And, perhaps the time has come for all of us to stage a walk-out! We learned today that the UN-American International Group, which has survived on the dollars generated from the work you and I do by way of our tax dollars, is paying out millions of dollars in bonuses to those who are “too bright” to let go.
The American International Group, which has received more than $170 billion in taxpayer bailout money from the Treasury and Federal Reserve, plans to pay about $165 million in bonuses by Sunday to executives in the same business unit that brought the company to the brink of collapse last year.
What is going on? This is not the first round of bonuses.
The payments to A.I.G.’s financial products unit are in addition to $121 million in previously scheduled bonuses for the company’s senior executives and 6,400 employees across the sprawling corporation. Mr. Geithner last week pressured A.I.G. to cut the $9.6 million going to the top 50 executives in half and tie the rest to performance.
We have all heard that AIG is too big to fail, that a failure would create a systemic risk to the financial world. Now, we are providing bonuses to those at the heart of the present financial crisis and being told that we cannot afford to let these bright employees go.
Go where? There is nowhere to go! The ” holding onto those brilliant minds” concept is nothing short of B.S. First of all, those receiving the bonuses are the very ones that are at the heart of the crisis, the directing hand of its creation. Secondly, the entire world is in global recession. There is nowhere for these geniuses to go. And, should they find employment elsewhere, let’s help them pack.
We have learned that Wall Street does not work for the good of America. It works for the good of Wall Street. Period! Americans have an 80% stake in AIG and apparently no power to change anything.
The American government made a strategic mistake in dealing with the Wall Street powers. Early on in the financial crisis, certain entities were told that they were too big to fail. With that as a backstop to taxpayer dollars being funneled into the black hole, AIG along with the “big banks” have no incentive to change their ways. They know that they can get away with anything and everything… and they are. And, yes, you and I are footing the bill. Like it or not, American citizens are indirect employees of AIG, with no benefits. After all, we are the ones generating the funds that keep AIG afloat.
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