Wednesday, March 25, 2009
A.I.G. for President
Blicero was right in proposing this candidacy in the comment thread below. It never fails -- the object of derision is better than the deriders.
These include the Democrats, like Andrew Cuomo and Richard Blumenthal and others who've lived off the Goldman trough. And it does include Goldman, which took out insurance from A.I.G. that it knew A.I.G. could not cover.
Today in the Times an A.I.G. financial products guy resigned in a published letter to Edward Liddy:
The letter is worth reading.
These include the Democrats, like Andrew Cuomo and Richard Blumenthal and others who've lived off the Goldman trough. And it does include Goldman, which took out insurance from A.I.G. that it knew A.I.G. could not cover.
Today in the Times an A.I.G. financial products guy resigned in a published letter to Edward Liddy:
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...
The profitability of the businesses with which I was associated clearly supported my compensation. I never received any pay resulting from the credit default swaps that are now losing so much money. I did, however, like many others here, lose a significant portion of my life savings in the form of deferred compensation invested in the capital of A.I.G.-F.P. because of those losses...
The letter is worth reading.