Dear A.I.G., I Quit!

Originally posted by grover

Dear A.I.G., I Quit!

www.nytimes.com

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.

(visit the link for the full news article)

you know what i dont understand about the financial crisis, its like a natural gas line, there is a valve at one end or the other, so like how do they lose so much money and not see any return for the costs. I guess turning the valve off for the ceo pay grade was a bit late, but even then, who works for less than minimum wage, no one i think it is illegal.

I think they should have just let it fail. You can only put so many patches on something that is broken. If companies expect to be helped wouldn't they just run them into the ground. If they had failed none of these guys would have got nothing. This guy sounds like he has a martyr complex. Who cares if he has to move to a home with less than 20 rooms. I don't know why this got published at all.

Originally posted by Anjin
reply to post by aLiiEn

 

I highly doubt that everyone that worked for AIG received million is bonuses but hey, since we're on a witch hunt, lets burn em all at the stake, right?

Obviously AIG is the single cause for the financial meltdown. Thank God we have a fiscally responsible Government telling us who to hate.......er, I mean watching out for us.

If you would have read/payed attention to the first few responses, you would not have said what you just said.

Second Line....

Why is hard finances a lot more like Las Vegas than responsible investments should be? Where did 'insert money, let it grow, take out when you made as much as you wanted, or repeat' go? Why's it gotta be like some lunatic game of craps?

reply to post by grover


This is a golden letter of example.

An Example as to why Government should never get involved with business. They know NOTHING about business, they only know Bureaucracy and ass kissing. They know how to appease the ignorant voters by preforming their daily circus act in front of the cameras, carrying on a charade to make it seem things are being done that are productive, encouraging, decent or in any case at least the image of doing something at all.

There are also those in the masses that believe no one for any reason is entitled to a massive "bones", or even a salary.. that because the guy mopping the floor can't afford a mansion and a Bentley, neither should the CEO.. they too are ignorant, ignorant of the entire Capitalist system that keeps this country afloat. Ignorant of the ways of business. Especially the financial world, that relys heavily on compensation, bonuses etc based on work performance, among other things.

No doubt another company will pick this guy up, I hope the our country that we are not sending our most skilled workers out of the country all through our 21st century witch hunt...

Meh.. I said it about this, as I said it about many similar issues. People get tunnel-vision. Hate the group. Hate the company. Hate the country. They represent what they don't like, after all.

Iran is evil! Hate all ragheads!

AIG is evil! Hate all employees!

Just go on and on.

Did this guy deserve hate? Maybe.. who knows, I don't know what he was involved in. I DO know if he can live of 1 buck a year now, he made some serious bucks previously. Earned it? Doubt it. Worthy of everyone's hate as an evil AIG employee? Probably not.

There is way too much complexity to make it so simply black and white. Just because someone makes a lot more money than you doesn't make that person evil and wicked and wrong. Just because they earned and want a bonus, doesn't make them wicked and evil and wrong.

I'm still amazed, after all the supposed awakening and awareness of our world, that people are still so narrow-minded and hateful. I'm quite sure that many would happily and literally hang every employee of AIG. Every one! It makes me fairly sad, and wondering how we continue to survive as a species.

Originally posted by grover

Dear A.I.G., I Quit!

www.nytimes.com

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.

(visit the link for the full news article)

I find this strangely heartening. That even in the pit- in this case AIG, there apparently are good men- men of integrity. I respect and applaud him.

Yes good men, men of integrity.
Damn fine men!
Who stood by watching criminals bankrupt the world without saying a word.
Taking there little share lapping up there profits.
And then when the inevitable happens, they cry oh so poor and how they mean so well.
Really good men huh.
Some peoples minds are so far up in the clouds, they may as well be UFO's themselves.

I agree with some of the posts above. It is sad that this happened, but right now this is the hot topic to keep the public's attention off of what is really going on. Is anyone talking about the upcoming G20 summit? Is anyone talking about the rampant unemployment anymore? Things are getting worse. I don't want it to, but it is.

I recently took two weeks vacation. I travelled to a couple of states and visited friends I've known throughout my life. I asked each of them the same questions. (to get a broad overview if my gut was right) I asked them how the financial crisis was affecting them and the ones they knew. The second question was, what was the most incredible thing they have seen because of the economy.

The amount of information I received was overwhelming. Not only are the 13.25% unemployment numbers wrong in my opinion, they are way wrong. Every day there is someone whom I know personally losing their job. It's really sad. I thank God that I have a stable career.

The most crazy thing I heard, which should shake every middle class American in their boots, is that a TON of companies have stopped paying workman's comp and unemployment insurance to cut costs and THEY DO NOT TELL THEIR EMPLOYEES!

This is from a lady who works coding medical records to file to insurance companies. The lady at the major medical insurance provider told her that no one is paying benefits. They take the money out of your check every two weeks. But it don't benefit you.

I love my country. I want this to end. This guy, came to help AIG and was hung out to dry. He didn't need the money. They brought him in front of congress and made him look like an idiot while the scoundrels behind the whole charade sit in the shadows.

I challenge each and every member on here to get in touch with those you haven't been in contact with in a while and pose these very questions to them. You will see things are worse than they appear. Objects on the TV are there to entertain you. News, is something you get here, or from friends. Be your own reporter.

reply to post by Rockpuck


Never? That's a broad and sweeping statement and certainly unfair to the vast majority of government employees... politicians perhaps but not everyone.

Anyone working for an annual salary of one dollar can clearly afford to do so.

And it's clear to me that he got disillusioned and bored of this noble gesture rather quickly and quit his job.

If this had happened in the 1700’s, the headlines would read:

“400 Employees of AIG were sentenced to hanging for committing financial treason against the citizens of the United States of America.”

If this had happened in the 1900’s, the headlines would read:

“400 Employees of AIG today found guilty of committing fraud against the United States. Sentenced to life terms in prison.”

But in the 2000’s we get:

“Whine… I had to work 14 hours a day for a year at $1 an hour salary. I am going to leak my resignation letter to the press so I don’t look like I knew exactly what was going on in my department, and I can win over public sympathy…Whine.”


My how times have changed.

If this guy knew what was happening, and kept his mouth shut while riding the gravy train, he is just as guilty as the guy who actually did it IMHO.

reply to post by grover


Great post!

The whole AIG thing is horrible and I do feel sorry for those that had nothing to do with it. This person sounds very disappointed in a company they spent years working for. They obviously know what happened was wrong and I dont feel all should be blamed for it. I think it's great he will donate his bonus to those who need it. Good for him! The other evil execs at this company need to go!

reply to post by mblahnikluver


It has been my experience that no matter the business that whenever management blames a few bad apples its always a lie and an attempt to deflect responsiblity. No matter whether its the military at Abu Graib... or Enron... or AIG... or the drunken idiot I worked for... the owner and/or manager sets the tone and the staff follows suit.

It is obvious the management at AIG wanted profits above anything else... and that set the stage for all sorts of corrupt dealings.

reply to post by aLiiEn
[more

I can tell you from personal experience that, in this industry, folks who work across hall, let alone on a different floor don't know what other folks are doing. They know what instruments or sector of the economy they work in, but not what they are doing. It ain't like a bunch of dudes running forklifts thinking that they know what the gent in the warehouse across the parking lot does for a living. Get real, or do a bit of reading beyond newspapers.

How is this any different than the union guy who comes to work every day and does his job. He also knows that there are a bunch of guys in his union who do nothing, skip out of work, get drunk every day, etc. Is he going to go to management and tell them? Get real.

You take the amount of money wasted every day through organized labor nonsense that is written in the bylaws of a union agreement and it dwarfs the numbers were talking about here. The only difference is the size of the deal. Why is it OK for a gent in a plant to ignore his union buddy who is a total waste, but not the banker who ignores the other banker across the hall? There is no difference. A little genocide is still genocide.

Frankly, I'll take the banker over the other dude. At least when he loses his job, he is not going to cry the blues, go on welfare or vote for a democrat.

I don't know how many more times I am going to have to tell all of you that this AIG fiasco is nothing more than a cover and smoke screen to a much bigger picture that has not shown it's face yet. AIG, I hate to say this, is only a piece of the pie.

In time, I will prove that this trickle down effect all started by a little company know as ENRON. That was nothing more than a test model just to see what would happen. This research goes back 13 years and stretches across the globe and into countless offices of people who have been in high appointed positions from the last two presidents and I am sure I will find some in this one. The more I dig, the more I find.

India, what a county!


Eye of Eagle