As AIG faces the loss of its bonuses, it’s quietly filed a lawsuit to recoup more than $300 million dollars in what it says are overpaid taxes. The company says it overpaid the government in charges for using off-shore tax havens. The suit effectively means AIG is using U.S. taxpayer money to sue its majority owner, the U.S. taxpayer. The government owns an 80 percent stake in AIG following its $170 billion dollar bailout.

Read more here from the NYTs

The House has overwhelmingly approved a measure to recoup taxpayer money by imposing a 90 percent tax on bonuses paid to employees at the insurance giant AIG. The tax would also apply to any company receiving more than five billion dollars in bailout funds. A Senate version would impose a lower rate than the House’s 90 percent. The vote came hours after AIG complied with a New York state subpoena and disclosed the names of employees who received bonuses.

There are now questions surrounding Treasury officials and lawmakers for political maneuvering that effectively authorized the executive bonuses with the passage of the stimulus bill last month. Democratic Senator Ron Wyden says he introduced a provision that would have forced bailout recipients to cap bonuses at $100,000 and tax those exceeding it at 35 percent. The measure passed through the Senate but was inexplicably removed during talks with the House. Meanwhile, the chair of the Senate Banking Committee, Senator Christopher Dodd, is claiming he inserted a provision protecting contractually promised bonuses at the request of the Obama administration. Dodd didn’t name the administration officials who told him to insert the provision. He says he wouldn’t have done so had he known it would have allowed the bonuses at AIG.

Can we get our money back??

Turley: And I think part of the anger here really shouldn’t be directed at AIG. We all knew what AIG was. The anger, and legitimately can be directed at Congress and both parties. I mean you have these members going around expressing complete shock. But you know when you give billions and billions of dollars to the Pirates of Penzance you can hardly be surprised if they, you know, spend it on women and grog.

Obama’s response.

The investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has revealed the Bush administration ran an “executive assassination ring” that reported directly to former Vice President Dick Cheney. Hersh says US operatives have secretly gone into countries and executed suspects on a target list. The operation was apparently run under the extra-legal Joint Special Operations Command, overseen only by the White House. Hersh made the disclosure while speaking Tuesday at the University of Minnesota.

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Another quack!  Rick Santelli quack of the day!