AIG Motherfuckers A.I.G. Planning $100 Million in Bonuses After Huge Bailout

[lonestarnot]

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


WASHINGTON — Despite being bailed out with more than $170 billion from the Treasury and Federal Reserve, the American International Group is preparing to pay about $100 million in bonuses to executives in the same business unit that brought the company to the brink of collapse last year.


An official in the Obama administration said Saturday that Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner had called A.I.G.’s government-appointed chairman, Edward M. Liddy, on Wednesday and asked that the company renegotiate the bonuses.

Administration officials said they had managed to reduce some of the bonuses but had allowed most of them to go forward after the company’s chief executive said A.I.G. was contractually obligated to pay them.

In a letter to Mr. Geithner, Mr. Liddy wrote: “Needless to say, in the current circumstances, I do not like these arrangements and find it distasteful and difficult to recommend to you that we must proceed with them.”

[flvegan]

1. Wah. But they "have to" lest they may get sued. Wah. Fuckers.

Get sued. Put on your big business pants.

Just watched this on the news.

Let AIG die. Failures the lot of them.

[lonestarnot]

7. Suing is not even an excuse. Any jury would nullify a verdict.

[flvegan]

13. That's the excuse the locals were spinning.

A jury may find for them, but an appeal would probably end it, considering.

[lonestarnot]

16. No jury of American people would find for them or their poodles.

[ShockediSay]

21. First, shit-can their sorry loser asses

then try and let'em sue as dismissed for cause FORMER employees

Dismissed for mis, mal and non feasance

[BeyondGeography]

2. Seems like a big fuck you to me

These people need to go down.

[lonestarnot]

3. If not one way in another!

[BeyondGeography]

4. Preferably both

[wroberts189]

44. You called it ... its a giant fu to all of us. nt

[liberalhistorian]

5. Oh, but they're not greedy teachers sucking

all the money and purpose out of education, so it doesn't really matter now, does it? :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

[ihavenobias]

6. How much more outrageous can it get?

I wonder if people are becoming numb to it, which is incredible.

[lonestarnot]

8. They need crowds in front of their doors on Monday morning!

[soleft]

18. Please no

[lonestarnot]

19. No what?

[soleft]

64. no crowds

[wroberts189]

37. It pegged out my outrage meter .. I think its broke again now.

And I had just had the range increased cause it kept breaking over the last 8 years.

[IDemo]

9. $165 million, according to the latest update (msnbc.com)

But who's counting, anyway? :grr:

[lonestarnot]

10. I do not give a flying fuck about a contract, what about our contract as American tax payers?

:grr: How bout you?

[IDemo]

17. Here's my take -->

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5257379&mesg_id=5257379

[SlowDownFast]

57. Make that $450 million.

Look down-thread.

[Triana]

11. pirates - extortionists = AiG

WHY are they not TOLD that either they WILL CANCEL THE BONUSES or ELSE they WILL give the TARP money back. PERIOD.

?

[lonestarnot]

15. Time they get a taste of mutiny!

[wroberts189]

26. Exactly ..break the contracts and let them sue ..this is bs. nt

[Muttocracy]

12. So what would happen if they went into bankruptcy instead

would contracts be void/negotiable? If so, would we be better off letting them go bankrupt?

I guess 100 million is <1/1000 of the whole amount, but still - that's a couple of dollars from every American family and I'm sure there's more we don't even know about.

[lonestarnot]

14. They are no different than Made Off With All of It.

[pa28]

20. It's becoming clear what happened to all the money.

This particular class of people were billed as the creators of wealth during the boom. So, the public accepted the excessive compensation as part of the deal. Now we understand that the "wealth" was fictitious and the people we left in charge of capital allocation went ahead and allocated it to themselves (stunning huh?).

I really hope Geithner and Obama step in now to take charge. I'm sure these "contracts" contain provisions to fire the "talent" in the case of egregious incompetence like . . . oh, bankrupting the company and threatening to plunge the US into insolvency.

:grr:

It's only the tip of the iceberg really. We can call this an obvious subsidy and possibly stop it but it does nothing about the trillions that have gone out the door, into pockets and up noses already that taxpayers will now have to make whole.

[lonestarnot]

23. Tip of the iceberg notion is always the scarey unknown, unless one is a polar bear.

[bvar22]

52. Geither and Obama.....

...ARE Wall Street,
or at least Wall Street's employees in the government.
Obama's single largest campaign contributor was Wall Street.
Geithner's connections to Wall Street are public knowlege.

[SlowDownFast]

58. You get it. n/t

[vssmith]

22. I thought the Federal Reserve had 80% ownership of AIG

[lonestarnot]

24. LOL, but the board?

[acmavm]

54. It's a fixed game...

<snip>Q: Who owns the Federal Reserve Bank?
A: There are actually 12 different Federal Reserve Banks around the country, and they are owned by big private banks. But the banks don't necessarily run the show. Nationally, the Federal Reserve System is led by a Board of Governors whose seven members are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
The stockholders in the 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks are the privately owned banks that fall under the Federal Reserve System. These include all national banks (chartered by the federal government) and those state-chartered banks that wish to join and meet certain requirements. About 38 percent of the nation's more than 8,000 banks are members of the system, and thus own the Fed banks.

The concept of "ownership" needs some explaining here, however. The member banks must by law invest 3 percent of their capital as stock in the Reserve Banks, and they cannot sell or trade their stock or even use that stock as collateral to borrow money. They do receive dividends of 6 percent per year from the Reserve Banks and get to elect each Reserve Bank's board of directors.

The private banks also have a voice in regulating the nation's money supply and setting targets for short-term interest rates, but it's a minority voice. Those decisions are made by the Federal Open Market Committee, which has a dozen voting members, only five of whom come from the banks. The remaining seven, a voting majority, are the Fed's Board of Governors who, as mentioned, are appointed by the president.


http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/who_owns_the_federal_reserve_bank.html

[Mari333]

25. and they'll have funfunfun til the taxpayers take their money awayyy

[ProfessorGAC]

27. An Incredibly Lame Excuse For Doing It Too

They're worried about a mass exodus that makes the turnaround harder. Exactly where are those people going to go? The job market is very weak. These people are coming from a radioactive company. The higher they are, the more likely they were to be at fault in AIG's problems.

So, they are NOT going anywhere. No bonuses until the gov't gets the people's money back.
GAC

[lonestarnot]

29. They will not be welcomed into tent communities either! They may as well jmj!

[ProfessorGAC]

30. Or They Could Shut Up And Keep The Job They Already Have

And no complaining about not getting a bonus when you work for a company that lost $60 billion in one quarter!
GAC

[lonestarnot]

31. I highly recommend the billyoc solution jmj!

[wroberts189]

28. In other news American families turn to Raman noodles to feed themselves.

Evil stinking greedy bastards ...karma will find them.

..and contracts? Since when have they been written in stone?

We all struggle one day at a time ..dealing with enormous economic distress.

They laugh at us from their hot tubs in the Berkshires.

Someday they may find themselves on the wrong side of a French revolution.

[Mari333]

32. hey I use Ramen Noodles

they are cheap and versatile...:P

[wroberts189]

35. me too ...44 cents a cup. I would rather have a couple million though. nt

[Mari333]

38. heres what I do

2 green zucchini
2 yellow zucchini
box mushrooms
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
bag of spinach
Brasso amino acids, or soy sauce
turmeric dash
Mrs Dash (to taste)
2 squares of cooked ramen noodles
I cook the vegetables til they are done in the Brasso or soy and spices, then add the cooked ramen into the skillet
its really good. and lasts a long time.

[lonestarnot]

40. mmmmm mmmm mmm sounds tasty

[wroberts189]

42. Thanks for the recipe ..sounds good . nt

[lonestarnot]

36. I have heard that guillotine stock has skyrocketed to skyscraper levels.

[wroberts189]

39. Haha ...Good ..there will be plenty of them then. nt

[KharmaTrain]

33. Give It To 'Em In AIG Stock...

What's the latest price? 20 cents a share? If they can turn this mess around, recover our money, then the price goes up, they get their bonus. If the price goes down (if it can go any further), they go bust (like they should) and these bastards will collect the same "interest" as the rest of the company's stockholders...meaning us, the taxpayers.

[lonestarnot]

34. Why "give" them anything? They have taken enough!

[KharmaTrain]

43. No Disagreement From Me

I worked in a commission business. When I humped my ass off then I made money, if I didn't or the work wasn't up to snuff, I lost...no bonuses ever awarded. It was called "singing for your supper". It'd be nice if this "free market" principal were put to work on Wall Street. It's called capitalism. Throwing money at bad performance is nothing more than a subsidy...and in this case, if it's coming from the government, then surely it's "socialism". Try throwing that one at a freeper and watch their head explode.

While AIG can't fail or the entire financial system crashes, the only reward I see for those who deliberately made this mess is a ticket to the unemployment line like the rest of the victims of their scams...until the investigations tell us different.

Cheers...

[TheWatcher]

41. Look, the Outrage is VERY well justified, but let's keep this simple.

AIG, and every other corrupt failed institution is going to continue to do this.

They will continue looting, stealing, and raping this country until they are stopped.

PERIOD.

Dismantle the company, Jail the criminals, and start the fuck over.

It's that simple.

This will not end, until the criminals are shown that they have EVERYTHING to lose, and it will be taken from them with extreme prejudice, and Brute Force if necessary.

And if it is going to come to that, perhaps by ANY means necessary.

Good Night.

[lonestarnot]

46. You will not find much argument with the "keep it simple stupid" strategy here!

:applause: Sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite! :hug:

[Raven]

45. Since when are you "contractually obligated" to pay bonuses when

you're broke? I say go ahead and pay your bonuses with your money and give us ours back.

[Canuckistanian]

55. Dictionary definition of "BONUS"

\ˈbō-nəs\
Etymology:
Latin, literally, good — more at bounty

: something in addition to what is expected or strictly due: as a: money or an equivalent given in addition to an employee's usual compensation b: a premium (as of stock) given by a corporation to a purchaser of its securities, to a promoter, or to an employee

I agree - how can you be "contractually obligated" to give MORE than what's normally expected?

[wroberts189]

47. This post needs to go to the top ...I am seething with anger.

I watch people busting their asses at Walmart ..Dunkin donuts ..Mcmadcow's etc ..for slave wages and no benefits. 50-60-70 years old.


I want to see this on Countdown , Rachel , Today show ..everywhere. I want these "too big to fail so pay us or else" fuckers to go down.

Oh and btw ..this would be a good time for Mr Cramer to do what he said he would on the Daily show.

[wroberts189]

48. "the company’s chief executive said A.I.G. was contractually obligated"

So that's the excuse? This CEO is way overpaid.

Contracts are broken every single minute in this country.

[republicansarewhores]

49. Would a hunger strike

By a large group of American citizens determined to do a hunger strike be newsworthy enough to get Mr. Obama and his administration's attention that this cannot stand and that there are citizens willing to strike on this principal lest these motherfuckers continue to rob us?

RAW

[wroberts189]

50. Dammit ..rec this post and lets get our tax money back. nt

[dkf]

51. I read the title of the post and assumed this was to the sales force

as a yearly bonus, which although outrageous can be partially justified by the possible profitability of that particular arm.

Now I realize it is to the idiots that took down the company and I don't realize why any of them still have jobs, much less get a bonus.

They should have simply closed down this shop, and layed off everyone. Then they wouldn't have been "forced" to pay the bonuses.

[Bluenorthwest]

53. I hope the administration understands

that while I am helping to pay all of these bounes to crooks and liars and losers, the emphasis on testing the 'merit' of teachers is very annoying. What's merit or results got to do with anything? They squandered their cash, and then beg from us to pay those who squandered, and yet we speak of merit only for teachers, or accountabiltiy only for underpaid people who devote their careers to education, rather than theft?
When will there be talk of accountability and merit pay for bankers? Using teachers and students as a distraction is a vile thing to do. "Look over here, bad teachers, don't look at the goniffs walking away with your granny's silverwear, look at the bad teachers, lacking in 'merit'...."

[SlowDownFast]

56. Make that $450 million.

AIG plans bonuses to financial-products employees
Payments go to staff at unit that sent insurer to brink of collapse


By MarketWatch
Last update: 1:07 p.m. EDT March 15, 2009
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- American International Group is set to pay $450 million of bonuses to employees of the unit that was largely responsible for the New York insurer's near collapse last fall.

The decision to pay bonuses elicited howls of protest in Washington, which has prevented the failure of AIG by providing the insurer with more than $173 billion in aid. The federal government now owns 80% of AIG

Larry Summers, one of President Barack Obama's top economic advisers, called the payments "outrageous," and a key House lawmaker, Barney Frank, D.-Mass., told Fox News that the government should examine whether the bonuses are "legally recoverable."
Another Democrat, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D.-Md., renewed his call for AIG Chief Executive Edward Liddy to resign.

Liddy, in a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner dated Saturday, said AIG had committed to paying the bonuses to employees of the financial-products unit and that they were "binding obligations" the company cannot legally rescind. The first payments are due March 15.

"I do not like these arrangements and find it distasteful and difficult to recommend to you that we must proceed with them," wrote Liddy, citing the recommendation from the insurer's legal counsel.
The payments to 400 employees of the financial-services unit -- some of whom no longer work at the insurer -- were promised last year before the federal government bailout. Bonuses range from as little as $1,000 to as much as $6.5 million.

more:
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/aig-pay-450-mln-bonuses/story.aspx?guid={D69E1883-8A00-4F59-9DED-E701E15D9A59}&siteid=yahoomy

How much longer are people going to stand for this?

[david13]

59. Distasteful? What kind of talk is that. These are

the execs who helped the company rip off BILLIONS from the government. Of course they should get bonuses. Or they could take a percentage. That would be far more.
dc

[flyarm]

60. humm..Pensions are contractual..and they are getting torn up daily!

where is our government protecting pensions??????????

maybe we should call pensions ..bonus's..or say union contracts are ..bonus's!!

Maybe then this government and our congress will protect we the people?????????? Instead of taking our tax dollars to bail out and give bonus's to the damn cheaters and crooks!

[Toasterlad]

61. Why Aren't They Being Told Exactly What They Can Do With This Money?

I'm really having a hard time understanding why Congress is apparently listening to the companies telling them that they (Congress) can't dictate what the companies must do with their bailout money, whether it be insisting they lend money or not give bonuses. I'm mean, it's OUR money. Congress is supposed to be acting on our behalf. We have a perfect right to determine how that money is spent...and NO ONE wants it spent on bonuses for people who fucked things up in the first place. Either accept the money with restrictions on what you can do with it, or don't accept the money.

[flyarm]

62. BREAKING: AIG Releases List of Counterparties, 65% To Foreign Banks

BREAKING: AIG Releases List of Counterparties, 65% To Foreign Banks
http://firedoglake.com/2009/03/15/breaking-aig-releases-list-of-top-20-recipients-of-bailout-money/

By: looseheadprop Sunday March 15, 2009 4:26 pm

AIG just released its list of counter-parties (recipients of the bailout money that flowed through AIG); there are four nifty charts (PDF).

[MadMaddie]

63. The answer is simple

Do what these financial companies do to their customers, give em 30 to 60 days to pay back the money. All of it! If they don't then the government gets aggressive and sends creditors and the DOJ after them. Finally, break them up.

In good faith the government tried to help one of the largest companies in the US because it would catastrophic to have them Fail.

AIG has not operated in Good Faith so screw them.

[rainman99]

65. Email 'em

[e-mail]

[Name removed]

66. Deleted message

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