AIG Gives $644,000 in 'Campaign Bonuses' to U.S. Senators and Representatives According to The O'Leary Report

/PRNewswire/ -- As President Barack Obama and Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) continue to point fingers over which one of them is to blame for the stimulus bill's "Dodd Amendment," which specifically excludes bonuses from caps on executive pay, one thing is clear: both Obama and Dodd profited from AIG campaign "bonuses" and an overwhelming majority of Americans want them to give this money back.

According to a breaking poll conducted by The O'Leary Report and Zogby International, 73 percent of Americans think any members of Congress who received campaign contributions from AIG over the last two years should return the money.

This might go double for President Obama and Senator Dodd, who were by far the largest recipients of AIG campaign cash in the last election cycle. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Obama received $104,332 from AIG and Dodd raked in $103,900. Obama and Dodd far outpaced the rest of Congress, as the next largest beneficiary received about $45,000 less than each of them. All told, AIG gave a total of $644,218 to federal candidates over the last election cycle.

The O'Leary Report/Zogby poll, which was conducted March 20-23 and has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 1.5 percentage points, asked 4,523 likely voters: "Should members of Congress who received campaign donations over the past two years from the troubled financial giant AIG return the contributions?"

Seventy-three percent of all respondents say "yes," these members of Congress should return their AIG bonuses. Among self-described Democrats, 61 percent say yes, as do 83 percent of Republicans and 78 percent of Independents.

Sixty-four percent of young voters aged 18-29 years old, one of the President's most enthusiastic support groups, think that Obama and congressional recipients of AIG donations should return them. Seventy-four percent of taxpayers and 70 percent of Americans who have no federal income tax liability also think the money should be returned.

The Center for Responsive Politics lists AIG as the fourth largest contributor to Senator Dodd, who chairs the Senate Banking Committee, giving him a total of $281,038 in campaign bonuses over his career. Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, has received more money from AIG over his career ($91,000) than he has from any other company. The Center also reports that stimulus bill supporter Senator John Kerry (D-MA) "was by far the biggest investor in AIG, with stock valued around $2 million."

Congress may be undecided on how best to recoup AIG's taxpayer-funded bonuses, however, a clear majority of American voters want members of Congress to return the campaign bonuses they received from AIG.

Debt Heads: Americans Follow Record $11 Trillion National Debt on Twitter

/PRNewswire/ -- With no leading efforts on social networking sites to track the national debt, the Peter G. Peterson Foundation (PGPF) recently announced it is offering interested citizens the opportunity to track the growth of the national debt on a daily basis via Twitter, and most recently through Facebook.

This week, followers of PGPF's National Debt on Twitter witnessed a record high when its national debt "tweet" clocked in at $11,033,157,578,669.78 -- crossing the $11 trillion mark for the first time in U.S. history.

By going virtual, PGPF now provides an easy way for Americans to monitor a part of our nation's financial obligations every day -- without the space limitations of the famous "national debt clock" which was a prominent fixture in New York City's Times Square neighborhood, until in ran out of numbers in 2008.

PGPF's National Debt on Twitter has experienced a surge of interest, primarily through "word-of-mouse", and now has over 5,000 followers and growing.

As Americans feel tremendous anxiety and doubt over the nation's weakened economic state, more and more people have turned to social networking sites to get informed and share their concerns with others online.

In response, PGPF has now launched the National Debt Page on Facebook. After visiting the National Debt Page and "becoming a fan," concerned Americans receive daily Facebook updates of the Treasury Department's national debt numbers. The Facebook account also has the added advantage of allowing users to connect with other Facebook "fans" of the National Debt from across the world.

Unnerving as our $11 trillion national debt may be, factoring in the government's off-the-balance sheet liabilities and unfunded retirement and health care obligations, $11 trillion is just the tip of the iceberg. The real national debt is actually $56.4 trillion, or $483,000 per U.S. household.

National Debt on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/NationalDebt

National Debt on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-National-Debt/72709485411

PGPF President & CEO Dave Walker on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/people/David-Walker/1377000890

PGPF on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peter-G-Peterson-Foundation/15503839732

Obama Policy Threatens House Democrats, says Washington Senior Rights Activist

/PRNewswire/ -- "President Obama is asking congressional Democrats to do what President Clinton recognized was an action that cost Democrats their majority 15 years ago after controlling the House of Representatives for several decades," John M. Snyder said here today.

"Over the weekend," noted Snyder, "Amy Brundage of the White House said Obama supports reviving the ban on certain firearms passed in 1994 and even expanding it, reported the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. This is the ban Clinton implied led to the Democrats' defeat in the 1994 mid-term elections. He indicated this in his 1995 State of the Union speech and later in his autobiography. Even though the White House referred to 'assault weapons,' the law actually banned semiautomatic firearms used by millions of law-abiding American citizens. The ban expired five years ago.

"Obama is giving Republicans a big stick with which to beat his fellow Democrats. Obama may not realize that, as philosopher George Santayana did, 'those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.' The next mid-term congressional elections come just 21 months from now."

Named recently the senior rights activist in Washington by Shotgun News, Snyder, a former National Rifle Association magazine editor, is Manager of Telum Associates, Public Affairs Director of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, and Treasurer of the Second Amendment Foundation.

Americans' Confidence Level Increases Regarding Nation's Issues After Obama's Inauguration Speech

/PRNewswire/ -- A study conducted among 1,819 self-reported Democrats, Republicans and Independents revealed that the majority of Americans are more confident that the key issues facing the nation will improve during the next four years after viewing President Barack Obama's inauguration speech.

The study was conducted by HCD Research on January 20 to obtain Americans' perceptions of President Barack Obama and what effect his presidency will have on the nation's critical issues, including the economy, health care, education, the war in Iraq and energy supply and creation.

Participants were asked to respond the questions before and after viewing the inauguration speech to determine if their perceptions changed after viewing the speech. Participants were also asked to rate Barack Obama based on 8 leadership attributes. To view detailed results, visit: www.mediacurves.com.

Among the findings:

After the speech, 51% of Republicans were confident that the economy would improve over the next four years compared to 38% before watching the speech. Democrats were more confident with regard to the issue of Iraq. There was an increase of 17% of Democrats who believed that the issue of the war in Iraq would improve in the next presidency after watching the inauguration speech.

Republicans' perception of President Obama's leadership also improved after the inauguration speech. Participants were asked to rate President Obama on an agreement scale based on 8 leadership attributes before and after watching the inauguration speech. Republicans increased their level of agreement for every leadership attribute after viewing the speech. The highest increases were seen in the following attributes: "Obama is firm and consistent in his views" (increase of 15%), "Obama is representing my values (increase of 14%) and "Obama is honest" (increase of 13%).

Participants' emotions were also measured while viewing the speech. The emotion that was felt the most by viewers during the inauguration speech was hopefulness. Hopefulness was the top emotion felt by Democrats (68%), Republicans (36%), as well as Independents (57%). Democrats and Independents also reported that they felt confident and attentive, while Republicans reported that they felt some skepticism.