This 2 minute clip is Bloomington, Indiana native David Shuster with his take on the outrage in a segment called Hypocrisy Watch.
Pooled capital is back as Northern Trust makes the Erin Burnett bogus claim that no taxpayer bailout funds were utilized for their recent high-profile corporate events. TMZ first broke the story yesterday that Northern Trust Bank, a recipient of $1.6 billion in taxpayer largesse from the first round of the government bailouts (TARP 1.0), spent over $10 million throwing lavish parties for employees and clients as part of their sponsorship of a PGA Tour event last week in Los Angeles. Here are some of the details: as lead sponsor of the golf tournament, they ponied up over $5 million in prize money; an additional $5 million was spent on concerts by Sheryl Crowe and Chicago, luxury gifts from Tiffany plus 7 days of parties and resort lounging for hundreds of guests and employees.
After the recent outrage over corporate-shindig malfeasance by AIG and Wells Fargo, one would think Northern Trust might have cancelled this golf-event sponsorship, around the time they decided to accept operating capital from you. Instead, they forged ahead with Phil and Oscar, and now, in response to the growing outrage from taxpayers and Congress, they offer the following lie presented in picture by MSNBC:
A slightly longer version of their official response is available here. It's the same specious argument that banking apologista, CNBC's Erin Burnett holds dear. Congressman Brad Sherman explained it in simple terms to the failed bank CEOs assembled in front of Congress last week. If you haven't seen the Sherman video yet, it should improve your mood substantially.
Apparently, Erin Burnett, Northern Trust, AIG, Wells Fargo and the rest of the financial miscreants believe that not a single American has a functioning brain. The issue is pooled capital. Whether spent on billion-dollar bonuses or golf and corporate extravagance, the source of the funds is the same. You.
Another day another sucker. Anyone getting angry yet.
After the jump, we have my complete hard-court record against Shuster plus another video on Northern Trust from Lisa Mitchell of NBC.