Dear A.I.G. ..... I QUIT

[President Decider]

Source: New York Times

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.




Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/25/opinion/25desantis.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&ref=opinion

---

Let's see how many others follow ....

[frazzled]

1. Yeah, I read it in the Times this morning.

It provides a partial corrective to the guillotine-hungry public's caricature of the workers at AIG.

But on the other hand, it's hard to be sympathetic to the guy. Who cares if he wasn't the one who was doing the credit swaps and was instead trying to save the company. For the rest of us, if the place we work for fails, we bear the brunt of the impact (reduced wages, firings, closure) whether we contributed to the situation or not. He and all the others should have renegotiated their contracts to refuse bonuses. Give it away? Eh, not so much.

[ananda]

2. Golly gee..

.. He sure sounds like a whiny crybaby.

[notadmblnd]

3. maybe we'll see his resume on Ladders.com?

That's the high falutin website for those elites that deserve over 100,000.00 per year. Course, I've never been there.

[Journeyman]

4. Seems this could be just a calculated effort to gain sympathy for AIG employees. . .

"We didn't do the dirty deeds, yet we're being persecuted for the acts of others."

How do we know Mr DeSantis actually quit? Actually worked at AIG? Has actually "left the building" and won't just return through the back door when when the PR of his act has been realized?

Wouldn't trust these people with my money. Why should I trust them with anything else, including empathy and emotion?

[Journeyman]

9. On reflection, what's with Mr DeSantis and his "only $1 a year"? . . .

He "agreed to work for an annual salary of $1," but now he's leaving because he didn't get to keep his huge bonus?

That's not agreeing to work for $1 a year. That's agreeing to work for two paychecks a year: one for $1, the other for an obscene figure he won't even print in his resignation letter.

[SnakeEyes]

15. You would think...

If the NYT published his op-ed they'd at least make sure the guy is who he said he is. Given the government control of the company now it would be really easy to know if he in fact quit. It also would be easy since it's a publicly traded company. Information like this would be available.

[OregonBlue]

5. Oh Boo Hoo. I feel so sorry for him!!

[Lugnut]

Yeah. Me too.

:nopity:

[Spazito]

6. Self-serving clap-trap, imo

"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.

snip

On March 16 I received a payment from A.I.G. amounting to $742,006.40, after taxes. In light of the uncertainty over the ultimate taxation and legal status of this payment, the actual amount I donate may be less — in fact, it may end up being far less if the recent House bill raising the tax on the retention payments to 90 percent stands. Once all the money is donated, you will immediately receive a list of all recipients."

He is donating the taxpayers' money to charity, how sweet is that! :sarcasm:

Note he didn't say he would publicize the 'beneficiaries' of his largess.

[SnakeEyes]

14. For the sake of accuracy.

Actually, he did state he would publicize the beneficiaries. It's at the end of the op-ed.

"On March 16 I received a payment from A.I.G. amounting to $742,006.40, after taxes. In light of the uncertainty over the ultimate taxation and legal status of this payment, the actual amount I donate may be less — in fact, it may end up being far less if the recent House bill raising the tax on the retention payments to 90 percent stands. Once all the money is donated, you will immediately receive a list of all recipients."

[Spazito]

18. No he didn't state he would publicize them, he said he would send a list to Mr. Liddy...

the person to whom the letter is addressed. If he was going to publicize them, he would have stated he would list them in another letter sent to the NYT.

[JTFrog]

7. Right. The Executive Vice President of AIGFP claims no fault.

AIGFP is considered a key company in this whole global financial crises. The losses at AIGFP division essentially bankrupted the entire AIG operation, and forced the United States government to bail out the insurer.

But hey, whatever it takes to live with yourself.

[jzodda]

8. Off with his head

To the guillotine. Not just that scumbag but a whole lot of others as well including our current treasury secretary and Larry summers. They were all a part of this and now they get to fix it? I would rather all of them go straight to hell.

Of course I am EXTRA angry because I just finished reading

The Big Takeover on Rolling Stone Mag
The global economic crisis isn't about money - it's about power. How Wall Street insiders are using the bailout to stage a revolution

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/26793903/the_big_takeover/1

[DS1]

10. Well, bye!

[supernova]

11. Oh, just stop it!

Let's get one thing perfectly straight.

He didn't work for that noble $1/year out of the magnanimity of his heart.

He worked for that 3/4 Mil bonus.

As such, he's part of the problem and he can't even see it.

If he and others who had this same deal truly were working for the good of the company, they would have just taken the token greenback. They could have had the pleasure of framing it and putting it on the wall. Then in their declining years saying "Yep, I was one the handful that saved AIG."

But no.

He's got to be part of the problem by wanting his bonus, because it was promised, and NOT CARING that there was NO MONEY with which to enter into such a contract in the first place. No one should be looking to the taxpayers to provide with the company could not.

[nichomachus]

12. Is anyone worth $350 an hour?

How much did he make in the years leading up to this one? Will he have to sell the house in the Hamptons? How about the yacht?

[AndyTiedye]

17. Someone Who Would Have Stopped AIG From Issuing those Swaps Would Have Been Worth More than $350/hr

Unfortunately, they didn't have anyone in that part of the company who actually understood that the were writing insurance and might have to pay out.

[acmavm]

13. Might as well combine this one with the rest...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3799595

[mathpol]

16. Quitting AIG

I wrote about this in a post this morning.

We Should Have A “Which” Hunt Instead of A Witch-Hunt

[crimsonblue]

19. Everyone that has posted above thread on this are pathetic...

You're all seething with blind rage over AIG, and you refuse to accept any recollection of events that contradict your own. You're acting exactly like Republicans by your venemous, irrational hatred. It is absolutely inaccurate to say that every person working for or associated with AIG is a vile, evil, greedy baby rapist. The guy worked hard to reach the top of his profession and he deserved to be well compensated for it, but he chose to take a 41 salary with the promise of a future retention payment. He took the $1 to help his company, and he deserves to receive the amount of his normal salary. The guy was in Executive management, and he deserved to make 6 figures a year.

How about you all get the heck over yourselves?

[FiveGoodMen]

20. "he deserved to make 6 figures a year"

How do you arrive at that?

[Fire1]

22. Good question. I guess he is 'deserving' due to the ole

'pulled himself up by the bootstrap' republican meme and graduated from MIT. Strange though, lately I've been seeing alot of financial wizards turn 'whistle blower,' who were well aware of the unscrupulous dealings of these institutions and refused to be a part of it.

Sorry, I'm not falling for it.:nopity:

[bitchkitty]

21. Nah, get a rope!

Get with the program here - we're in angry mob mode! :sarcasm:

Or maybe not so sarcastic. The more people lose, the angrier they'll get.

I say, if he talks, and names names, let him stay out of prison. And get an accounting of those charitable contributions.