A.I.G. = Allowing Irreversible Greed?

Where were the Republican union/ contract busters at when AIG had their hands out?

Is it legal to demand that AIG return our generous bailout funds?

What a fallacious argument that the bonuses are needed to retain the “brightest and best.” If these gentlemen allowed the company to get into the shape it is, then the “brightest and best” must have a new meaning. I guess I could qualify now…except my checkbook balances.

So, how about we let them go under, and see how many contracts they can honor. Bonuses are supposed to be compenstation for a job well done. They allow the company to share its “earnings” with executives and employees alike, I find it hard to justify giving any compensation when the company had a loss. We need to just let capitalism work…

AIG Are they not the keepers of congressional and senatorial pensions?
This should then come as no surprise. They are just keeping their faith hence he rewards. Hey wouldn’t you be grateful if someone had looked out after your pension? Come on now!

Edward Liddy says that “Honoring contractual commitments is at the heart of what we do in the insurance business. I cannot have our clients lose faith in our desire and ability to do just that.” I’m having difficulty seeing how paying bonuses for running the company into the ground is an act that builds faith. Larry Summers says that “We are a country of law. There are contracts. The government cannot just abrogate contracts.” Yes we can, Mr. Summers. We’ve done it once and we’ll do it again. “When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth…”

Blood will follow blood
Dying time is here
Damage Incorporated
AIG = Damage Incorporated

Are americans and our press just stupid in general?
Almost all major corporations do retention bonuses to keep what they view as key employees from leaving. Many of them are 2-3 year payouts, and only stipulation in contract is the employee stay on as an employee, thus the team retention -and these are not tied to performance of the company….so duh, they have to pay it out or the employee will sue and win. Pretty much any lawyer will take that case as it is a guaranteed win.

What has happened to America and the American people ? Greed has replaced pride in our country with fear and lack of control of our lives.

It is an urban legend that you need these people in order to saty competitive.
AIG is not competitive and with thousands of fiance guys looking for work you can find replacemenst. Every employement contract has a provision for people acting out of bounds so use that not to pay bonuses. Short of that just don’t pay them and let the courts decide.Don’t let the AIUG management decide for they are too cowardly and out of the same skin.
Ford still has its head above water because they brought in a top guy who wasn’t from the car industry to connect Ford to the real world.

dp – Key employees indeed. The same ones that made AIG insolvent. Time to let engineers and scientists run the show….you know the people that can add numbers as they were intended to be added.

Give me back my tax dollars now. You greedy losers deserve absolutely nothing, and if we, the poorer American taxpayers saved your company only to hand out hefty bonuses to the people who obviously did a terrible job, then the taxpayers MUST demand the return of “our” money and AIG, you figure out how to pay these fools yourself. What disgusting greed. Oh and please publish their names!

Give them a million plus dollars and reduce their pay to a dollar. The Final Insult. We believe you when you say that you will work for $1.00. We know you are already looking for another job. Gullible is not quite the word when swindle people. They are called victims, and you, gentlemen, are the Perpetrators of Fraud, aka Criminals.

Talk about being outragious, the very people that run it down and put all the taxpayers in the hole are the ones benifiting. Is this one of the schems like the buffet table where you eat all the principle and spend all the profit on yourself and family. Smells like it and our govt. people are in there helping. Guess we have change afterall!!

I too am very upset at the outrageous salaries and bonuses these executives get. Yes indeed, they are very greedy. These same greedy executives have also taken strong legal steps to make sure their bonuses have no bearing upon whether company makes a profit. The audacity of AIG top executives to say they are legally bound brings even more audacity to their statements. Fact is they wrote these contracts!!!!! If there is agreement by all of the executive, and supplemental agreements signed, then bonuses could be reduced. AIG is just being indignant. What he is saying. We are not going to change. Give us the money, but stay out of our business. Outrageous!!! Their company is in bankruptcy stage!!

Your country has long been a subservient puppet to the Zionist movement.

AIG has already failed. The US Government should force AIG into Chapter 11 bankruptcy and that should eliminate the bonuses to the incompetent operators. Let the lawyers discuss the issues forever, and force the government and other creditors to take over the company. If this is called nationalization, so what? The bailout should have had strings attached that would allow for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and if it didn’t the government officials responsible for the mistake are incompetent and should be replaced.

Oh and who cares if they sue. Let them grovel in the gutter for any pennies that are left in AIG – minus our tax contributions. I heard that they are all worried that these senior(s) will leave the country – GOOD RIDDANCE. Maybe we can attract some honest hard-working people to fill future financial market positions. People who can add to the country, not subtract all for themselves. I agree, let us revolt on this one. Shame on you all

AIG insures the Congressional pension fund. The Congress will happily bankrupt our country and destroy our economy to protect their lifelong place at the public trough.

It is easier to start new than to clean out a rats nest such as AIG. This is true for some of the big banks as well. Let them fail and there will be plenty of qualified people willing to set up new enterprises, that will make lots of money, playing by the rules. Naturally a set of regulations need to be in place so as to keep this debacle from repeating itself.

To retain the best and the brightest, isn’t that what I read. Didn’t their best and brightest get them in this mess. I understand contractual agreements, and we (taxpayers) may lose this round, but going forward? Pay these people off and get younger, and more motivated staff members. I guarantee the 8.50/hr mail room clerk behind in his mortgage won’t see a dime.

the cemetary is full of indispensible men.
fire these guys and let them sue for their bonuses. tie them up in court and put check payable to them in their coffins and a note as to what is owed to them on their tombstones….

Whenever Barney (we don’t need any more oversight at Fannie Mae) Franks opens his mouth, the subject loses all credibility. Those who blame Bush are revisionists who want to forget the actions of Franks and Chuckie (never saw a camera he didn’t like) Schumer who fought regulation of the financial services companies tooth and nail.

Hasn’t AIG figured out yet that the people it is seeking to “retain” are obviously NOT the “best and brightest”? The company is a miserable failure that has a significant role in taking down the world economy, the people it is trying to “retain” are behind those failures, and it should not be rewarding OR retaining those people. “Retention bonuses” are tied to a person staying at a company – so if AIG fires those people, they will accomplish two things: they won’t have to pay “retention bonuses” AND they will get rid of the people who are perpetuating this massive failure. Apparently, AIG has not gotten the message that it’s time to clean house. The corruption at AIG must end.

The government SHOULD outlow credit default swaps as being against public policy, since over 80% are speculative. That would shut down the financial products division quite quickly.
If it doesn’t want to do that, it can pass a special law taxing bonuses to companies that have received TARP funds…maybe as high as 100%.

One thing people need to do is wake up and realize neither political party is “on your side”, they both serve the rich.
Don’t fight among yourselves peons, direct you energy at the source, the entire congress.

What bonus? The way I see it the company went under the second they took billions of our money. AIG is not a solvent company and has no money except ours. As an investor I say no to the bonus program, let the execs go find another job. I’ll be happy to take thier place for a mere 500k, plus stock options, private jet, company credit card, gold golf club memberships around the world, assistants to pay my personal bills from the company account, and assistants to keep everyone away from me. Just don’t ask me what I’m doing or going to do. Talk to my legal team about that! Enron, Worldcom and all the others, no lessons learned there.

Don’t know if it’s already been suggested, but I would take out a full page ad in whatever large city newspapers are left with the names and email addresses of all employees of AIG receiving these bonuses. Maybe shame is the only thing left to recover these outrageous,excessive, and guaranteed fees. No more! In spite of what compensation “experts” have been spouting all these years, no one individual ANYWHERE is worth these rewards.

All those trillions of inflationary dollars, now being spent on saving non-viable, failed megacorporations, could have been spent on healthcare and education, thus saving millions of lives in the long run and building a strong foundation for future greatness of this country. Unfortunately, the opposite direction has been chosen.

what a beautiful “system of retention”, wasn’t this group of smart *** that have a role in having AIG ran aground? It is time to fire all of them and hire new people!!!

AIG could avoid all the bad publicity and just call the excessive, poorly timed payments “Earmarks”.

Since when does any company reward an employee if said company’s bottom line is so far in the red they need government assistance. These employees cannot be considered “good” employees if they caused the company to loose money. Duh!!

“Honoring contractual commitments is at the heart of what we do in the insurance business.”
No — looking out for No. 1 and screwing everyone else to the fullest extent possible is what insurance companies are known for doing, and this dosn’t in any way change that perception.

Why would anyone work for AIG or any of these banks that have taken TARP $. If these $ were guaranteed they have to be paid that is the law. would you work for a company if you were not getting the money owed to you? I think not!
If these were auto union employees not getting their guaranteed $ every democrat in congrss would be sreaming but they are vilified bankers so lets pile on.
These terrible banksers are the people who pay the bulk taxes to NYC and NY state. That idiot Cuomo is going to bankrupt NY by driving bankers out of the US.
Where is the outrage over auto union employees being paid not to work and driving the auto companies into the ground. Where is the outrage that our 401k’s are worthess but government employees will get 100% of their pensions guaranteed raising taxes for all.
We have loaned $ to the banks, they have to run their businesses. If the idiots had not let Lehman fail we would all be in better shape.
Where is the blame for the democrats? Chris Dodd head of the banking committee was getting sweetheart loans from countrywide but no one gives a damn. If he was a republican he would be in jail.

Let’s see…send Madoff to gaol, but not these AIG criminals? Let AIG FAIL, get rid of bad garbage! Prosecute the perps at AIG AND ANYONE WHO AIDED AND ABETTED THEM, lock’em up, get an investigative commitee to see if there is anyone else out there that needs to be locked up, AND IMMEDIATELY TAKE BACK ANY TAPAYER PROVIDED FUNDS THAT ARE LEFT!!!

Did the government have a signed contract with AIG stipulating how to spend this money ? If there is such a contract what is the problem ? If there is none (why in the hell wasn’t there) then it is none of the government’s damn business what AIG does with the money. What is wrong with this stupid government ? Doesn’t matter a bit who did what. The milk is already spilled. Who gives money to a child then tells the child they can only buy certain kinds of candy ? This is a contractual nation. I would not let a gardener in my yard without a signed contract. CYA for both of us. What was Pelosi and company (been in charge for 3 years, right ?) doing while all this money was flying around ? I hear congress is above padding their own pockets. If you put lip stick on a piece of pork then it is no longer pork, is it ?

This company should have been let go to bankruptcy. Now government cannot recover anything out of them, with them continuing to live a lavish life and taking $121 M in bonuses. Do they have any morals at all? How can they stomach that money when the country is paying their tomfoolery? This has got to stop right away. Government should take back the $121 M. If they get any bonuses, it should be for their performance for 2009. 2008 is history and a worst one to that.

Why are they not in jail?

Stop helping out the big giants and letting the little ones fail!!!! If they cannot operate their business then they do not need to be in business! My company has already made necessary cut backs, taken out safety programs, suspended manager raises and bonuses, and laid off people, and has not asked the government for a hand out! We are pulling together and making it work. Everyone just has to step up to the plate right now!

Banks have hijacked the country. Our new, hopeful president keeps doling out wads of cash to them. He is their puppet, and we voted him in thinking he was on our side. We’ve all been skillfully duped, again (myself included).

send them to china for expedited judicial processing

“Almost all major corporations do retention bonuses to keep what they view as key employees from leaving”
So what… guess what? The game has changed and ownership of AIG has changed.
New owners… are us… we the American taxpayer don’t have to abide by your stupid employment contracts.

There is no way any company should be allowed to pay bonus for company failure from taxpayers money. Let AIG go kaput.

Beyond denying the bonuses, the federal government should claw back the bonuses that were given during the period where AIG engaged in their irresponsible speculative use of credit default swaps. The government should also seek clawbacks from those Wall Street firms and banks that made bets with our (i.e. investors’) money.

I don’t understand why all contracts like these were not neutralized as soon as taxpayers took 80% stake in the company.
Also, if this administration philosophy of holding contracts sacred is so important, why have they allowed judges to re-write mortgage contracts.
Something needs to burn for these decision makers to understand the taxpayers have had enough.

This is an obvious attempt to cover up or prepare for a french style revolution, you know, nepoleon dictatorship. You helped vote for it TARP…congress vote for it, although people were protesting it, across the country…Who is benefiting???
Which countries benefited???
Which group of people have seen the most hardship from this financial collaps, and who are the ones justifing their own invovelemnt by creating fronts… madoff is an example…

” Dems winning Congress in 2006.”
Apparently you didn’t notice that republicans still held the presidency and congress for a dozen years before that.
Got it?

I think your picture says a lot more about your ego than you think it does.

Ed, they only reason they even have a chance to pay these bonuses is that WE gave them money to stay afloat. Some argument could be made that we don’t owe the bonuses, and a whole lot better argument could’ve been made if we didn’t just give the treasury free rein to hand out and instead attached strong conditions to the funds (e.g. no bonuses to execs or no money).

LET THEM GO UNDER. FIRE THEM ALL.

Bonus my %s^.
Put them in jail!!

Ah – but Congress is due for a raise and Speaker Pelosi sees no problem with dodging the issue whenever it’s raised. Maybe AIG is following her lead?
What part of this whole thing don’t Democrats get? Eventually, the thieves they elected are going to run out of pockets to steal from. What then? Try complaining — they’ll get the same condescending attitude and icy cold stare that Obama gives to lowly reporters who question with him. (ooo – isn’t that what reporters are supposed to do?)
Newspapers — if any of you “journalists” are reading this — this is your one, only and last chance to save your skins: tell the truth about this Administration and liberal Democrats. You remember how to tell the truth, don’t you? Clue: the “marketing” put out by the Obama Administration is always a lie. Start there.
Some Change.

This is one company that needs permanent waterboarding.

I hope the Democrats who voted for Big O are happy.

STOP THE BAILOUTS! Let AIG, GM, Chrysler and all the banks, brokerage houses and mortgage lenders that are failing go under. They are what brought us to this crisis. They need to pay the consequences for their actions. In fact, they should all go to prison.

NO company is big enough to fail. BIG companies failed all the time.

Go straight to jail, do not pass ‘go’, and do not collect a penny.

Publish online – and continually update – the names, addresses, telephone numbers, cell phone numbers and email addresses of these greedy financiers who have exploited public funds, and the amounts of their annual compensation.
Do not allow these scondrels to avoid very public confrontation by Congress (go to it, Barney Frank) and any taxpayer who wishes to point out their destructive egocentricity.
Such consistent confrontation techniques, from which there is no escape,have proven effective in family treatment of drug abusers, alcoholics and others who inflict suffering on those around them.

Whoever heard of bonus money for operating in the red? Bonus to retain the best? Are you kidding me? Turn on the TV, where are they going to go? Who’s hiring, I need an application!

“Every generation needs a new revolution.” – Thomas Jefferson
When my small business pays more taxes that 50 of the top 100 firms in the U.S., you know we have lost control. Why do you think that when Steve Forbes wanted a 20% flat tax (They should be paying 40% as tax codes are now) for companies they went wild… because they don’t really pay their tax amount. Time for the middle class to rise up and end this… it is not what our forefathers planned when they founded this country.

“best and the brightest” what? your huge bonuses and rediculous salaries have attracted the best and the brightest greedy theives

The people who use or recieve taxpayer money to pay outrageous bonuses for failure are thiefs and criminals and should be put in Jail.
Unfortunately in America white collar criminals are treated with kid gloves.
If this was China, they would all be hung in public

List all the divisions of AIG that contributed to the losses. List all the AIG divisions that had nothing to do with the meltdown.
Determine the percentage of these bonuses that go to the loosers.
It is a giant international company. Do not throw out the baby with the bath water.

How come when I read something like this that old Beatles tune, REVOLUTION, comes to my mind???
Contact Congress and tell them how happy you are about this!!!

The government did not know about those AIG bonuses before giving bailout money?
This argument about retaining the best people does not hold water. In 1981 the air traffic control system underwent a extreme turnover. The same argument was used in the form of “The can’t fire us all.” Losing the quality and experience was a prediction of doom. Yet, the system quickly recovered. Remember we were talking about hundreds and thousands of lives not just money.
You will be surprised how quickly quality increases when jobs are on the line and how quickly anyone will step up to the challenge obtaining a higher paying job. I’ll take the job and be doing as good within months.

You people have no clue how the free enterprise system works.
AIG is in the risk management business. It is my responsibility to ensure there is zero risk to AIG’s paychecks.

Senortorial and Congress’s pension’s seem to be the front runner here. How would they survive? American Citizens have been dropped on their heads, forced to eat whatever is put in front of us and just say “em, that is good” Fire every person who feels they are deserving of a bonus.. They have their bonus, a job,
We need to clean house, fire all and start over.. Create companies that have a lid. When the top is achieved open a new company, create good benifits for alot, not bonuses for a few.
Keep companies alive for over a hundred years, not fly by night, change your name and carry on.

Privatize profits, public losses. Who would argue with that, I want the same deal!

I find it remarkable how many people are venting about the greed of AIG on this blog. When are people in the Western countries going to get it through their thick skulls that this crisis is ultimately caused by the unprecendented greed of entire countries living at levels far above what their economies can truly support? These financial companies have done a brilliant job at manipulating every facet of the financial system to keep generating more and more fake “wealth and prosperity” to let us continue to feed our fat faces. We whine about AIG and bonuses and then Obama turns round and implies that we are being responsible by trying to cut the deficit in half in five years. HALF….he needs to cut it to zero as soon as this crisis is over and start to pay down the outrageous levels of debt that we have instead of paying ourselves this outrageous bonus every year from money we just don’t have. I wonder what that would do his poll ratings. I agree we should be angry at AIG, but lets try applying some of that righteous anger to ourselves.

The AIG should go under if neccessary.
The money they received from tho treasury is not AIG’S money it is ours.
If they AIG had earned the money then I could not say anything but they did not.Let AIG sink.

I think there are plenty of “the best and brightest talent” out there on the streets who would love the opportunity to lead AIG to recovery. This is bull.

“My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.”
Carl Schurz (March 2, 1829 – May 14, 1906)
Even it these bonuses are legal they are morally wrong and should not be accepted by the AIG executives. What a positive message it would be to the country if they refused the money. A simple display of sacrifice and humility could help set it right….

Where is the contract that says the government has to give AIG any money?

Recall the words of Bush II: “We have to violate market principles to save the market.” Like any politician, he flip-flopped. In turn, America has begun the project of nationalizing private banks and businesses. BHO, following the lead of Bush II, has continued this nationalization, supposedly out of necessity. Please also recall, however, the example of Washington Mutual Bank, the largest savings and loan institution in America. It went bankrupt. Investors and shareholders lost. JP Morgan Chase promptly bought this bank. Market principles worked here. Hardly anybody remembers. Let the bad banks go. Other banks, with smarter business models, will replace these bad banks.

When will the people of this country get mad enough to say: Enough!!
The bonuses to executives have been outrageous and obscene for a long time—gathering their initial steam under Ronald Reagan and snow-balling– getting larger and larger– until we are where we are today. Is anyone saying out loud: One of the reasons we are experiencing this economic meltdown is because of these excessive bonuses?? I am stunned that these companies feel they can continue to roll over the American people–even blaming “irresponsible home buyers” for the mortgage melt-down—how about irresponsible executives that have been amassing wealth that cannot be defended with any rationalization? The big companies —with the support of the Republicans (who now cry foul ironically)—told us: You too can be rich! Invest in the stock market, take risks, buy a new home, watch TV programs that show luxury and wealth as THE most important definition of being an American. Go for it! Reach for the heights!
Now they tell us—as they bank their enormous bonuses—”Oh my, you were irresponsible to buy a home and go into debt—tsk, tisk.”
When will we get fed up enough to say NO MORE!!!!

I think that in the end the Democrats will blame it on Bush, then try to get even more taxpayer money to finance Obama’s follies.

I love all these comments about invalidating employee contracts. Come on people we do not live in the old communist Russia!
If we do this for Banks that took Govt $ shouldn’t we also be able to invalidate Auto Union contracts for Auto makers that take Govt $. Should we also be able to invalidate government union contracts for states that take Govt Bailout $. If it is good for the banks it is good for all that take bailout $.
Not every person who works for a bank gets a million $ bonus.
There are accountants, secretaries, clerks and others who work there.
This democrat created class warfare has to stop. The media is a willing partner in this.
Every NBC, MSNBC and CNBC on air employee should have to announce and then reduce their income because their parent company GE is involved in Government relief programs. HA! never happen.

if the government doesn’t give me ten million dollars, i’ll quit. last offer.

I don’t understand what the problem is here. Contracts can be re-negotiated. If the employee refuses to go along with a decrease in his bonus similar to those already agreed to by senior management, then he should be fired. I cannot accept the arrogance that anyone has expertise that is unique. There are hundreds of highly qualified and currently unemployed persons walking on Wall Street who could do these jobs. This sort of inflated ego worship is what got us into this mess in the first place.

I am a Reagan Republican who could not stand the last administration…. guys like I said it is time for a REVOLUTION. STOP PAYING TAXES, IF YOU WORK FOR A MAJOR COMPANY THAT ABUSES THE SYSTEM THEN STRIKE, 0
We have too much government and too little return. Even at a local level the people who work at a town or county level think we are here to create jobs for them… it is time to end all of this crap.
We have the ability to control this but we don’t because they have us all afraid. We are more concerned with our kids soccer game this weekend then the country we are going to leave them. This is disgusting. Time to stand up…. the country belongs to us…not them.

In my home town of Roanoke, VA there is a national insurance company founded in 1914, Shenandoah Life. It has been a sterling corporate citizen for nearly a century. Early last year their management tried to reduce risk by buying Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac preferred stock. Big mistake! They lost $50 from their liquidity, which led last month to the state taking over the company. Right now it’s doubtful that this insurance company will survive. Our local congressman was unable to get any federal money to stabilize their balance sheet. I guess AIG had swallowed all the “extra” cash. Nobody at Shenandoah Life is getting any bonuses. They’ll probably end up with pink slips for trying to be honest businessmen. But then, who cares about a mere $2 billion company?

A.I.G as not behaved and is in trouble. We could have allowed its trouble to bankrupt and cave it in. We could have allowed it to crash and burn. A.I.G has been playing with matches, attempting to burn the town around down. It ran out of matches before it could ignite the town. But A.I.G loves to play irresponsibly, so it is going to pay its executives EXTRA MONEY for coming SO CLOSE to burning down the town.

I say stop the bailout and let this company go under
where’s my bailout?

As with other welfare, is there no accountability, no right of rules, not a overriding contract of “buy in”. Are we are not investing public money in these companies as a loan. Where is the collateral and obligation??

These people are thieves and the worst kind of scum.

AIG as it was before taxpayer bailout doesn’t exist. They need to do the same as done in bankruptcy courts. Wipe out all “unfavorable” previous contracts. Then fire these employees for gross mistakes. Then JAIL THEM. And make sure that they don’t get a penny. And then post these jobs to millions of Americans. There are many more talented people who will apply for and get these jobs. These criminal employees are not indispensable (no one is!).

How is it that the government did not know about AIG’s “legally” binding committments to payout these bonuses. Should they not have investigated everything before committing taxpayer money to bail them out?
During an audit all contracts are reveiwed; how could this have been missed or overlooked?

Just let AIG drop dead!

AIG has been refusing to pay many of the medical/dental bills for my daughter. -Fine print-not covering expenses in the first year of coverage -Does that apply to Root Canal? This is not something one can plan ahead for. Now they “HAVE” to pay big bonuses. Do they get a bonus based on how they hurt us? There may be riots if this isn’t fixed. I am really mad.

i give up.

Incredible , or is it ? Makes one wonder who really is controlling this “game of chess”

You people have no clue how the free enterprise system works.
AIG is in the risk management business. It is my responsibility to ensure there is zero risk to AIG’s paychecks.
response:
Paychecks I can understand but a bonus is given when a job is well done, if goals are met and the company is doing better than expected. AIG company had to get a loan from Congress to stay afoat now to me it sounds like to Exec’s there, did not do their job well and should have been fired instead of given a bonus.

Justme…. These so called educated people who put in so many hours are responsible for these loses.
I worked on Wall Street and I can tell you many of your assumptions are all wrong. None of these people are compensated for the long term health of their company… they are compensated for short term profits… this type of thinking has caused many executives to make poor decisions.
Go hang out by the corner of Gold and John Street on a Thursday or Friday evening and you will see the Limo’s with the high class call girls waiting to pick up these same executives after they done drinking at “Harry’s”.
You are not getting the best and brightest…. usually you are getting “legacy’s” just like GW Bush getting into Yale or the Kennedy’s into Harvard.
Ninety Percent of the people on Wall Street should not be allowed to run a cash register at Burger King, Half of them would be too stupid to open it and the other half would steal from you.

I think what’s really ‘funny’ is managements comment that, ‘we wouldn’t be able to compete for the ‘top talent’ if we weren’t allowed to give bonuses. The fact is that a ‘mob of lemmings’ would have done a better job than these idiots. It is my considered opinion that not only should they NOT receive bonuses; but, in addition, they should all be fired and all the MBA programs in this country be shuttered. They may have PhDs, but they don’t know enough to come in out of the rain. When are WE going to indict Hank Greenberg for running the ‘biggest ponzi scheme ever imagined by mankind?

It’s simple. Blacklist every name on AIG’s bonus list that accepts a bonus from AIG this year from any contact with the federal government or any candidate or PAC or lobbies. Ban any PAC or lobby that knowingly attends any function or has any contact with them.
Publish a shun list on the web and make sure that social-security and medicare and all federal judges can weigh that info when judging the veracity of their claims.

To El Coyote:
The big difference between movie stars making more, and these folks making more, is that we choose to pay the salaries of stars by watching films…in this case *we* are forced to pay for AIG, and AIG is taking advantage of that. Imagine if your tax dollars were being used to pay for lavish lifestyles of movie stars (morover ones that weren’t actually working)–that would be an outrage.

Do we have any comments? You are so right that millions of people will be outraged – and that is because we are spending our hard-earned money so that ‘the best and the brightest’ can get a bonus for ruining their company to the point where the federal government had to bail them out to the tune of $170 billion and counting.
Sorry, folks, but the outrage is DESERVED! Our future and our children’s future and the future of our country is on the line, and the people who brought AIG to this point are being rewarded? What does that say for the social contract? How do you explain this behavior to someone who is barely able to feed their children or can’t afford needed medical care? Sorry, we are taking your tax money so we don’t lose employees who all went along with the biggest Ponzi scheme of all?
According to the article, AIG “has” to pay these bonuses because of their contractual obligations – where was their concern for contracts when they were having a heyday trading default swaps with nothing behind them? It was nothing but a giant Ponzi scheme, and if we can’t throw them in jail, then either pull the company charter or, do the following:
Divide AIG into two parts: the insurance division that has been run responsibly, is making money, and should continue, and the financial section which should undergo an orderly bankruptcy. If we, the people of the United States own 80% of the company, then we can shut it down. Sorry, we can’t pay bonuses for a division that doesn’t exist anymore. End of story. In my view, the officers of AIG are lucky to stay out out of jail – they completely failed in their fiduciary duties. If you are selling people any form of insurance (such as credit default swaps), then you have to have some substantial money backing up the insurance, otherwise you are a crook.
Why is this so difficult for the federal government to understand? The main problem is that the swaps were so ‘sophisticated’ that no one could understand or regulate them. Its not all that sophisticated, folks – if you issue insurance, then you have reserves backing it up.
No company, no bonus. Plain and simple. Or, if we have to issue the bonuses, then we will prosecute these crooks as they deserve.

The specious logic used to attempt to justify what cannot be justified needs to be displayed in all its flawed wonder.
If there had been no bailout by us (the taxpayers), AIG would have imploded and not one cent in bonuses would have been paid to anyone. Those sacrosanct contracts would have become unenforceable. How can tax dollars used to keep the company afloat be diverted to “top performers” pockets?
Claw back those payments and let them sue…if they dare. Unless there are twelve AIG executives on the jury, they won’t have a chance.
These people have no ethics. Why should they even be allowed to remain as leaders in what is obviously a morally bankrupt organization.
As my friends from the Bronx would have said, “throw the bums out!”

What the government needs to do is to shut down the CDS market. What a lot of people don’t understand is that there are $60 trillion of CDS backing $10 trillion of bonds. That is like allowing a lot of people to own life insurance on your life. Sooner or later, someone will try to do you in. In this case, AIG sold all these guarantees on other bonds, which in fact have not defaulted, but the risk rose and AIG was forced to put up additional collateral which is where the government stepped in. But if the government can assure that other bonds won’t default (which they can), AIG will suddenly seem quite solvent as all that collateral that the government put up will come back. That is the root of the problem now. The cause of the problem indeed was the financial products group who bet multiple times more than they should have. Senior management was asleep at the wheel in not understanding the level of leverage and risk that was going on. Indeed, the previous senior management and heads at the financial products group have already rolled. To unfairly punish those that remain at this once great company is not the solution. There is tremendous value at the company and if the problem gets fixed versus trying to blame those that have not been any part of the problem, the government, taxpayers, shareholders and bondholders ought to see some significant returns from current levels.
Someone else that should have been blamed is Elliot Spitzer for forcing out Hank Greenberg. Hank knew very well the levels of risk that were being taken and only Hank would have been able to have shut down the risk levels at financial products before it got out of hand.
Unfortunately the dumb, liberal media and political demagogues are only interested in stirring up the lynch mobs, selling papers, advertising and winning votes.
What is scary at this point is that we are marching down the road on a path to a government of socialism and collective dictatorship. Government cannot fix all the problems and they never could. But if they were to just focus on assuring solvency and liquidity, reducing risk-taking and leverage, empowering and motivating the able, then we can return to the path of prosperity and responsibility. Otherwise, we are clearly entering the path of lifelong indebtedness, insolvency, dependency, and despair.

NBove, not so fast. I believe that bailout funds make the government a sort of secured creditor. Thus, if the company goes bankrupt, the government will get some of its assets. So, we don’t lose anything more then we have already lost. (I think this is the way the bailout was structured, although I am not 100%)

We’re a country of law. What law says the taxpayers have to give them a red penny? Do a reset and nationalize them.

They use tax money to pay the bonus. They should go to jail. They are talent on greedy.

I’m astounded that Liddy is worried that the company “cannot attract and retain the best and brightest talent to lead and staff the AIG businesses.” What Libby calls “the best and brightest talent” are the same no-talent clowns who knowingly and intentionally drove the massive AIG truck off the cliff. Let that “best and brightest” group leave empty-handed. Being the 80% (?) shareholder of AIG, the American taxpayer should demand that the entire lot of
“officers – that is, anyone with a title of associate vice president or higher” be terminated for breach of contract and cause. No corporation-regardless of how large it is, should ever be considered “too big to fail.” The notion of a corporation being “too big to fail” is counter to the underlying principles of the free market system we tout. Break up AIG just like Ma Bell was broken up years ago…

Its your representatives and senators who have allowed this.. Do not vote a single incumbent back to office in the next 6 years.. Please!!!

Mob mentality? Seriously? I understand that the net admins didn’t cause any of this, but so what? The company was poorly run and it should fail. Compassion you say! What about compassion for all those on the streets that were harmed by the company’s actions, all those that have suffered because of Wall Street’s greed, all those who lost their job because of the meltdown that they had nothing to do with? What about those people? I definitely feel for the AIG net admin who had nothing to do with this mess, but what about those who were not even a part of AIG? AIG should pay, and that means the entire company. Yes, it sucks for those who didn’t do anything wrong. But, if it is between dumping an AIG job or handing out more fake money, I choose the former. A new company will take its place any you trusty admins can get a job their.

Posted by: El Coyote | Mar 15, 2009 1:10:59 PM
This 121 million is spread over several people. What in the hell is wrong with the public ? Why is it O.K. for some famous movie star to make more than this on one movie ? I don’t hear any pissing and moaning about this . Or certain big sports figures to make a hell of a lot more than this, and some have trouble writing their own name
after graduation from college. And that is perfectly O.K. America is sick. I think she is in her death throws.
El Coyote, you need to wake up. I agree movie stars and athletes are paid more than they are worth but that has nothing to do with taxpayer money bailing out a company that for years has been using there assets to swing the stock market in their favor. AIG has now lost the game due to the economic crises; the government wants to bail them out…..who is going to bail me out after losing more than have of my retirement investments due to companies like AIG manipulating the stock market.

Anyone remember that the taxpayer dollars given to AIG were a loan, not a bailout? AIG were obligated to repay the initial loan in 2 years. It was only because AIG couldn’t afford the Fed’s usury that it required the last round of money and an updated repayment schedule of 5 years.
No one seems to be complaining that BoA, Citi, and the automakers got a HANDOUT. Any responsible taxpayer might be a little more hopeful that AIG survives long enough to repay those borrowed dollars to the national coffers. But given the tone here, I doubt anyone will be posting a “thank you” or even an virtual nod when AIG satisfies its obligation.

Remorseful and apologetic AIG top executives? Are u kidding me? Put a bunch of foxes in charge of a chicken farm and expect the foxes to feed and take care of the chicks. They wont. The foxes will eat the chicken. That is what happened and will keep happening at AIG until the whole top echelon is dismissed.What I see now is more chicken farms being given to the AIG foxes 2 raise. The public approves by its silence and inaction.

Liquidate AIG and fire them all.

AIG may be legally bound to give the bonuses — but no one is legally bound to ACCEPT the bonuses. All executives should do take the only honorable course here: give the bonus money back!!
Atone for AIG’s sins. Say no to unearned bonus money.

I don’t think people here are being very fair to the AIG executives. Let’s face it, they’re better and smarter than the rest of us. otherwise they wouldn’t be holding major positions in a company like this — even if it did ultimately fail.
I’m sure that most people here, if they’re honest, would admit to themselves that they don’t have the talent their top bosses do. Most of us are followers because we don’t know as much as they do. So, just like with Mom and Dad when we were little kids, it’s important to listen to them.
These people have a lavish lifestyle because they deserve it, jealous as we may be about that. So it isn’t fair to expect them to give it all up and live in a house in the suburbs like the rest of us, just because they didn’t make all the right moves. They’re used to a higher standard; let’s give it to them, because they’ll still be thinking up ways to employ the rest of us in the future.

…attract the brightest?
the individuals who got AIG in this hole can not be so bright, they are the total opposite: pathetically incompetent. I will not use the word CORRUPT so as not to be accused of being unnecessarily moralistic when the sheer numbers suffice to prove the point. They should return all the salaries and bonuses they have been given since they did not earn them. These vermin in the guise of respectable citizens should dig ditches and work- with no salary- to help rebuild the nations infrastructure which could have been done with the billions they mismanaged from their powerful positions.
The Obama administration must recognize the overwhelming majority of citizens, across all ideological boundaries, who support the idea of letting all the failed banks and financial institutions disappear for good in the bottomless pits that through THEIR OWN INCOMPETENCE AND MISMANAGEMENT they created themselves. It is not acceptable and most unconscionable to use the hard earned money contributed by the taxpayers to rescue them now so that they live to ABUSE THE TAXPAYERS AGAIN and COLLAPSE MORE PAINFULLY SOME OTHER DAY.
But not all that is coming can be that bad. Out of this big mess will certainly emerge a different class of businesspeople and entrepreneurs; one that will have learned that the stability, benefits and future of their individual works and projects is intimately linked to that of the the communities the societies and, at large,
of the countries they are in.
As a nation let’s not allow this nightmare to go without leaving us any profit (so to speak.) Let’s learn the lesson of this dark experience and no doubt we will emerge from a cloud of dust, but wiser, creative as ever, and stronger in our unity to march on and lead the world to a future of great progress and achievements.

jimay wrote: “Read the writing of the great Ayn Rand, one of whose closest disciples was Alan Greenspan. These are the people that make the markets and the whole society work.” The problem with this way of thinking is that the markets and the whole society upon which they are built have clearly demonstrated that they don’t work. Bush himself admitted to this when he said last December that he had “abandoned free market principles to save the free market system.”

AIG is supposedly bound by contract to pay bonuses!! If the american taxpayer didn’t bail out the company just how relevant would contracts be?? Those same executives would be unemployed. How can the White House let them get away with this?? They are taking money which was intended to support the company. AIG and the White House have diminished themselves.

AIG should have been allowed to fail!!
We are supposedly as citizens in a capitalist democratic republic. We did not vote men into office to revile socialism in public, then practice it for only private business. When the poor starve they must raise themselves by their bootstraps, when the rich fall the poor must support them? I contend this is neither Capitalism nor Socialism, it’s Feudalism. And in Feudalism their are nobles and serfs, which benefit from the bailout? And which are you?

We all need to call or e-mail the president and our representatives and tell them this is not acceptable. I don’t what to hear the president saying IN THE FUTURE this will not happen on his watch. I want him to stop it NOW.

So where are the videos showing the rotten fruit being thrown at any and all of these crooks? Most other countries manage to fill executive positions for DRAMATICALLY less, and when gross errors are discovered, they get shuffled off with dispatch. Sure, they may be brighter and more decisive than the rest of us, but so what–they aren’t gods and I’ll not worship at the church of unbridled capitalism that captivates so many media sychophants.

Excellent title. How can we allow this behavior? Rewarding poor performance with taxpayer dollars cannot be tolorated.

I’m sickened by the way the exiting Bush administration ensured the AIG bailout before the Obama administration could come in with their say.
Our current administration should cease and desist all payments being made to AIG – or demand repayment NOW!
Our governemnt should issue an investigation into this catastrophe starting at the top! I’m sure you’ll find mostly republicans responsible for this mess!
AIG should be turned over to the government, since we own them anyhow. We can vote on who stays and who goes!

When I am late to pay my monthly credit card bill, Citibank or BoA through its credit card companies charge me 30% late payment fee!When either of them go red, I am forced to come to their aid with our bail out tax money.Furthermore,when one of them, AIG, fails my tax money is used to reward their top executives.Should I make it a habit of paying my credit card bills late, I am charged exhobitant interest rate fees, yet I am still paying, late or not.In otherwords, I am there to help the lazy rich while their only purpose in life is to milk me dry of any income. The truth is when the rich fail, the working middle class and poor come to their rescue but when the ordinary working people are in trouble, the rich send them to the courts and jail to straghten and reducate them.