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Dear Mr. Liddy: I quit
American International Group offices in New York City.
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TEXT OF STORY
Bob Moon: Today's New York Times carries a bitter letter of resignation from one of those AIG executives who'd been taking heat for taking big bonuses.
Jake DeSantis is a VP of the company's financial products unit, and he complains that he and most of his division were in no way responsible for the transactions that brought the company down. In fact, he points out he's spent long hours away from his family, agreed to an annual salary of $1, and has worked hard to dismantle the company, which he says is crucial to repaying the American taxpayer.
He also argues that neither he nor his colleagues should be cheated out of agreed-to payments -- in his words -- "any more than a plumber should be cheated after he has fixed the pipes, but a careless electrician causes a fire that burns down the house."
Still, he says he plans to give any bonus money he receives to organizations helping those suffering from the economic downturn.
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Most of what i read down this comment line is skewed, off base commentary on a topic the commenter's don't understand. Remember the term "contempt prior to investigation."? well in this case there is no investigation trough the lenses of the main stream American media. My advice, Keep your feet on the ground and realize that comments without traction or basis may position us to sacrifice inaliable rights without knowing or realizing it. all over some bonus that has nothing to do with anything! (So what $180m, that is chicken feed, look at some of the congressional pork and get fired up about that.) If we held our elected officials as accountable as we do bi standards of the media America would be on track to prosperity.
I hope that some day I will be making a $742,000 bonus. Gosh, I would be happy with $350,000 bonus. But I hope that I will do it the right way, for an honest company that doesn't lie, cheat and cover up its disgusting way of conducting business.
Why do these board of directors get a free pass when it comes to their decisions, especially the compensation committees? These companies need new blood infused into the upper levels of leadership. Change the leadership and change the way they do business.
I think that it is a bit of hubris to claim that he individually earned his company $100 million a year. Perhaps he was responsible for a team of people to earn such amounts of money but ridiculous to think he did it alone. Just as his company lost all this money as a team.
Talk about mixed messages....
I think Mr. DeSantis appears to be a logical thinking and caring person given the fact he is planning to donate all of his bonus to charity. Good for him. But he CLEARLY doesn't get it.
When a team loses, a bench-warmer doesn't move on in the tournament simply because he had no part in the loss. How absurd to think that somehow current employees shouldn't be held responsible for what previous employees did. And in Mr. DeSantis case - he is both: previous AND current.
Come back down to the planet Mr. DeSantis. You see, here on Earth, it really doesn't matter what you did 11 years ago, but it's what have you done lately. And right now your former company is taking my (taxpayer's) money, very unlikely to pay me back, and gave you a bonus equal to 10 years of my annual salary, and effectively killed off businesses that paid me for my services to boot.
Sorry, but I really don't care if you are personally responsible. Using your logic, I could also say you didn't stop it either. You even labeled AIG "dysfunctional", something that didn't happen overnight. That tells me you buried your head in the sand and did nothing about it. So, yes as an AIG employee you are responsible for its demise.
Good luck to you, Mr. DeSantis.
Ninety-five percent of the comments miss the point: if someone has created a 100 million dollar profit for AIG, they are entitled to significant compensation. After all, his take from the 100 million dollars is less than .8 of 1 percent of the revenue he earned for AIG. Although the compensation may be more than what many Americans have ever earned, I can guarantee that almost all Americans have not generated $100 million in profits for their employer. Comparing a job anywhere else in the country to that of this individual is misplaced.
For those comments stating that he should not receive a bonus when the entire ship is going down, I ask you, how will AIG retain individuals who can pull it out of the whole it is in? Answer: AIG will lose their best and brightest employees. These so called “undeserving overpaid†executives will receive market compensation somewhere else. In essence, the American taxpayers now own a house that is on fire, while they are simultaneously prohibiting the firefighters from getting to the fire. That is just plain wrong. Welcome, my fellow citizens, to the twenty-first centuries’ witch hunt.
Mr. DeSantis conveniently blurs the distinction between a bonus paid for last year's catastrophe of ignorant risk-taking and the work he is doing this year to untangle the remaining assets of his organization. Jay Leno said it best: a bonus for fixing AIG is appropriate - but after the job is done, not before.
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