companies like AIG that received assistance from the TARP program and who paid bonuses in excess of $50,000, those bonuses above that amount would be taxed at a rate of 50 percent. The revenues from that tax program would go back to help loan money to small businesses who are actually creating jobs in our economy.
SCHULTZ: Well, OK. So, this is, again, a political football.
Here is Senator Grassley, from your state of Iowa, blaming the Obama administration. Here he is.
And it says, "AIG has taxpayers over a barrel. The Obama administration has been outmaneuvered, and the closed-door negotiations just add to the skepticism that taxpayers will ever get the upper hand."
Is there blame before or after this whole situation? And moving forward, what kind of legislation would you want to put in place that would change the way they do business?
BRALEY: Well, I think my colleague from Iowa is forgetting the fact that it was the Bush administration who came to Congress, Treasury Secretary Paulson demanding $700 billion to bail out these financial institutions, and gave us a three-page proposal to do it.
We took a considered, deliberate approach to try to address this enormous financial crisis, and the way we"re going to try to make Wall Street pay for Main Street"s rehabilitation is by reinstating a transfer fee on excessive stock trading that was in place for 60 years in this country and will generate $150 billion in new revenues, create jobs, and reduce the deficit.
SCHULTZ: Congressman, great to have you with us tonight. Keep on point on this. That is a populist move that you"re talking about right there.
Appreciate your time.
BRALEY: Thanks for having me on.
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