Sunday, March 15, 2009

A.I.G. "Retention" Bonuses

“We cannot attract and retain the best and the brightest talent to lead and staff the A.I.G. businesses — which are now being operated principally on behalf of American taxpayers — if employees believe their compensation is subject to continued and arbitrary adjustment by the U.S. Treasury,” [Edward M. Liddy, the government-appointed chairman of A.I.G.] wrote Mr. Geithner on Saturday." - NY Times, 3/15/2009
I'm getting sick and tired of this argument on the behalf of bailed-out company heads. It's ridiculous. Are any of these executives, in this current economic climate, really going to quit if they don't get their bonuses? And if they do, are we expected to believe that, in a country with a workforce of 150 MILLION people and nearly 8% unemployment, there aren't people who are more than qualified take the place of any of these so-called "best and brightest" and perform as well, if not better, at a more reasonable salary. How "best and brightest" can they be considering they failed.

And yes, AIG execs, your company FAILED. You essentially went bankrupt. The taxpayers are not required to honor ANY pre-existing employee bonus contract, because without the bailout, there'd not only be no bonus, there'd be no job, period. So shut the fuck up AIG executives, and just be happy you're employed.

On a related note, why the hell appoint an A.I.G. Chairman who is going to try to defend, in ANY way, this sort of use of taxpayer funds? I want to see Ebenezer-fucking-Scrooge, CEO on a nameplate made of duct tape; those executive offices should be heated with a single lump of coal and any executive who wants to leave had best hurry up and do it and decrease the excess incompetent employee population.

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