AIG bonuses just a smokescreen for the elephants in the room

[brentspeak]

1) That AIG was bailed out at all

2) That it's continuing to get bailed out

3) That the same greedy incompetents angling for multi-million dollar bonuses are the same ones that Obama and his people are entrusting to steer AIG right.

Think about it: If AIG's continued existence is supposedly so necessary to prevent the End of The World From Occurring, why are Geithner and Summers satisfied to allow AIG to still be run by the same clowns??

[leftstreet]

1. Couldn't agree more!

It's the new Welfare Queen Political Poutrage

No one talks about how SMALL a percentage bonus monies are in comparison to the huge boatload of billion$$ that have disappeared down the AIG hole.

Geithner and his Wall Street cronies have failed.
But the M$M want us to beat up on a few thousand bank WORKERS.

[theoldman]

4. Maybe you should take over Geithner's job.

I think you are missing the point of who is at fault.

[leftstreet]

7. $170 BILLION in bailout money, $165 MILLION in bonuses

You do the math

[theoldman]

2. Do you think our government has the power to fire a CEO?

I don't think so. I believe only the board of directors has that power.

[brentspeak]

3. The government can nationalize AIG

Force the company into receivership, and make all the decisions from there.

[theoldman]

6. Yes they can but they do not want that responsibility.

The preferred solution has always been to let a company fix its own problem. No one wants to touch a hot potato.

[ProSense]

5. Is that why

Cuomo has been investigating their compensation practices since last fall, and why economists are calling for a full investigation of their entire operation?

[FrenchieCat]

8. How are bonuses promised that bring attention to AIG period a smokescreen?

More like a shining flashlight.....



As for AIG being ran by the same clown, actually that isn't accurate.



I believe the CEO, Edward Liddy is new as of June 2008.....

Edward M. Liddy (born January 28, 1946) is currently the chief executive officer of American International Group (AIG), where he succeeded Robert B. Willumstad in June, 2008.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_M._Liddy

Liddy replaced Robert Willumnstad, it appears.......

Willumstad served as the chairman of the board of directors of AIG from 2006 until 2008, after Maurice R. Greenberg was forced to resign.

Willumstad became CEO on June 15, 2008, after Martin J. Sullivan was ousted. One of Willumstad's initiatives was to repair the rift with Greenberg.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_B._Willumstad


NEW YORK - American International Group Inc., which has lost billions on bad bets on the mortgage market, on Sunday named former Citigroup Inc. executive Robert Willumstad to replace the insurer’s besieged chief executive.

Willumstad, 62, will take over from Martin Sullivan, 53, effective immediately, the company said. Stephen Bollenbach, the former CEO of Hilton Hotels Corp., will be named AIG’s lead director.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25177747

Who replaced Mr. Martin J. Sullivan

Martin J. Sullivan, OBE, (born 1955 in Essex, England), is the former President and former Chief Executive Officer of American International Group, Inc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_J._Sullivan

Mr. Willumstad refused a 22 Million dollar Payoff when he left.....

AIG CEO Rejects $22 Million Parachute; Will Others Follow?
Sept. 23, 2008

Robert Willumstad Opted Out of His AIG Severance Package; Will Other Financial Executives Do the Same?

Who in his right mind would walk way from an eight-figure severance package? Try AIG's Robert Willumstad.

Willumstad, 63, served as the chief executive officer of ailing insurance giant American International Group from June until he was replaced earlier this month. He was eligible for a severance package of $22 million, but in a Sunday e-mail to his successor, Edward Liddy, he said that he would decline the package.
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/MarketTalk/story?id=5861458&page=1

Now, today, a Former Former CEO, Hank Greenberg (who was called "embattled" at the time he left) who was there when the getting the good has jumped in with the corporate media in the "Populist" outrage Pile on! :eyes:

former AIG chief executive Hank Greenberg to the growing list of public figures fuming about the $165 million in retention bonuses awarded to executives at the bailed-out insurance giant.

Greenberg, who stepped down as CEO in 2005, told ABCNews.com that it was "mind-boggling" that AIG executives were promised retention pay in the first place.

Given how much the company has lost, "why would you make it up in bonuses? It's hard to understand," he said.

"I think many of the people who received bonuses did not deserve them."

Greenberg has been criticized for supposedly helping to create the financial problems plaguing AIG today.
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=7090847&page=1

Makes one want to go.... :wtf: :crazy:

[leftstreet]

9. It's politically expedient to jump on the OH NOES, Bonuses!! bandwagon

The reality is quite different though.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/business/15AIG.html?hp

Word of the bonuses last week stirred such deep consternation inside the Obama administration that Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner told the firm they were unacceptable and demanded they be renegotiated, a senior administration official said. But the bonuses will go forward because lawyers said the firm was contractually obligated to pay them.

The payments to A.I.G.’s financial products unit are in addition to $121 million in previously scheduled bonuses for the company’s senior executives and 6,400 employees across the sprawling corporation. Mr. Geithner last week pressured A.I.G. to cut the $9.6 million going to the top 50 executives in half and tie the rest to performance.

[FrenchieCat]

10. My response above I was questionning Assertion made by OP......

3) That the same greedy incompetents angling for multi-million dollar bonuses are the same ones that Obama and his people are entrusting to steer AIG right.

Think about it: If AIG's continued existence is supposedly so necessary to prevent the End of The World From Occurring, why are Geithner and Summers satisfied to allow AIG to still be run by the same clowns??

[leftstreet]

11. ...

Oh! Got ya.

[brentspeak]

12. Clue for you:

The CEO may be new, but the executives and decision-makers are still in place. The bonuses in question are for those same AIG executives.

:dunce:

And here's another clue:

New CEO Edward Liddy had to resign from Goldman Sachs' Board of Directors before taking the AIG job. And the biggest recipient of AIG's bailout funds to cover losses? Surprise! http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3784439&mesg_id=3784456">Goldman Sachs.

[FrenchieCat]

13. I'm not justifying the fuckers.....

I'm just stating that I believe your text to be incorrect.

There's no smokescreen for a bigger issues,
it's preparation to make sure that the economy will have to be fixed,
without Obama asking for anymore money!

Oops! There goes the healthcare Reform!

[LittleBlue]

14. It's an outrage that we allow these men to run AIG.

So, now that "we" supposedly own 80% of this company, why are we not firing those responsible for its downfall?

Hint: they own us.

[brentspeak]

15. kick

:kick: