AIG Is Preparing to Pay Millions More in Bonuses

[Bozita]

Source: WaPo

AIG Is Preparing to Pay Millions More in Bonuses

By Brady Dennis and David Cho
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, July 9, 2009; 8:36 PM


American International Group is preparing to pay millions of dollars more in bonuses to several dozen top corporate executives after an earlier round of payments four months ago set off a national furor.

The company has been pressing the federal government to bless the payments in hopes of shielding itself from renewed public outrage.

The request puts the administration's new compensation czar on the spot by seeking his opinion about bonuses that were promised long before he took his post.

AIG doesn't actually need the permission of Kenneth R. Feinberg, who President Obama appointed last month to oversee the compensation of top executives at seven firms that have received large federal bailouts. But officials at the troubled insurance giant, whose federal rescue package stands at $180 billion, have been reluctant to move forward without political cover from the government.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/09/AR2009070902702.html?hpid=topnews

[condoleeza]

1. Well, I'm just shocked, aren't you? n/t

[DCKit]

6. I feel as if my genitals have been tazed by a platoon of rough, leather-clad, fascist cops.

But no actual shock.

Does that make me weird?

[condoleeza]

15. Whatever makes you happy, DC n/t

[orpupilofnature57]

2. NWO

[Egnever]

3. Nothing new about this story

This is simply meant to inflame. The contracts that were in place are still the contracts in place these bonuses were scheduled to go out the same time the last round were. Yes it pisses me off that these bonuses are paid but this is not news.

[snappyturtle]

7. Don't you think it's good to keep the greed on the front page?

None of the bonus recipients is needy. imho

[Jkid]

4. They'll still asking for it.

[liberal N proud]

5. Isn't it nice that we could help those poor bastards?

How would they have paid those bonuses if we were not there to bail them out?

[OhioChick]

8. How fucking wonderful. n/t

[Faygo Kid]

10. Agreed. Just great. Krugman is right; we need more stimulus. This ain't it.

Mom was a child of the Depression. She always preached that no matter what, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

She was so right.

[OhioChick]

11. She surely was. n/t

[saigon68]

31. They are swilling like PIGS at the "Public Trough"

Greed has no bounds

[rpannier]

9. It's simple. He tells them No he won't 'bless' their bonuses

and leaves them to fend for themselves

Thus providing the Admin some political cover

[Demeter]

12. Seeing as the US People OWN 80% of AIG, I Think We Should Veto That

and don't take "you can't do that" for an answer. It's either no bonus, or no company. Liquidate the bastards out of a job. They did it to enough of us.

[Zenlitened]

13. Yep

"...It's either no bonus, or no company. Liquidate the bastards out of a job. They did it to enough of us."

:grr: :grr: :grr:

[No Elephants]

17. As if anyone is going to give us an opportunity to weigh in.

[Odin2005]

18. +1

[Wednesdays]

14. K&R

:kick:

[No Elephants]

16. AIG doesn't need permission. And WAPO knows that how, exactly?

and, even if it is true that AIG does not need permission, why in hell should it get "plitical cover." Shield itself from outrage? Gee, too bad if your multi-million dollar bonuses at taxpayer expense bring some outrage your way. What in God's green earth did you expect?

If you can't stand the heat, get the hell out of our wallets.


Both the bailout and the stimulus were incredibly poorly crafted.

[bat country]

19. It irks me in a very

viceral way to see taxpayer money being shilled out to the upper 5%-1% of earners but there is a significant problem. The taxpayers are majority owners of AIG and have a vested interest in seeing it recover and (hopefully) pay us back. If you don't competitively compensate the rainmakers, they will leave, taking their business and experience elsewhere. If you cut all bonuses and slash salaries, the talent will leave and the shareholders of their new employer benefit. The taxpayers will be left with a nice smug smile but a failed investment.

[KansDem]

20. "If you cut all bonuses and slash salaries, the talent will leave..."

You mean the "talent" that got us into this mess? :wow:

Surely, you jest! Why would you want to retain them?

[bat country]

21. Certainly fire ANYBODY who was involved

in this mess. They're incompetent.

AIG is a monster of a company and the majority of the "talent" had nothing to do with the company's downfall. That does not mean they deserve your money (and mine) in the form of bonuses. But the AIG owners (i.e., us) are better of if we pay them and the company gets back on its feet.

[KansDem]

22. I didn't say "fire anybody who was involved."

But sure as hell don't retain the leeches who masterminded the "credit default swap" part of AIG ("Let's sell something we don't have and make half-a-tril!" then go begging to Uncle Sam when your scam is exposed). They're no better than mobsters.

There's plenty of fresh talent out there. Believe it or not, the gangsters at AIG are not "the best and the brightest."

[Regret My New Name]

30. The fact they want these bonuses while their company is in such trouble....

shows that they are just as incompetent as the ones who directly helped create the mess.If they had any sense, then they would see how this hurts their image and it most likely causes resentment by the normal employees who are most likely suffering cutbacks, thus limiting their productiveness. Fuck these greedy shitbags. Their interests are only with themselves and nothing else.

[mbperrin]

23. WHAT talent? These people have soaked up $180 billion in taxpayer cash

and billions more in guarantees to "save" a company with a $2 billion dollar market value.

What a bargain! We get 80% of a $2 billion company for just $180 billion!!!!!! Wow!

Anybody know where I can get a $2000 Edsel for just $180,000? I'd like the complete set to prove I'm a complete fucking sucker!


On the other hand, if they can go somewhere else, I wish they would and fuck somebody else's company up for a while.

There is no talent. There is no viable company. This is the corpse of a $5 a rock crack dealer that's being propped up with uncountable kilowatts of paddle energy to look alive. Let it go. We need the electricity elsewhere.

[Rebellious Republican]

28. You don't call that talent? That's exactly why they want to give

themselves bonus's. It takes creativity and big balls to be able to do everything you mentioned. They are patting themselves on the back and laughing all the way to their offshore bank. :think:

[Jack Rabbit]

24. Hey, AIG.

Photo: Schmier Grafx.de (Germany)

[HughBeaumont]

25. Storm their fucking offices.

You failed.

FAILED, FUCKERS, FAILED FAILED FAILED!!!!

You get shit shards, not bonuses!

People in France used to lop off heads for less than this.

WHY do we put up with this? WHY?

[YoungAndOutraged]

26. You can't take their money! They earned it!

:sarcasm: What right do we peasants have to tell these successful people, obviously more worthy of being human than a mere worker, that they're not entitled to the money they earned! :sarcasm:

[Greylyn58]

27. America wants it's money back!!!

This story made me madder than I have been in a while.

These people ruined their company through questionable business ventures, then cry for help to the government. After getting that help they decide that rather then fix their broken company their priority is to pay out millions in bonuses to some of the same folks who messed up this company. Some that are even no longer with AIG!!! :banghead: :banghead:

Now they want to do it again! ENOUGH!! Also...HELL NO!!! :mad: :mad:

Pay back what you owe AIG!! If you have the money to pay bonuses then you must be doing okay.

America wants it's money back!!!!!

[Joe Bacon]

29. We own AIG. We can stop the bonuses.

But, since our Congress has been bought off by the rich, don't expect anything to change because the rich believe the sole purpose of government is to make them richer at everyone else's expense.

[davsand]

32. They want "political cover" when the rest of us are doing without.

As far as I am concerned, we all own AIG because we bought them with that bailout money. That makes them all "government employees" of a sort.

At this point in time as a local government employee, I am working for less money than last year and now I am being told I will be taking unpaid leave next year in order to keep the lights on and the doors open. I'm losing ground while these assholes at AIG are being handed fat bonuses by the politicians I worked to elect--made up of money people like me have paid in taxes, no less!

And I am one of the lucky ones because I at least still have a job...


:puke:


Laura