Posted on 03/25/2009 4:03:51 AM PDT by Tom D.
DEAR Mr. Liddy,
It is with deep regret that I submit my notice of resignation from A.I.G. Financial Products. I hope you take the time to read this entire letter. Before describing the details of my decision, I want to offer some context:
I am proud of everything I have done for the commodity and equity divisions of A.I.G.-F.P. I was in no way involved in — or responsible for — the credit default swap transactions that have hamstrung A.I.G. Nor were more than a handful of the 400 current employees of A.I.G.-F.P. Most of those responsible have left the company and have conspicuously escaped the public outrage.
After 12 months of hard work dismantling the company — during which A.I.G. reassured us many times we would be rewarded in March 2009 — we in the financial products unit have been betrayed by A.I.G. and are being unfairly persecuted by elected officials. In response to this, I will now leave the company and donate my entire post-tax retention payment to those suffering from the global economic downturn. My intent is to keep none of the money myself.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Let’s see...
Those that caused this whole mess (at AIG anyhow), were unceremoniously let go. Those that stayed to fix the mess were cheated out of their retention incentive, or were about to be (and may still be) by a reckless government. Now there’s a situation where these people that performed a nearly impossible task may actually end up getting charged for the services they provided (102+% tax on their “bonuses” in NY).
I personally think this is stealing and I’m surprised that the America I grew up in is so wantonly short-sighted and willing to place blame where it surely does not belong.
Actually I’m not so much surprised as I am disgusted.
Like I said, Atlas will shrug even more and eventually we’ll all be asking who’s John Galt - at least those of us that can survive no other way will be.
I doubt Rand would be behind the furor that is going on against those at AIG that actually performed - the ones now being vilified in the press and by congress. Rand would surely see through the B.S.! I think if you really dig into what the society (Ayn Rand society) believes, they likely think similarly to what I have written also.
Bottom line, I don’t care if you disagree with what I say, I happen to believe taking these people’s money away by fiat is stealing...
>>>union scum
Your tone shows before your message.
According to the link you provided, the company, its bank, and the union are involved in a lawsuit over the issues you say are clear cut. I believe in “a deal is a deal.” If they had a deal, then the company must pay or file for bankruptcy and the judge will pay out of the proceeds of the liquidation.
According to your link, it appears the bank may be liable to the state for recommending to the company that they not provide the (immoral?) 60 day notice. (It’s immoral because mandatory notices, particularly long ones like they have in Europe dramatically increase unemployment—unintended consequences).
In the AIG case, there appears to this man’s letter there was a clear contract. He was to receive money for work performed, Obama and Democrats lied, their fake “outrage” broke commercial agreements.
Everyone works not only in an economy, but also in a political economy. Governance and property rights are joined at the hip with the economy. Obamatons, and others, have just advertised that the U.S. is not a safe place to do business.
I think the courts will handle the Chicago company that moved to Iowa.
Excellent insight!
Rare on this particular issue.
It reminds me of an NFL game where a player A commits a foul, player B retaliates and the referee throws the flag on Player B.
Well, probably not the best example but you get the idea.
The biggest difference is that the referee in this case is the corrupt U S Government.
if you worked 12 months for a $1 “salary” with the promise of a large payout at the end, would you really consider that payout as a “bonus” or as compensation for the work you had done for the past year?
It's worse than that, it was AIG Financial Products that tanked AIG, in 2008, under DeSantis, AIG FP lost 41 BILLION dollars. AIG 2008 10K Perhaps it wasn't the fault of DeSantis, but I am wondering what these guys did that was worth million-dollar bonuses.
MortMan:The bonuses were promised prior to the infusion of government money. The bonuses were originally supposed to be paid from the profits made by selling off profitable segments of the newly dismantled company.
So...where are the profits. See above. According to Liddy, the bonuses were promised in early 2008 because AIG saw FP as a continuing operation and wanted to set minimum pay levels for 2008 and 2009; once AIG hit a liquidity crisis caused by this division shouldn't the "mission" have been reconsidered as well as the bonuses?
Truth29:If we wanted to break the contracts, there was a process to do that through formal bankruptcy. That wasn't done.
Yep, that was the way to do it.
Once the government is seen as not a trustworthy partner, the costs of any public private partnership will go up with a further risk premium.
That would be a good thing, companies might not be so quick to rush to DC to beg for taxpayer money.
Perhaps not relevant...but interesting...there is a Jason DeSantis of who worked at AIG-FP of Redding CT who contributed $2100 to Chris Dodd's presidential campaign in 2006, and in the last election cycle AIG related contributions went 66% to Democrats. Is "Jason" "Jake," or is AIG-FP a family affair?
I agree with you about the AIG bonuses. It is indeed worse than we thought.
I think it was a ruse...they knew they would receive millions in bonuses on the taxpayer’s dime. I think , they all should have been fired in the first place. They caused this melt down and should not be in a position to cause further problems. Today, we hear the loss of two AIG execs in France may cost billions. It never ends with these guys...They are not the smartest people in the room clearly.
Also, since some bonuses went to those who are no longer employed with AIG, some bonuses were clearly not retention bonuses...these guys bankrupted a company and put the entire global economy at risk...they should not be rewarded. I hear the AIG mess is being investigated so I hope some will be brought to justice in the end...orange jumpsuits -not bonuses are in order for many of these people.
Plenty of GOP are against these bonuses. It’s not a partisan issue apparently. As for my tone...I object to rewarding AIG execs while allowing companies to pick up and move without even handing our a final paycheck...it’s wrong.
The money should not have been given in the first place...as for those that caused this mess being gone...nope...many execs who caused this are the very ones receiving bonuses at taxpayer expense.
Feilbogen's situation can't reasonably be compared with DeSantis's.
Numerous interesting facts and developments cited in the article.
[Red Oak, Iowa] Echo [Windows] operated for less than two months before [Republic Window's former owner] Gillman appeared at the plant Feb. 23 and announced it would close immediately. When Gillman closed Republic in December, laid off workers drew national media attention to their plight and eventually won a $1.75 million settlement for lost wages.
The only real motivation that anyone at A.I.G.-F.P. now has is fear. Mr. Cuomo has threatened to “name and shame,” and his counterpart in Connecticut, Richard Blumenthal, has made similar threats — even though attorneys general are supposed to stand for due process, to conduct trials in courts and not the press.
By breaking the men and women of AIG ( making an example of AIG employees ) through terror, threats, and fear mongering - the kindhearted liberals like Cuomo will be able to intimidate other companies into giving up without a fight.
Yeah, I'm charmed by all that "compassion" . Compassion we're all known was phony as a three dollar bill.
Has anyone ever seen a liberal show "compassion" for anyone other than fellow dems and dem victim groups?
Republicans are compassionate too. We care about the NRA...
Quite simple really, I have no sympathy for AIG or their execs...they caused this mess and should not receive bonuses on the taxpayer dime.
VICTORY AT REPUBLIC WINDOWS AND DOORS!
Press Release from UE Local 1110, posted in solidarity by IWW members:Workers Vote to Get Pay; Occupation Ends!
After 6 days occupying the plant, workers at Republic Window and Doors in Chicago voted to accept a settlement late on December 10th.
The settlement totals $1.75 million. It will provide the workers with:
- Eight weeks of pay they are owed under the federal WARN Act;
- Two months of continued health coverage, and;
- Pay for all accrued and unused vacation.
JPMorgan Chase will provide $400,000 of the settlement, with the balance coming from Bank of America. Although the money will be provided as a loan to Republic Windows and Doors, it will go directly into a third-party fund whose sole purpose is to pay the workers what is owed them. In addition, the UE has started the "Window of Opportunity Fund" dedicated to re-opening the plant.
Not from what I understand, and the basic premise I put forth is still the same. This is stealing, plain and simple. These “bonuses” were set up before the TARP or bailout money was given to AIG.
If you want to talk about the bailout money and whether or not it should’ve been given, then that’s an entirely different discussion. I would agree that the bailouts never should’ve happened - that’s what chapter 11 is for. However, you’d probably be crying about the effect that had on the economy and your personal finances too.
To me, that’s the biggest piece of the puzzle here - what really would’ve happened if we let capitalism work and let these companies that were “too big to fail” actually fail.
I’d like to see verifiable proof that the execs that caused this mess (AIG FP execs that were there causing the problem - still being there fixing it and receiving bonuses). Even at that, if they caused the problem and fixed it, they still performed as expected per their contracts - and likely sacrificed as did DeSantis.
There may be some room for argument that if someone caused a problem and is now benefiting from fixing the problem they created in the first place, well that’s pretty unethical. At any rate, politicians are famous for that and the general public tolerates that pretty regularly. If you want to show outrage, where’s your equal indignation for that - many politicians had equal hands in this and benefited from everything that’s going on here (political contributions, special interest kickbacks and loans given to pet projects, insistence on providing loans to people that could never pay them back, credit default swaps, etc...).
The bonuses were set up 2008 when the company was already failing in order to guarantee big money regardless of the condition of the company. This amounts to fraud really...totally screwed over the stockholders. Bailed out companies should never receive bonuses period. As for those who caused this mess...it’s not just a company that was bankrupted, but an entire world economy really, The same folks who were there when this went down are there now, and you can bet they participated in this debacle and most likely have received bonuses as well. As for what would have happened if they went bankrupt, we will never know. But based on the Lehman experience, perhaps it’s true, that AIG had to be bailed out. I don’t know. I do know that things have to change. We must create an environment where irresponsible companies can never do this again.
AIG also has a plan that will recoup and repay everything it owes to the government in two years.
This had nothing to do with the "bonuses".
Maybe you have noticed there has been no more talk of the unconstitutional bill taxing those people 90% of their money, that's because the bill has been quietly dropped and will not be brought to a vote. It was all political theatre.
Yes, the bonuses were set up in 2008, but it WAS prior to the bailouts even being drafted...
I say look to the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 and you will see a lot of the problems now; stem directly from that!
Do I think AIG should’ve been bailed out? Not only no, but HELL NO! Do I think people fixing the mess should be rewarded somehow? Yes, I do - unless they are the ones that created the problems to begin with. I think those people should’ve been let go without severances that would make any reasonable person blush; they did not fulfill their obligations to the company they were being fired from. Those problems ultimately trickled down to the average US citizen bearing the brunt of the bad decisions’ costs.
You and I probably agree on more things than we disagree here - I just think DeSantis made a good point. He was shafted as were several other individuals that didn’t cause the problem and stayed to fix it as best they could.
Death threats and ex post facto laws are the thanks they get - a very costly lesson indeed. I’d say the moral of the story is... don’t fix a mess you didn’t create when it comes to trying to help an ungrateful (or in this case an already enraged and ungrateful) public because they will surely not see any good in what you attempted to do (reduce their potential liability in the financial market).
I still say the work these people did was worth every penny (1.1 trillion dollars worth of toxic assets removed from AIG FP’s books for 165 million investment). Did the money go to all the right people and were there people that should’ve seen jail time? Well, probably no and yes (in that order). Too late now, except for the fact that the public is being snowed in to agreeing with bad law after bad law.
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