AssHat of the Week: AIG
AIG is at it again. I immediately thought of the AssHat award when I read about their latest attempt to give out millions of dollars in bonuses to dozens of top level corporate executives. This time they are being slick: they’re ASKING the federal government to bless $2.4 million dollars in bonuses so they can shield themselves from public fury.
Saying ‘pretty please’ to the government is going to quiet the public? I don’t think so.
AIG does not even have to ask for government backup if they decide to give out the bonuses. Obama’s federal bailout watchdog, Kenneth Feinberg, doesn’t have a say about AIG’s current stab at giving out these preposterously large bonuses to executives who are already making more in a day than many people see in a year. Because these bonuses derive from bonuses that were supposed to be given out in 2008, Feinberg doesn’t need to approve them. Here we go again….
So, AIG is trying a different angle this time in an attempt to squash the fury. They figure government approval will let them off the hook with the general public–or at least soften the blow. Problem is, Feinberg doesn’t have to give them the go-ahead or any type of blessing. Essentially AIG is just trying to make themselves look good by asking even though they know that they don’t need the go-ahead from anyone.
Most citizens are happy to have a paycheck these days. Nevermind a bonus. I’m fairly sure most people who are fortunate enough to be employed right now are not concerned with their yearly bonus—and they’d even give up the free holiday turkey to keep their job.
Asking the government to shield AIG by giving the green light is just plain bull cocky. Giving out gargantuan bonuses to those who already make super-sized salaries is ugly with or without a government blessing.
AIG, you’re my pick for the AssHat of the week. It just fits you so perfectly.
Read more of my opinionated self: Providence Social Media Examiner
Appreciate you sharing, great blog article.Really thank you! Really Cool.
Hart has a good point. There was a time when huge companies were forced to split apart when they got so big they stifled competition and threatened the economy, My thinking is that those millions in bonuses will be recycled, in part, into campaign coffers for all the people who provide that wink and a nod -”Gee, nothing we could do….”
I also find it hard to believe that the people getting the bonuses are so smart and so unique that these companies have to retain them. Surely, there are people who went through the same schools and have the same amount of smarts that will do it for the salary sans the bonus.
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I think you’re judging them MUCH too kindly.
“Too big to be permitted to fail” is too big. We broke up Ma Bell because it was too big, and she was misbehaving. We broke up Standard Oil because it was too big and was misbehaving. We need to break up AIG because it’s too big and was misbehaving.
And not just AIG, either. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and there were seven banks that they called in and forced to take TARP funds at the beginning of that mess.
Any company that is so big that we have to come to their rescue because they cannot be permitted to fail must be broken up into smaller pieces so that in the future, eleven pieces survive and one piece can be allowed to fail.
FDIC hasn’t been helping these things out at all. Citibank and Wells Fargo (and I’m sure I’ve forgotten others) have been forced to swallow up Wachovia, and Merrill Lynch, becoming even larger.
We need to have a rule that no merger or acquisition shall be allowed if the resulting company represents 0.5% of the GDP (and you can pick another number, bigger or smaller; I pulled that one out from where the sun don’t shine). Ain’t no reason GM has to make engines and transmissions and radios; they can buy those components from smaller companies.
Same goes for any other enterprise. Did you know that small banks are more profitable than medium-size banks, and those are more profitable than big banks? Getting bigger is NOT in the stockholders’ interest – but it is in the interest of the company president, who gets paid a lot more if he’s running a $40 billion company than a $250 million company.
I’m sorry for going on such a rant, Cheryl, but you pressed a hot button for me.
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But weren’t they working for $1 a year… the bonus is their only true compensation. Maybe that was just the car companies, but i think it was AIG too. And if it was, how many are getting the bonus spread?
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Well, at least they made your job of picking the winner this week easy!
Some companies are just operating so amorally it is amazing.