Did Dodd and Congress Give Companies the Right to Pay Employees Bonuses?

Amazingly ignorant stories abound on conservative tv and radio now telling us that Chriss Dodd allowed, if not caused, AIG to pay bonuses to employees. And all other banks if they choose to do so are "allowed" to pay bonuses because of Dodd.

So let's start with the easy part. You can pay your employees any amount you want above minimum wage without anyone in Congress signing off even under TARP.

Let's get a little bit more in depth. Dodd wrote an amendment that restricted bonus payouts, but it didn't cover this type of bonus. So he didn't allow anything here, he simply didn't block them all. Too bad Republicans can't write amendments too!

Oh wait they did. A Republican and a Democrat wrote an amendment that a congressional committee Dodd was on removed which would have taxed the money ovedr $100,000 at a whopping 35%. Not 35% more than income tax. Just 35%. Since Income tax on $1 million is above 35% it would have effectively done nothing for the big bonuses we are complaining about here.

So the Republican lies continue...