AIG Greed Surpasses Common Sense

AIG took in a huge bailout amount of money from the government which also means you the taxpayer signed part of that check to AIG. AIG is still loosing tens of millions of dollars a month and yet they feel the need to once again reward the staff responsible for the companies original collapse with mega bonuses! I live in the real world and if you screw up so bad that it hurts the company, you loose your job, you get a pink slip, or you simply get fired for gross negligence. Over at AIG they give you a mega bonus for sinking the company because their lawyers say they have too? That is the latest excuse for the latest round of “Screw you America, we are AIG” bonuses about to be handed out. Just a hint for ya, these will not be the last bonuses for these under performers either. $173 Billion in taxpayer money is now part of a bonus program instilled by failure and lawyer speak.

Not for nothing, I would prefer our government give bailouts to industries that actually produce a product other than an insurance firm mired in failure. Detroit and its auto plants could use some serious investment capital, the steel industry could use a serious helping hand, the textile industry could use some research and development money too. I won’t even think about how much the farming industry in America could use a helping hand of this magnitude. Nope, one company that doesn’t make a damn tangible thing received $173 Billion dollars in bailout cash.

CEO Edward Liddy of AIG sent this letter to Treasury Secretary Geithner and Fire Dog Lake has a copy if you want to see it. He was defending why AIG had to pay out a half billion in bonuses. Chalk this response from Liddy up to a mega OOOPs.

Over at the Wall Street Journal they have this little tid bit on AIG and the bonuses…

March 15,2009
AIG to Pay $450 Million in Bonuses

American International Group Inc. will pay $450 million in bonuses to employees in its financial products unit. That division was at the heart of AIG's collapse last fall, which compelled the U.S. government to provide $173.3 billion in aid to keep it running.

Chief Executive Edward Liddy told Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in a letter dated Saturday that the next payments to employees of the financial products unit -- whose woes caused massive losses at the giant insurer -- are due on Sunday, and added "quite frankly, AIG's hands are tied." - Wall Street Journal

I’m finding myself with no sympathy for AIG or its survival in the business community. Maybe, just maybe, some of the folks on the right side of the aisle are right in letting these people face bankruptcy court. $173 Billion in bailout cash and they are handing out almost a half billion in bonuses? If General Motors or Chrysler pulled this crap then all of Washington would be at the CEO’s throat politically. AIG is no stranger to having its hand out for money and then blowing hundreds of thousands of dollars for its employees for perks. Can I site a few for you?

AIG Splurges Again
AIG Bailout Smack in the Face

When do we say that AIG is no better than a drug dealer on the corner just sucking the life blood out of our people? When do we say enough is enough when that drug dealer starts feeding your children the poison that could kill them? When do we say enough is enough when the government feeds the poison to that drug dealer and all it is in the end is bailout cash? AIG is no better than a simple drug dealer with a clientele that needs them. When they tell everyone around them, including the government that has fed them $173 billion dollars in bailout cash, that they will still do whatever they want to, regardless of what you or I think, then enough is enough. Bankruptcy court is not always a bad thing when the abusers of the business that is bigger than life community run shot gun over corporate abuse and idiocy and then defend it blindly.

You may think at this point think that I sound like a die hard fiscal conservative Republican but you would be wrong. I’m just a Dad thinking that $173 billion could have been better spent fixing roads, schools, bridges and investing in our communities where real life happens. In one report AIG averaged the bonuses out to $120,000 per person and that is one hell of a lot more than most people make in a year. And that is just the bonus for failure in your job at AIG that put the company in a position near collapse. What ever happened to common sense in big business? Apparently, Edward Liddy, aka CEO has no future in stock options when it comes to his time spent at AIG. Failure and rewarding that failure is not common sense to those that once had shares in AIG.

President Obama should sick his Attorney General, Secretary of the Treasury, and the FBI on AIG, its Board of Directors, and its CEO for simple gross negligence. AKA hand them a pink slip for doing a real crappy job. Something stinks over at AIG but this is all just my opinion. What do you think is going on?

One thing is certain when this wash load at AIG is done, many of the corporate executives across America will look at Ed Liddy and learn from his mistakes. You don't take cash out of the taxpayers pockets without serious repercussions and simplistic results. Ed Liddy will or should resign within the next couple of months as AIG's CEO. If he doesn't, he will be indited for fraud and multiple other charges. I'm pretty sure that no corporation wants the IRS to put a magnifying glass on their books.

Most states are receiving bailout money just in the tens of billions of dollars to rebuild our economy, AIG grabbed $176 BILLION with no questions asked under President BUSH and is passing out bonuses?

Shouldn't you be pissed off too?

Papamoka