$165 million in bonus to AIG execs?!!

Source: NPR News

What?!!  I sure hope the administration puts a stop to this madness!!  We put our OWN money in saving AIG’s butt and what do they do?!!  They give themselves bonuses for making one of the worst decisions ever?!!  (in regards to sub-prime mortgages)  I am beyond mad!!  If this keeps on going, I say pull the plug!!  What is going on with “responsible spending”?!!  😡

EDIT:

CNN Money article

Evidently it was ALREADY paid out!!  😡  And much of the bailout money went to Goldman Sachs & Merrill Lynch along with some European companies!!  WTH?!!  This is stupendous as the PEOPLE/government own 80% of the stupid company!!

Whoa!!  We paid back a German bank?!!  The bar graph on the left is from CNN Money article

3 Replies to “$165 million in bonus to AIG execs?!!”

  1. Someone may be in a better position than me to talk about this (and so feel free to correct me if I am wrong), but I think what AIG was really part of was the credit default swaps. It was not necessarily the subprime mortgages directly – but in the insuring of the sausages that investment wizards created with the mortgages. So, I can see how the Germans got some of our money (as well as I see the Brits and the French – along with other Americans).

    As for the bonuses and such. Yeah they do not feel too good, but if the employees of AIG (and these executives are employees) have a contract, then AIG should honor them. Unless of course government money came with explicit instructions on not giving out bonuses and such. Then of course, AIG may be losing some leadership (some probably had a very limited role in being part of the financial mess) and some of whom it will depend on to navigate out of the nasty situation that they face. Bonuses or no, I am sure that the share-holders will also start getting rid of ineffective leadership (if they have not already and if government has not gotten in the way). I frequently wonder how AIG would have been if Hank Greenburg (I think that is the name) was at the helm still – too bad Eliot Spitzer strong-armed him out.

    Oh, and if you are upset at the way that our tax money is being spent, I am sure you are loving the direction that our federal government is heading in that front – as in I am thinking of a number with 12 zeros behind it and it is greater than the number of days that this universe has been in existence.

  2. TARP I, TARP II, stimulus I, stimulus II (now being discussed) and not to mention the huge spending bill that is making its way through DC.

    BTW, here is an interesting article – it seems that AIG did have some direct involvement in the mortgage mess:

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123725551430050865.html

    Again the bonuses are just a distraction – the real outrage is how AIG is being used to funnel money to other institutions by the government. The real anger should be about this money laundering operation

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