Bailed-out AIG doles out $165 million in bonuses.
Bailed-out AIG doles out $165 million in bonuses.
Insurance giant American International Group, which has received $170 billion in funds from the government to stay afloat, will award about $165 million in employee bonuses. The U.S. government has an 80 percent ownership stake in the company. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner had urged AIG’s chief Edward Liddy to renegotiate the payments, but Liddy said he had “grave concerns” about the impact on the firm’s ability to retain talented staff. Liddy’s recommendation has “outraged” the Obama administration:
The senior government official, who was not authorized to speak on the record, said the administration was outraged. “It is unacceptable for Wall Street firms receiving government assistance to hand out million-dollar bonuses, while hard-working Americans bear the burden of this economic crisis,” the official said.
The payments “are in addition to $121 million in previously scheduled bonuses for the company’s senior executives and 6,400 employees across the sprawling corporation.”
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog Roll
No bonuses…fire them all!!
March 14th, 2009 at 11:51 pmatlas shrugged.
::
March 14th, 2009 at 11:52 pmThat really is outrageous. I work down the street from their headquarters, never liked that company or anyone I knew who worked there. This won’t help that any, that’s for damn sure.
March 14th, 2009 at 11:54 pmThe too big to fail are supported by all of us too small to succeed. Time to bring back some anti-trust actions and break up these corporations that are too big to fail.
March 14th, 2009 at 11:55 pmAIG ran their shit into the ditch — I see no reason for bonuses.
“Retain talented staff” Huh…?
Um, they ran it into the f ucking ditch!
NO BONUSES!
March 15th, 2009 at 12:02 amI put my thoughts about this here at TheZoo.
March 15th, 2009 at 12:04 amWhat more is there to say that won’t be redundant?
March 15th, 2009 at 12:04 amYou folks thought the US representative government represented you? HaaaHA. Again, we are corporation owned as well as disposable subjects of Israel.
March 15th, 2009 at 12:11 amI keep wondering why it would be so important to keep these allegedly talented people if the result of all their work is a nearly-destroyed economy. And the only explanation that makes sense to me is that they are receiving bonuses because they did precisely what they were asked to do.
March 15th, 2009 at 12:15 amGeithner urged them…phuck that he should demand it. If the “talent” pieces of crap leave so be it. How much talent does one need to sell insurance anyway????? Unless they mean talented liars?
March 15th, 2009 at 12:21 amHang ‘em High!
March 15th, 2009 at 12:22 amAs stated above, so the people who did the most to destroy the economy are the ones being rewarded ?
Especially telling from the linked story:
The bonus plan covers 400 employees, and the bonuses range from as little as $1,000 to as much as $6.5 million. Seven executives at the financial products unit were entitled to receive more than $3 million in bonuses.
March 15th, 2009 at 12:23 amAnd those bastards want me to pay for them for one month of insurance because I did call them to cancel and got cheaper insurance instead of paying my final month of insurance with AIG…TWO WORDS FOR YOU AIG…BLOW ME! The pricks didn’t give me a reason why they raised my monthly payments $20.00 each month last July so….
March 15th, 2009 at 12:24 amOops I should have said “I didn’t call them to cancel my insurance and got a free month from them”…I told one of their reps to consider the extra $120.00 they made off me the last 6 months as payment in full for December, plus I told him I helped bail them out.”
March 15th, 2009 at 12:27 amQuestion: So now that we’ve bailed out AIG, BOA, CITIGROUP, etc, etc, etc, can we claim them as dependents on our w4 forms?
March 15th, 2009 at 12:29 amStorm the Bastille
March 15th, 2009 at 12:30 amThese so called free marketeers sure loves them some good old Uncle Sam money.
March 15th, 2009 at 12:36 amAIG = the poster child of corporate welfare.
March 15th, 2009 at 12:38 amWe are being cheated right on our faces. Big bonuses while so many are unemployed struggling to get by. This is outrageous, this worrisome fate of post-Bush America. I’m outta here!
March 15th, 2009 at 12:38 amAIG is begging for federal handouts with one hand while giving the public the finger with the other.
The banking industry would call this “business as usual”, but the public calls it “chutzpah”.
March 15th, 2009 at 12:40 amAIG needs to pull itself up by its bootstraps. Welfare queen of corporate America.
March 15th, 2009 at 12:46 amI want my money back.
As I said (more or less) in response to BnF’s Zoo post, I don’t mind my tax dollars going to help the people who need the help. These clowns who ran their business off a cliff aren’t the ones who are going to lose their homes. They don’t deserve the salaries they were paid, let alone our tax dollars as bonuses.
I really want my money back.
March 15th, 2009 at 12:49 amLet’s face it, America has become a nation of carpet baggers. Those great capitalists who claim to be the engine of the economy take credit for the good times and if things turn sour it’s take every penny they can get on the way out and let the place burn down.
Why is this acceptable. Some kid sells a dime bag and gets 30 years. Liddy steals 180 million from the company, the stockholders and the government (ie. the guys who put up the cash, he sure didn’t put his own money at risk) and gives it to himself and his chosen disciples.
This is the kind of behavior that made half the world go communist. The Soviet Union was never conquered, not even close. It went bankrupt. Hmmmm.
March 15th, 2009 at 12:50 amMaybe the talent over at AIG needs some government surplus cigars and viagra. Bust ‘em apart and let them work for a living.
March 15th, 2009 at 12:50 amWow, talk about a company who feels no fear or retribution. Thats why this country is in the shape it is. The AIGs of the world are bulletproof and above the laws us little people live by. Just ask them.
March 15th, 2009 at 12:54 amFire the lot of them, blow the damm company up and start over again. AIG is on OUR dime. Obama can and should make them do whatever he wants.
March 15th, 2009 at 12:56 amThe time for bailout has ended….It is time for takeover!!!!!
March 15th, 2009 at 1:10 amWhen do We the People, as shareholders, get to call for the firing of the people who handed out these bonuses? And shouldn’t We the People have 80% of the say in this company?
March 15th, 2009 at 1:19 amJust lost my job after 17 years, shoot 100g’s of that cash to me & I’d be like a pig in shit!
March 15th, 2009 at 1:19 amWhat is the meaning of these high bonuses? What are they all about?
It’s time to put some of these executives in prison. They administer a corrupt culture, and it must be destroyed once and for all. It’s obscene.
March 15th, 2009 at 1:33 amno No NO NO NO
WTF is wrong with these people?
March 15th, 2009 at 1:39 amRandomChaos Says:
WTF is wrong with these people?
March 15th, 2009 at 1:39 am
Hubris…
March 15th, 2009 at 1:59 amThe financial industry is employed by self-serving Gordon Gekkos. I would be shocked if they didn’t try to lie, cheat, and steal their way to as much of the taxpayers money as possible.
March 15th, 2009 at 2:12 amHow about a 165 years in San Quentin?
March 15th, 2009 at 2:16 amIt’s quite simple, really. Rescind the bailout. AIG crumbles, and then they really can’t pay bonuses.
As it is, we shouldn’t be bailing them out to begin with. We should shut down Wall St. and treat it like the crime scene it is.
March 15th, 2009 at 2:47 amGravy sucking pigs.
March 15th, 2009 at 3:29 amastounding . . .
Do you think a bankruptcy court would have granted these ‘bonuses” to retain this worthless talent?
Where they gonna go? Work for Madoff? Who would HIRE them and as an 80%, OWNER WHY do WE keep them???????
March 15th, 2009 at 3:50 amFrom wikipedia:
If AIG had been broken up back in 2005 as a punishment/correction/prevention we could have avoided at least this company of criminals from phucking us all. And maybe it would have sent a signal to the rest of the industry.
Also, how the hell does a company go from being fined 1.6 billion to being bailed out by the billions just a few years later??? That’s bullsh|t!!
Goddamnit! We are probably paying bonuses to criminals that were with the company in 2005. Phuck AIG!!! Break’em up and arrest the criminal bastards running this gang of thieves!!!!!
March 15th, 2009 at 4:29 amThis proves that the United States is no longer a meritocracy, if it ever was one. People are making millions for incompetence (executives who get big bonuses for running their companies into the ground) and ignorance (Rush, Beck, Hannity, et al), while honest people–many of them of greater competence–are losing jobs and sometimes their homes, too. I am tempted to joke that I would be willing to ruin a company for a mere $1 million bonus, but this is too disgusting to joke about.
March 15th, 2009 at 4:58 amAs the communists say, “A capitalist will sell you the rope you hang him with.”
March 15th, 2009 at 5:24 amThis company only exists so that there can be an orderly breaking up of all its various units. Simply put, any bonus’ at this insolvent company is theft and a money-grab.
March 15th, 2009 at 6:22 amvery good
March 15th, 2009 at 7:21 am“If you’re not a liberal at twenty you have no heart, if you’re not a conservative at forty you have no brain.”
Winston Churchill quotes
March 15th, 2009 at 8:09 amIs it AIG’s “fault”? Who gave them the money to begin with without any conditions? It’s like giving an arsonist matches then standing back and saying “why’d he do that?” after he burns down the church.
No one to blame but the ourselves and the people we elected. Truly sickening, but what to do about it? Maybe we should all go fill out job applications at AIG.
March 15th, 2009 at 8:29 am“Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all.”
– John Maynard Keynes
Deregulation led to this fiasco.
March 15th, 2009 at 8:42 amIt’s time to return to the regulatory environment of the 70s to prevent it from ever happening again.
“It is unacceptable for Wall Street firms receiving government assistance to hand out million-dollar bonuses, while hard-working Americans bear the burden of this economic crisis,
The real story is: The hard-working Americans footed those $170 billions in order to keep A I G brom going 6 feet under.
Is this is the only way to retain talented staff?
I for one did not see a bonus in more then 7 years and I am talented in what I am doing.
GREED…
March 15th, 2009 at 8:52 amThe government could make any bailout contingent on bonuses not being paid. Why doesn’t it do it?
March 15th, 2009 at 8:53 amShow their faces,home addresses,and amounts received on-line!
March 15th, 2009 at 8:55 amWhy can’t AIG fail? It isn’t a bank? It has little or nothing to do with credit. Why can’t an insurance company fail? Why, exactly why, are we giving them $170 Billion?
March 15th, 2009 at 8:55 amFrom the NY Times Editorial….
In the manic years of this decade, credit default swaps took off as a way to bet on the likelihood of default by a firm or an investment portfolio, without having to own any financial interest in the firm or portfolio. That is definitely not insurance, it is gambling. The reason it is not illegal gambling is that, in 2000, CONGRESS specifically EXEMPTED credit default swaps from state gaming laws.
The result? Eric Dinallo, the insurance superintendent for New York State, has said that some 80 percent of the estimated $62 TRILLION in credit default swaps outstanding in 2008 were SPECULATIVE.
So the Wizards of Finance gambled $62 Trillion while Congess looked the other WAy.
March 15th, 2009 at 9:04 amLiddy at AIG said “We cannot attract and retain the best and brightest talent to lead and staff the AIG businesses, which are now being operated principally on behalf of the American taxpayers.”
The best and the brightest? Those people who are responsible for the companies need of a bailout?
AIG and its employees should be considered public enemy #1. I agree with Klem Kiddilehopper saying “Show their faces,home addresses,and amounts received on-line!”
March 15th, 2009 at 9:05 ami am *proud* to have been let-go from my job, go on foodstamps, let my insurance lapse & move home with my parents, if that means AIG employees can have their million dollar bonuses.
not really.
March 15th, 2009 at 9:13 amThis isn’t about bailouts or bonuses. It’s about Corporate America calling the United States’ Governments’ bluff.
It’s a standoff that we need to win – badly.
March 15th, 2009 at 9:17 amWait just a minute here – “salaries” are fixed by contract; bonuses are not.
Bonuses are never tied to a definitive amount but are granted by percentage of profit.
How can these crooks show a profit when they’re crawling on their knees for bailout money?
This is a total sham – a total charade on the american people and the Obama administration.
These bonuses (on taxpayer money) are bogus and illegal.
March 15th, 2009 at 9:21 amIt’s time for Obama to end the Fascist regime of George Bush! It’s time for Obama to sever all ties to AIG and any other Fascist organization which is attempting to control the White House.
March 15th, 2009 at 9:22 amsunday tragic funnies Dick Cheney is just on CNN defending too big to fail. He also says we can’t blame Bush because “it’s global”. BUSH BROKE WORLD!!!
March 15th, 2009 at 9:23 amLiddy’s comments about attracting the best and brightest are pure bull$hit. People with advanced degrees are vying for jobs at grocery stores and Wal-Mart.
This is a totally false argument.
March 15th, 2009 at 9:23 amAmericans need to begin protesting any money which has been used for bonuses, junkets, and vulgar salaries to CEO’s. This is OUR MONEY which they are using to continue to feather their nests ala Bush/Cheney style. Those days of total corruption are over.
March 15th, 2009 at 9:24 amAIG handled my workman’s comp crap when I was out of work due to a workplace injury. I was flabbergasted to find that they seemed to think 10 dollars a week for dependant children was fine or maybe it was 10 for both of them. My exwife thought differently. F uck these people.
March 15th, 2009 at 9:55 amThere are a lot of terrible things that have happened in the last 18 months, but what’s happened at AIG is the most outrageous,
jackass. Its not “what’s happened to AIG”, its what these same “talented executives” DID TO AIG and the American taxpayer; criminality that is now being rewarded at taxpayer expense.
March 15th, 2009 at 10:16 amWow. This is so ridiculous it leaves you speechless. Shouldn’t every bit of their bailout money be returned? If they fail, they fail?
March 15th, 2009 at 10:20 am“grave concerns” about the impact on the firm’s ability to retain talented staff’.You have just got to love this old addage,it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside to know that Mr Liddy wants to retain the same GREEDY S.O.Bs that helped with this financial disaster and not lay them the HELL OFF.More re-puke speak I can`t stand these people,The bailouts must stop for companies and start giving our money to us the poverty stricken who need more gov`t help, the low, working and middle class who need health care, jobs, and education for our childen and the top 5percent can get screwed for as long as it takes and the more money you have the longer we keep taking from you like you took from us.
March 15th, 2009 at 10:30 amSomething else to think about:
Apparently, the SEC didn’t have off-site back-up:
So, a building that symmetrically collapsed from asymetrical fires, a building whose destruction was reported on the BBC before it actually collapsed, ended SEC investigations into numerous companies.
Yes, these people do believe they can get away with anything. They already did.
March 15th, 2009 at 10:44 amIs there someone who thinks Larry Summers’ going on the teevee & saying, “I’m outraged” has any use use or value whatsoever? Sounds a lot like Capt. Renault being shocked, shocked to find out there’s gambling going on here.
The Constant Weader at http://www.RealityChex.com
March 15th, 2009 at 11:46 amHorse hockey! Welcome to pay for performance. $165 million for creating a $170 billion black hole…
March 15th, 2009 at 12:32 pmI’m having a hard time understanding what business AIG is in. Are they insurers against incompetence or mismanagement or fraud? Why exactly are they “too big to fail”?
March 15th, 2009 at 1:14 pmShouldn’t BONUSES be based upon Company Profits? Government bailout money is not a profit.
No profit = NO BONUSES!
March 15th, 2009 at 1:43 pmThose AIG bastards! That money could’ve been used to buy Nancy Pelosi more airplanes! Or perhaps a fleet of yachts!
March 15th, 2009 at 2:29 pmor you some common sense, mr. marwick.
hope your pocketmice enjoy the “sense of humor”.
March 15th, 2009 at 6:14 pmOK – let me get this shyte straight – AIG had to give the bonuses to keep their ‘top performers’! AIG had to take bailout money and they’ve got ‘top performers’?! WTF- WOW! That’s lame – if they were such ‘top performers’ why did these f*&Ks have to take bailout money? I want my tax dollars back!
March 15th, 2009 at 7:10 pmCan these Wall St banksters do no deed that will finally be the last straw?
Why are we using taxpayer funds to reward these failures?
It is time for the US government to assume complete control of AIG and fire the whole lot of these parasites.
These corporate Wall St failures should be forced to disgorge their ill-gotten salaries and bonuses in the same manner than any other conman will be compelled.
A lesson needs to be set for all the other failed enterprises and their executives who took money from the Bush TARP plan that lack even minimal controls upon the use of taxpayer funds.
March 15th, 2009 at 7:10 pmSince We (the taxpayers) own this company, I feel it would be useful to publish (perhaps on Obama’s web site) a list of names of everyone getting a bonus and how much they are getting.
Why not? They have to report the money anyway? As an owner I want to know who is getting my tax money and how much they are getting.
March 15th, 2009 at 7:18 pmPut the CEO and the Board of Directors in prison for fraud.
March 15th, 2009 at 7:18 pm(CNN) — The monumental quarterly loss revealed by U.S. insurance giant AIG of $62 billion is the largest in corporate history, amounting to about $460,000 per minute. The loss caused jaws to hit the floor around the world and left us wondering, what else would $62 billion buy?
With $62 billion you could buy Buckingham Palace 46 times over.
It could pay off the combined national debts of China, Australia, Mexico and Ukraine, according to 2008 estimates by the CIA Factbook, and still have plenty left over for a good night out.
The world’s 10 top-earning celebrities, including J.K. Rowling, Oprah Winfrey and 50 Cent, would only have to work for 40 years to repay AIG’s losses.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/BUSINESS/03/02/markets.whatlossbuys/index.html?eref=rss_latest
March 15th, 2009 at 10:34 pmHere’s a Madoff, there’s a Madoff
March 16th, 2009 at 1:28 amWith U.S. money they’re all paid off
In for losing, not for earning
A group of Bernies fiendishly burning