"The Mindset of an AIG Executive" - a resignation letter and its rhetorical smackdown (Ron Paul, minimum wage)
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"Give back your bonus or we'll publish your names and you'll be hounded by the public or we'll confiscate 90% of your bonus (leaving the other 10% to pay state taxes) or we'll send bus loads of angry citizens to intimidate you and hopefully none of them are the crazy people who want to string up your entire family with piano wire. Do you agree to the new terms?"
"Yes."
Contract renegotiated!!
Brainwashed BS. Let me cut down the chase.
- Do you support negotiation of contracts?
- If you do, are there conditions? And if you don't, why?
Where do you get that anyone (at least here) is "all for them"? I think it's been said quite plainly that while the bonus was disgusting it was done properly by contract both with AIG AND the government so should be upheld but not done again. It's called integrity, you know, following through with what you agreed to even if it hurts?
Jimj to this argument I say they claimed their house was on fire (and it was) so we came to their aid and defense. No taxpayer in their right mind would have agreed to these bonuses if they were to waste 5yrs to pour over the minutia of a contract. The mad rush to get the aid in place did allow smarmy games to run amok, and it was ethically wrong to profiteer from a dire situation.
There's no excuse this man can make for himself as leadership. Suck it up, roll up your sleeves, and in the spirit of capitalism, once you've done the hard work it will take to generate profitability your reward comes THEN, not upfront. Workers don't get paid in advance of the work performed. Executives entitling themselves contrary is a symptom of the sickness that brought them where they are today. No mercy.
Class warfare is a projection. Americans have not been raising pitchforks and protesting wall street for a century. They haven't begrudged their bosses the respect they deserve. The class warfare originates in the minds of those entitling themselves to exploit on multi billion dollar scale for unjust compensation. When middlemen decide the lions share is theirs, it comes at the expense of all (this includes shareholders BTW, the true risk takers). In the case of bailouts, quite literally. In the case of allowing toxic assets and smarmy accounting practices permission to exist, driving up everyones cost of living so you can pad your pocket, subtle theft is still theft.
"Give back your bonus or we'll publish your names and you'll be hounded by the public, news media and stupid politicians will call you to testify before Congress to humiliate you into submission. Or, we'll confiscate 90% of your bonus (leaving the other 10% to pay state taxes) or we'll send bus loads of angry citizens to intimidate you and hopefully none of them are the crazy people who want to string up your entire family with piano wire. Do you agree to the new terms?"
"Yes."
Contract renegotiated!! Aren't you proud of your government??
They have every reason to fear for their lives. Abuse the spirit of the law, and the spirit of Good Samaritan taxpayers, they shoot holes in the very boat that enables commerce to exist. Marie Antoinette arguments didn't spare her life. Be VERY afraid, because your mouth WILL get you in trouble, particularly as decision makers 'steering the ship' that willfully abuse power for personal enrichment.
That power is granted in the name of representation. Unwillingness to take responsibility for what you represent is negating your job description. In effect, they've fired themselves. Their compensation packages are being held under the scrutiny of daylight. Like many other 'employees' throughout America obliged to provide the burden of proof why they deserve a raise, this man and his cohorts are obliged to the burden of proof.
Sure they do. Run the company in the ground deliberately, you can go to a judge and get him to agree to cancel every airline employees pension. Forget the fact that they sacrificed other benefits over the course of 30yrs, and poor administrative performance was the real cause of their punishment. Retroactively stealing someone else's money by writ is acceptable to you because they aren't the top 5%???
Participate on the pirate ship that sponsors legislation to muscle against public trust for immediate gratification.
Enter into a bogus contract based on speculation where no risk was willing to be taken, only rewards, regardless of performance. Free ride?
Industry wide business plan from the get go??? What small business enjoys that kind of gravy??
Take EXECUTIVE position, charged with steering the ship in earnest toward legitimate business endeavors, but expect to be the exorbitantly paid ferry man who didn't get you to the other side. (Don't hourly employees get paid so little because they have lesser risks???)
Gotta love when marshal law is declared throughout financial sector how some poor put upon white guy is screaming about his rights when his very profession is the ill gotten gains causing the mess. To hell with the company, to hell with anyone else. That's what passes for leadership material these days, folks, and some are more than happy to defend them as personal heros.
The irony hasn't escaped joe public that while their worth was being robbed 3 ways (frozen wages, inflation & massive tax liabilities for behemoth corporate welfare holding them hostage) to finance this guys colossal ego, he and his ilk have been arrogantly referring to joe public as thieves for the past 30 damned years.
They have every reason to fear for their lives. Abuse the spirit of the law, and the spirit of Good Samaritan taxpayers, they shoot holes in the very boat that enables commerce to exist. Marie Antoinette arguments didn't spare her life. Be VERY afraid, because your mouth WILL get you in trouble, particularly as decision makers 'steering the ship' that willfully abuse power for personal enrichment.
That power is granted in the name of representation. Unwillingness to take responsibility for what you represent is negating your job description. In effect, they've fired themselves. Their compensation packages are being held under the scrutiny of daylight. Like many other 'employees' throughout America obliged to provide the burden of proof why they deserve a raise, this man and his cohorts are obliged to the burden of proof.
Turnabout is fair play.
Do all AIG employees deserve this, or only the ones who abused their power?
It is very possible that some of the retention dates were before March 2009 or that those who have left already have completed their tasks. This was the clean up crew, not necessarily those who made the mess in the first place.
True, anyone who left the company and broke the contract would not be eligible for the bonus but that certainly isn't the case for those who still remain and were subject to government extortion and threats after fulfilling their contracts, after the company and the government reaffirmed their contracts. It all stinks.
Do all AIG employees deserve this, or only the ones who abused their power?
When executives make mistakes, who gets laid off first??
When executives are paying themselves up front, where is the recourse?
Calling this guy the 'cleanup crew' is a misnomer. He was benefiting directly from the boom years that were ill gotten gains. Milk was spilled on a global scale. Sober people who mean to be responsible leaders for the sickness they benefited cultivating need to suck it up. No more, no less.
In retrospect do you believe all parties concerned (including the most efficient way to preserve privatization) would have been better served if we fired every AIG employee when the rot was at the head of the fish???
This is nothing more than class envy, pure and simple. If someone is upset about wall-streeters making as much as they do stop complaining and go work on wall street. Any one of us has the same chance to go after those salaries.
That isn't quite true. Large sectors of the population are locked out of jobs like that because we don't have the right genetics, physical characteristics, education, etc. A number of which are intrinsic and therefore not attainable except by congenital inheritance. As a class these people did great harm to the world and are not to be pitied. There has always been class envy but within the last eight years the term class warfare has taken on new meaning. With their power and might turned fully toward destroying the middle class real damage has been done to the lives and wherewithal of middle and lower class Americans. We are not just complaining about it we are mad as hell and demanding that at least some of the most egregious examples of executive privilege be held accountable.
That isn't quite true. Large sectors of the population are locked out of jobs like that because we don't have the right genetics, physical characteristics, education, etc. A number of which are intrinsic and therefore not attainable except by congenital inheritance. As a class these people did great harm to the world and are not to be pitied. There has always been class envy but within the last eight years the term class warfare has taken on new meaning. With their power and might turned fully toward destroying the middle class real damage has been done to the lives and wherewithal of middle and lower class Americans. We are not just complaining about it we are mad as hell and demanding that at least some of the most egregious examples of executive privilege be held accountable.
H
My only disagreement with your post is in the bolded portion. People who do contribute to a team effort more than others deserve a larger share of pie in an honest expression of capitalism. What reward percentages become the question when debating pay parity. The benchmark for pay on the bottom half of a company is the least the market can bear, but the benchmark on the top is the most the market can bear.
What you attribute to congenital isn't the whole truth. Networking social circles are what determine executive pay in a club that even shareholders are shut out of as things have been arranged. Shareholder reports & agenda votes by proxy are authored by the very networked salesmen writing their own paychecks, not by the standards of GAO.
I would not care when AIG did or paid their employees as bonuses if the TAXPAYER didn't have to bail them out 8 months ago.
Were it now for My $$ as a taxpayer, AIG would have closed it's doors and the writer of this letter would have been without SALARY adn BONUS.
Basically, if I let your company fail, then what??
I'm like cry me a river. Wah wah wah
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Free ride?
Agreed.
