Dear A.I.G., I Quit! (Letter From Former AIG VP, NYT)

[kpete]

(edited for copyright purposes-proud patriot Moderator Democratic Underground)


Published: March 24, 2009

The following is a letter sent on Tuesday by Jake DeSantis, an executive vice president of the American International Group’s financial products unit, to Edward M. Liddy, the chief executive of A.I.G.

DEAR Mr. Liddy,

It is with deep regret that I submit my notice of resignation from A.I.G. Financial Products. I hope you take the time to read this entire letter. Before describing the details of my decision, I want to offer some context:

I am proud of everything I have done for the commodity and equity divisions of A.I.G.-F.P. I was in no way involved in — or responsible for — the credit default swap transactions that have hamstrung A.I.G. Nor were more than a handful of the 400 current employees of A.I.G.-F.P. Most of those responsible have left the company and have conspicuously escaped the public outrage.

After 12 months of hard work dismantling the company — during which A.I.G. reassured us many times we would be rewarded in March 2009 — we in the financial products unit have been betrayed by A.I.G. and are being unfairly persecuted by elected officials. In response to this, I will now leave the company and donate my entire post-tax retention payment to those suffering from the global economic downturn. My intent is to keep none of the money myself.

I take this action after 11 years of dedicated, honorable service to A.I.G. I can no longer effectively perform my duties in this dysfunctional environment, nor am I being paid to do so. Like you, I was asked to work for an annual salary of $1, and I agreed out of a sense of duty to the company and to the public officials who have come to its aid. Having now been let down by both, I can no longer justify spending 10, 12, 14 hours a day away from my family for the benefit of those who have let me down.

You and I have never met or spoken to each other, so I’d like to tell you about myself. I was raised by schoolteachers working multiple jobs in a world of closing steel mills. My hard work earned me acceptance to M.I.T., and the institute’s generous financial aid enabled me to attend. I had fulfilled my American dream.

(snip)


Sincerely,

Jake DeSantis
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/25/opinion/25desantis.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=opinion

[MrPerson]

1. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!

[Hepburn]

2. I just read this and was about to post it.

All I can say is: Bullshit....walk and keep the money. :eyes:

[alcibiades_mystery]

3. Please edit your post to 4 paragraphs for fair use

This is against the rules and a copyright violation. You're putting this site at risk. You've been here awhile, and you know better.

[Hepburn]

5. The letter is NOT an article. n/t

[kpete]

10. that was my assumption as well

a letter should be ok?
let me know if I am wrong.
peace, kp

[Hepburn]

14. I **think** but am not positive that a letter can be printed in its entirety.

Maybe you should email an Admin for a clarification? I would hate for this thread deleted ~~ I was getting prepared to post the same letter when I saw your thread.

:hi:

[alcibiades_mystery]

13. It is an Op-Ed published in the NY Times

And is as subject to copyright as a frank Rich column.

Seriously. This is a copyright violation.

[Political Heretic]

16. CALL CONGRESS RIGHT FUCKING NOW!!!1!!!!!

THIS IS HUGH!!1

[alcibiades_mystery]

20. Whatever

The rules matter, but I'll leave you to it.

[Hepburn]

17. It is a LETTER which was posted in its entirelty by him....

...so HOW does he not violate copyright ~~ assuming you are correct?

:shrug:

[alcibiades_mystery]

22. It was not 'posted'

He sent it to the NY Times to publish it, and they did. The same rules apply to this as would to any op-ed column published by the NY Times.

I don't even know what you're talking about when you say "he." Who, DeSantis? He no doubt signed a publishing agreement with the Times, or defaulted into their standard publishing agreement.

[Political Heretic]

24. HUGH I TELL YOU!! HUGH!!!!1! IM SERIES!!!1

[Hepburn]

25. He wished his letter to be published in its ENTIRETY....

...do you understand what that means?

[alcibiades_mystery]

28. By the New York Times

If an author's estate gives me permission to publish collected letters, and I contract with Oxford university press to do so, and they publish a book of said letters, you can't just reproduce it at your will and redistribute it. It's still under copyright by both the author's estate and the press, depending on their publishing agreement. This letter happens to be an op-ed published in the new York Times, which means that you can't reproduce it without permission of the New York Times or the author, depending on the publishing agreement.

[Hepburn]

49. Please ~~ this is NOT how it works, OK? n/t

[Ganja Ninja]

4. (sniff) This makes me so sad. (sniff)

NOT! If I made what this asshole made over 2006 and 2007 I could retire and live like a king. Cry me a fucking river.

[malaise]

57. I love these two sentences

I have the utmost respect for the civic duty that you are now performing at A.I.G. You are as blameless for these credit default swap losses as I am.
-------
Yeh right!!! :puke:

[Ganja Ninja]

62. This guy actually believes he should be immune to all the suffering

caused by the financial industry because he wasn't directly involved. He should get the tax dollars of people who will never in their whole working life make as much as he's made just 2 years.

He reminds me of Sam Birdwater in the movie Americathon when he says, "God knows I am a patriot. I loaned the country 400 Billion. And I want my 400 Billion back. Does that make me a bad guy? I've got to eat too, you know! So I'm giving the President until the end of September this year to pay me back, or I'll be forced to foreclose. What can I do? I've got to eat too, you know! Does that make me a bad guy?"

[Donnachaidh]

6. boo freaking hoo crybaby! n/t

[burythehatchet]

7. A proper airing out of truth and factual history is always helpful. I could have

guessed that the criminals would not have stuck around. They knew what they did and they high tailed it out of town. I am very disappointed in the public witch hunts by DA's, and politicians going off half-cocked. This man's story should be a sobering reminder to the torch and pitchfork mob.

on edit: judging by the reactions, all I can do is shake my head in disgust

[Matariki]

11. *If* it's true and not something dreamed up by AIG's public relations office

[burythehatchet]

21. I think the fact that he publicly adressed the letter with his name should be

sufficient evidence of his sincerity. Think about it, would the people who actually did the damage have remained knowing the extent of their malfeasance? The people who are there now probably are in the same boat as this guy. Again, this is a distraction. The real crimes are still occurring in the Department of Treasury and the Fed.

[Matariki]

35. I agree with you.

I also think that using tax laws to target a specific company is a slippery slope and probably not constitutional.

If the guy was really working for a $1 and if he had a contract that led him to expect a particular bonus payment, well - the situation is complex I suppose.

[dkf]

8. When this guy said he was working for $1 a year, he was really

expecting his $700k bonus after tax, which must be over $1,000,000 pre-tax.

Now we know what a load of bull that was.

Makes me wonder what these other guys who are supposedly making $1 a year are taking home.

[WolverineDG]

31. Just one of those bonuses could fund

my local women's shelter with its staff & all its outreach programs for a year & a half. But no, they're facing budgetary shortfalls because the grant money isn't there. But there is money to give these rich fat cats? :grr: :nuke:

dg

[Hannah Bell]

39. is there some kind of tax angle on a $1 salary + 700K bonus, where the bonus is taxed

at a different rate than regular income?

[SidDithers]

43. That's what I'm wondering too...

If the "bonus" is a guaranteed payment, written into a contract, why is it not paid out as salary over the course of the year? And if the "bonus" is structured this way as a tax avoidance measure, then I say "fuck 'em".

Sid

[ProfessorGAC]

61. I Don't Think So

I get pretty healthy sized bonuses, and the taxation is the same.

However, i think there are legal bonus deferral options that are higher percentages than what high income wage earners can defer.

So, they might be able to defer more of the money and pay the taxes some time in the future, but after accumulating at a higher percentage before taxes.

But, if they actually take the cash, i don't think there's a tax advantage. Unless, of course, there's something really weird that takes place on incomes that approach of exceed a million. I wouldn't know about that!
GAC

[Political Heretic]

9. Dear Mr. DeSantis, kiss my fucking ass.

If you expect me to give a good god damn fuck about your life story, or the oh so hard work you put in for poor AIG, you are sadly fucking mistaken.

Shit like this only underscores how completely fucking out of touch the upper echelon of our society is with R E A L I T Y. When you got to the part where you want to tell the world "a little bit about" your over privileged fuckass self, I thought I was going to vomit.

God I can't believe this dickhead put this in the NYT as a sympathy piece. I'll have sympathy for wallstreet FUCKING COCKSUCKERS when we don't have a ninety to one income disparity in this country, or the highest poverty of any industrialized nation in the world, when BLUE COLLAR workers who built the fucking society on which this asshole now profits make a LIVING GODDAMN WAGE and when corporate CRIMINALS are doing 25 to fucking life in MAX.

Fuck off you fucking FUCK.
SINCERELY,
PH

[SammyWinstonJack]

15. !

:applause:

[Hepburn]

26. Hey, the line starts with you....

... and I am next ~~ he can kiss my ass, too! :hi:

[C......N......C]

12. If all this hardworking patriotic sense of duty was done before

we wouldn't be in this mess now.

[JHB]

18. I'll tell you what Jake...

AIG could afford to pay you the Big Bucks when it was making money off from using its good rating to back crap financial "devices". Are you ticked off that you get the stick financially because of Somebody Else's Malfeasance and Greed?

Welcome to the American Workforce, where those who work hard and do their jobs right get the shaft.

Except, if you can afford to walk out on steady employment and just give away 742 kilobucks, then I suspect you have enough to live just fine for the rest of your life. So don't look for a lot of sympathy from those of us whose future isn't nearly so secure.

So we'll be happy to let you walk out "under your own power" and let someone a little hungrier do the job. Just redirect your blame-game from the state AGs to the people who turned the market into a free-fire zone favoring the most ruthless.

[C......N......C]

19. How much did you make before this ?

[remedy1]

23. Excellent letter.

n/t

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

27. I Give The Author A Ton Of Credit For That. Great Letter And Definitely Is Worthy Of Thinking Over.

It shows the real impact of this situation and how unfairly targeted some of them are. It was a great letter and very emotional. I feel for him and can totally see where he's coming from. Definitely left me with much to ponder as it relates to the situation, now having seen it from the other side's perspective.

[Political Heretic]

33. I would react this way too, if I believed we had fair system and a few bad apples

But I don't. Taking a symbolic $1 when his stock and asset worth is in the multi-millions - no seriously, look him up on Forbes - doesn't mean anything to me in the face of a system that institutionalizes the wides income inequality of any industrialized country in the world. Having to work to close a company that took reckless irresponsible risk without getting a BONUS for doing so doesn't bring a tear of sadness to my eye.

And the sheer insult of trying to play the "it wasn't me, it was one group of guys. Yes, I'm the VP of the company, and responsible for what goes on in the name of my company, and I certainly never once thought maybe we should question how or massive staggering profits were being created or the work that was coming out of this department, but hey - I'm just a poor victim here!

Nevermind that I've gotten rich off a system that allows me to stand on the backs of working people and shit and piss on them whenever I feel the need to. Nevermind the rampant, cesspool of utter corruption that permeates every inch of wall street. Never mind that while I'm crying about my hard times (though I didn't have any trouble picking up the phone and getting my voice heard in the New York Times; I wonder if my neighbor the out of work carpenter could pick up the phone and do that) we have a system which gives ME the highest living and the greatest amount of wealth in the world, while leaving the rest of the country with the highest poverty rates of all industrialized nations, including highest child poverty, greatest inequality, and on and on....

I would appreciate his letter more, if the corruption and excess of white-collar privilege was confined to one department of one firm... but it isn't.

[JHB]

34. Like no one ever lost a job or had to work like a dog because...

...some other division lost a lot of money?

I seem to recall lots of layoffs whenever a company's stock dipped a little. Not as part of any coherent plan, but just to reduce overhead for the following quarter.

I might feel bad for him, if he wasn't in a position to just give away nearly 3/4 of a million. That tells me he has everything he needs to live in (at least) a nice affluent lifestyle for the rest of his life just on what he's made so far. So my sympathy only goes as far as walking him to the front desk of the "Life's Not Fair Hotel" and checking him in.

He should direct his ire at the real culprits in this mess, not his boss or the state AGs.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

41. The Difference Between My Perspective And That Of Those Replying To Me,

is that I don't have an irrational hatred for anybody and everybody who happens to be wealthy.

[JHB]

46. Sure, whatever.

:eyes:

[Political Heretic]

54. I don't think you can get that out of my response to you. Sorry.

[Ganja Ninja]

38. Fuck him! I'll give him a foot in the ass.

He's been over paid for years. At least he can afford the luxury of quitting. If I made what he made in the 2 years prior to 2008 I could/would retire and live like a king. Piss on him. I have no sympathy at all for his ass.

The company I work for has laid off 2/3 of our work force. The rest of us are only working 32 hours a week and the owner isn't even drawing a paycheck. None of us did anything wrong either. Times are tough.

I start most of my days at 2:00 AM get to my office at 6:00 am and don't get home until 5:00 PM. I bring my work home on weekends. I work my ass off and I still don't clear $40,000 a year. He can afford the luxury of quitting. I can't. This MFer can kiss my ass. He made more money in 2007 than I'll make over the next 20 years.

[remedy1]

45. So...

...because your situation sucks, his should too?

BTW, I have no sympathy for you.

[Ganja Ninja]

48. I didn't ask for your sympathy.

And his situation doesn't suck. To the contrary his situation is heaven compared to 99% of the rest of society.

[remedy1]

53. Really?

You know NOTHING about him, do you? I guess you missed the part where he is planning to DONATE his bonus to help others...

How can you comment on his situation? You see only the money. For all you know he has a terminal disease. You ASSUME that because he was well compensated for his work that his life is "heaven".



You know nothing...except apparently, envy and anger.

[Ganja Ninja]

60. "he is planning to DONATE his bonus to help others"

You must believe in the easter bunny too.

[terisan]

29. If what he says is true glad he speaks out I am sick of politicians who attack citizens to further

their own careers and agendas, or to deflect attention from their own unethical and criminal behavior,

The "I am shocked and appalled" statements which have come from the higher ups in the administration are similarly suspect.

[redqueen]

32. I wish he'd list the names of those who he claims are more deserving of blame. (nt)

[Doremus]

30. The ride on the gravy train's over, Jake. At least you were allowed to ride, unlike 99% of us.

Now perhaps the rest of your life can be spent doing something productive.

[Matariki]

36. I wonder if people who make a million dollars a year or more

really believe they are they are working *that* much harder than the rest of us?

[AngryAmish]

47. Yes they do

Most people making that much are professionals and, on average, professionals and self employed folks work more than hourly employees.

Surgeons, for example, work a ton and many of them earn over $1 million a year.

[Matariki]

51. Really? More than a person who has to work 2 or 3 jobs to support their family

on minimum wage?

There are only 24 hours in a day, so the discrepancy is a bit out of proportion.

Do surgeons actually make that much money? I'm surprised. I thought that income bracket was reserved for investment bankers and their ilk. I'm sure surgeons work much harder than the people at AIG, do work that's more valuable to society, and don't make nearly the same amount of money. School teachers too for that matter.

[AngryAmish]

52. Most people in that bracket are professionals, not salaried employees

Investment banking is hard. The hours are murder. It is hypercompetitive. The washout/burnout rate is extreme. Even the drudgery requires exquisite detail concentration for more than twelve hours a day.

Surgeons in metropolitian areas make between $750,000 and $3 million a year. Depending on specialty and stuff like that.

[Matariki]

55. Feh. Teaching is hard and the burnout rate is extreme too.

I know a person who teaches in an inner city school and endures threats, insults, spitballs soaking her hair, things thrown at her, and an unhelpful administration. Granted she doesn't work 12+ hours, but she works *a lot* on her own time grading papers and so forth. She makes about $45k

I don't buy the apologies for investment bankers or think that they are somehow the hardest working people in America.

[Fire1]

37. I just can't find the sympathy.........

:nopity:

[harun]

40. Professional looter.

[cbayer]

42. kpete

Please be aware that DU rules require that copyrighted material be limited to four paragraphs or less with a link to the original source.

Thanks,

cbayer
DU Moderater

[kpete]

56. very sorry

i will behave, kp

[Generic Other]

44. Beggars don't make the rules

The line to the unemployment office starts at the end you asshole. I can't believe how unsympathetic I feel toward this man's financial ruin.

[cloudbase]

50. A good response and some thoughtful comments here

http://www.businessweek.com/careers/managementiq/archives/2009/03/the_mindset_of.html?chan=top+news_top+news+index+-+temp_news+%2B+analysis

[JHB]

59. Excellent article.

But maybe I only think that because Diane Brady at BusinessWeek obviously has an "irrational hatred for anybody and everybody who happens to be wealthy", as some one up above characterized us who can't drum up much sympathry for DeSantis.

---------------------
The Mindset of an AIG executive
Posted by: Diane Brady on March 25

A few things struck me in the “resignation letter” of Jake DeSantis, an executive vice president of the American International Group’s financial products unit. (People don’t normally forward their letters of resignation to The New York Times)
*****
“I was in no way involved in — or responsible for — the credit default swap transactions that have hamstrung A.I.G.”
The list of who to vilify grows ever smaller. Even colleagues in the financial products unit are determined to distance themselves from the credit default swaps. These were highly profitable products produced by highly compensated (and, I would guess, much celebrated) people when times were good. Now, it would appear that a handful of largely anonymous—and now departed—executives are responsible for AIG’s downfall, not an institution that fostered and rewarded a culture of risk.

“The profitability of the businesses with which I was associated clearly supported my compensation.”
This is the argument that has so many people feeling so angry. Just because you write enough transactions to rack up, say, $100 million in profits for your firm doesn’t mean you’re automatically entitled to millions in compensation. By that logic, producing millions in losses should send you reaching into your own pocket to repay your salary. For too long, there have been excessive rewards for short-term profits and little if any incentive to protect against the downside.
******
“None of us should be cheated of our payments any more than a plumber should be cheated after he has fixed the pipes but a careless electrician causes a fire that burns down the house.”
True, but if a house has burned down and the owners are left financially destitute, the plumber may have a hard time getting his full pay. And if you’re both part of the same company that carelessly causes the house to burn down, you may get much less.

“I know that because of hard work I have benefited more than most during the economic boom.” If there was a correlation between hard work and pay, then many people in this country would be far richer than those on Wall Street.

----------------------------
Full article at link:
http://www.businessweek.com/careers/managementiq/archives/2009/03/the_mindset_of.html

[dansolo]

58. Why doesn't this guy name names?

He is complaining because the people allegedly responsible for the credit default swaps have left the company and are avoiding scrutiny. This guy seems to be claiming that he knows exactly who was responsible for the problems. Then why doesn't he give any names of who is really at fault in all this mess? How does he expect the blame to fall on the appropriate people if nobody reveals who they are?