AIG – Will Someone Please Ditch Dodd?
Wednesday, March 18th, 2009When I think of utter scumbags, Chris Dodd comes in a quick 2nd to Barney Fwank. What a disgusting excuse for a human being he is. And guess what? He’s lying – AGAIN. I know I know..his lips are moving right?
They have the whole transcript over at Hot Air, read if for yourself. In true politicalspeak, he says a lot of nothing.
Meanwhile, people in Washington who can actually count to 10 realized that legally they can’t “tax virtually all of it..”.
Lawmakers outraged over the AIG bonuses have told the people who got the money to watch out — the government will get it back one way or the other, even if it means taxing the heck out of their paychecks.
But legal scholars say Congress will have a tough time defending itself in court if it goes down that road.
Not only would Congress be retroactively meddling with contractual agreements, they say, but it would be passing laws that would essentially target a specific group of employees.
Jonathan Turley, George Washington University law professor, said targeting those employees through taxes would invite a valid court challenge.
“It could well trigger years of litigation,” he said. “Just because a company or individual is unpopular does not mean the government can retroactively impose punitive measures against them. … There’s a host of difficult contractual and constitutional and statutory barriers that would have to be overcome by Congress.”
Two of those difficulties, lawyers say, lie in Article I of the U.S. Constitution — a section stating Congress cannot pass any “Bill of Attainder” or “ex post facto” law.
Why are politicians so stupid? More here, and here.
