WASHINGTON – American International Group is giving executives in its most troubled business unit tens of millions of dollars in new bonuses even though it received a taxpayer bailout of more than $170 billion dollars. Which means YOU the TAXPAYER are giving out those bonuses.
AIG has said it must pay out the executive bonuses to meet a contractually obligated Sunday deadline, but the troubled insurance giant has agreed to administration requests to restrain future payments. How very wonderful of them
An official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said that Geithner had called AIG Chairman Edward Liddy on Wednesday to demand that Liddy renegotiate AIG's current bonus structure. But what they really should have done was get some American taxpayers on the phone with Liddy.
Geithner termed the current bonus structure unacceptable in view of the billions of dollars of taxpayer support the company is receiving, this official said. I call it treasonous.
The large bulk of the payments at issue cover AIG Financial Products, the unit of the company that sold credit default swaps, the risky contracts that caused massive losses for the insurer.
The company says in the paper it will work to reduce the amounts paid for 2009 and believes it can trim those payments by at least 30 percent. WOW! A whole 30%??
AIG also pledged to Geithner that it would also restructure $9.6 million in bonuses scheduled to go a group that covers the top 50 executives. Liddy and six other executives have agreed to forgo bonuses. 7 out of 50 see their bonuses as a "problem". The humility is overwhelming.
The group of top executives getting bonuses will receive half of the $9.6 million now, with the average payment around $112,000. This group will get another 25 percent on July 14 and the final 25 percent on September 15. How WILL they get by?
"We cannot attract and retain the best and brightest talent to lead and staff the AIG businesses, which are now being operated principally on behalf of the American taxpayers — if employees believe their compensation is subject to continued and arbitrary adjustment by the U.S. Treasury," Liddy said. If those yahoos are the best and the brightest, I think America is willing to take a chance on 2nd best.
9 comments:
Arbitrary adjustment? Are they freaking serious? Tax payer money going to line the silk pockets of the conniving bastards who orchestrated this entire mess? To paraphrase The Big Lebowski, the god damned plane has crashed into the mountain and they want to take our money and reward the pilot?
The bonus payout excesses at AIG are just the tip of the iceberg of what is happening with the other Wall Street bailouts including Bank of America. Working productive Americans are bailing out the same crooks that destroyed our economy along with 45% of the wealth in the world and now the American taxpayers and our children will be forced to live a far lower standard of living with reduced prosperity and opportunities due to this but only we pay the price.
Washington has bailed out the banks, Wall Street & their Washington special interests and much of the cost is added to the national debt to by paid by this and future generations while real estate and investments continue to fall. Find out what a growing repudiate the debt movement could mean for treasuries, the dollar, gold and the stock market and how this is a better alternative than Washington’s plans to monetize the debt in future years and tax and destroy our remaining wealth by depreciating the dollar.
The Campaign to Cancel the Washington National Debt By 12/21/2012 Constitutional Amendment is starting now in the U.S. See: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=67594690498&ref=ts
Uh, YEAH, no kidding! How is it even possible that regular, good people like you and I are paying for these idiots to get even richer? Where is the justice?
I think you have hit the nail squarely on the head! I'd even take third choice rather than pay those thieves another dime.
More than anything I detest their arguments of "the best and the brightest." Now, I'm not the shrpest knife in the drawer - but, would that not be the best and brightest that got us into this mess? OF COURSE. I say let them all GO. Maybe Cuomo will get somewhere, as he is filing charges against some of these greedy idiots.
How ridiculous is that? We're expected to take furloughs because those of us who make less than 40,000 a year, will help the budget by giving up our pay when those rich bastards get insane bonuses that I pay them with my tax money. What? It makes my head hurt.
I like that, Churlita. It makes my heart hard.
I love your commentary.
The large bulk of the payments at issue cover AIG Financial Product
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Julie
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