All this AIG talk is really starting to disgust me for many reasons as it reeks of misdirected frustration. I’m going to be very clear in my stance. AIG never should have been put in a position where there were allowed to issue bonuses the very second they received government assistance, or rather taxpayers assistance.
The blame here is on the government agents that wrote the contract that failed to include these clauses that would prevent this type of misappropriations of bailout money in the first place. All this talk about AIG employees receiving death threats is first of all disturbing on many levels, and nothing more than frustrated tax payers not thinking these events through and blaming the obvious culprit. AIG is only human and after reexamining this situation, I believe you and I probably would have done the exact same thing if we were in their shoes. However, since we are not in their shoes it’s extremely easy for us to judge. It’s high time people start looking behind the curtain and seeing whose really responsible for allowing such events to transpire.
March 20th, 2009 at 7:15 am
To me this is just one big smoke screen to cover the real news which is the fed turning on the printing press buying treasuries and other assets to prime the pump. The government was well aware of this retention plan and the outcry which would take place. If they were not aware, then thats even scarier because how can you own 80% of a company and not know what you are paying your employees?
I just do not understand how the media talk about $165mm in bonuses ALL DAY when the government is wasting trillions of dollars to prop up a credit based economy full of individuals and businesses who are broke?
March 20th, 2009 at 8:04 am
Agreed. And I had to laugh when the government said they would take the bonus money out of the next bailout (handout). What kind of penalty is that?…. This is exactly the perspective everybody should have about what is going on in the circus (media) today.
March 20th, 2009 at 10:00 am
I agree as well – why is no one concerned about the fact that the FDIC says it need $500b because it didn't collect premiums from 1996 till 2006? Just fucking insane – where the hell was the oversight, and how can I get an insurance policy like that?
March 20th, 2009 at 11:38 am
Excellent article on Bloomberg by Michael Lewis entitled "Mass Hysteria Over AIG Obscures Simple Truths". Speaks to similar issues that you and others are beginning to raise.
» http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&a...
I have stayed out of the whole AIG panty twisting on Twitter and in real life. The anger seemed out of control when it began and it all of it seemed like "hindsight bias" to me.
Good luck and good trading.
~Shepard
=^.^=
March 20th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
We have a saying in Romanian that can be translated along the lines of:
'The idiot is not the guy who is asking, but rather the guy who is giving.'
March 20th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
I was initially mad that they had the gull to issue such insanely large bonues on the tax payers dime. But after I stepped back and thought about it, it's like leaving two 5yr olds in a room with a cookie jar and expecting them not eat all the cookies. What did they expect to happen, they (aig) can't help themselves. The real solution is to never put AIG mgmt in a position where it could do such a thing by capping bonuses or removing them completely as long as they're receiving gov't assistence. I'm sure many companies cut bonuses this year due to the financial mess or didn't give any out completely. thx for the article, I'll read it over coffee later! Take care keith
March 20th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
I'm telling you, heck with the policy, I want one of those printing presses from the Fed. If you're going to think, think BIG.
March 20th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
"responsible for allowing such events to transpire."
Bluntly, shit happens and will always happen from time to time, regardless of the regulations you put in place to prevent. "Allowing" sounds totalitarian to me which is a greater evil than financial market meltdowns.
March 20th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
I don't agree with " … AIG is only human and after reexamining this situation, I believe you and I probably would have done the exact same thing if we were in their shoes …".
I believe that a lot of people would not be in their shoes. I believe that a lot of people would not have done the exact same thing.
Let's don't use the word "human" when referring to the corrupted and shameless people.
March 20th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
The very second a company receives taxpayer money there should be a set of conditions that should be established or else they should get nothing. Bailouts are a priviledge, not a right, and certainly not something that reckless companies should expect, which is exactly the mentality of corporate America. This type of behavior is spilling over into the private sector now with mortgage bailouts. What's next, school loans bailouts. Credit card bailouts. Whatever happened to taking responsibility for your actions? A line has to be drawn somewhere.
March 20th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
Jon, maybe you should be running AIG then as you obviously have above average morals. I just think that employees who have a bonus coming to them will do everything they can to ensure they get it. That's money they feel they are "entitled" to, and in most cases everybody is out for themselves. It's human nature, simply. That's all I was stating. Nobody deserves death threats or to have they're safety in jeopardy over this. The government should have taken the necessary steps to avoid this situation by limiting bonuses once they came to their aid.
March 21st, 2009 at 9:08 am
Why did we bail out AIG again???
Should have let the sucker go under and we would not have this problem at all. They bet the firm and circumvented the braindead regulators. They and their counterparties should have suffered the consequences for their actions. No? Too big to fail? Why are the insurance regulators not taking any heat? Too much blame to go around here. Like the folks at the SEC happily collecting their paychecks and having lunch with Bernie Madoff…
Makes me ill.