Mar 18 2009
Tilting at windmills
Are you as tired as I am of hearing about the bonuses paid some of the executives and employees of AIG Financial Services? Granted, we should be upset that these folks, who failed at their jobs and drove their company into the ground, are paid million dollar and higher “bonuses.” Bonuses? For what? Failure? Why are we rewarding failure, especially in this economy?
Especially in this economy. That’s another phrase that I’m growing weary of hearing. It is almost getting to the point where I automatically tune out whenever a newscaster (or whoever) begins a sentence with “in this economy.” Not that we shouldn’t be concerned about the mess the Republicans left us, but is talking about it all the time really going to make it better?
Back on track… Everybody is up in arms over $165 million paid to the bozos who work (or used to work) at AIG. In this day and age, in this economy, when we talk daily about amounts in the billions and trillions of dollars, $165 million hardly seems like a drop in the bucket. I mean, come on, we’re paying $2 billion per week on George W. Bush’s war in Iraq. That’s more than 12 times $165 million. Where’s the anger about that?
Still, though, we shouldn’t be paying multi-million dollar bonuses to employees of a failed company that had to be bailed out by the American taxpayer. Those bonuses did not come from company profits; they came right of our pockets… yours and mine. We should be angry about it. We have every right to be.
But, if you stop and think for a moment, there is so much more we have to be angry about, so many other problems that need our attention. People in our country and around the world are losing their jobs, their homes, their families, their self-respect, their very lives. Perhaps we need to learn to ration our anger.
Just saying.
UPDATE: Now Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are paying huge “retention bonuses.” Both firms have been forced to accept aid from the federal government. Why are these companies so determined to retain failed employees? Wouldn’t this money be better spent on hiring somebody who can actually, you know, do the job?
16 Responses to “Tilting at windmills”
Hello..I am so not into politics…although this election was my very first that managed to peek my interest.
Why…because of the state of the American People and the Canadian People and every other country on this planet.
This is not going to go away because everyone rants and raves about one issue. You are so correct. Frankly I could care a less who wears what in the White House or who relocated their hairdresser to Washington. I do not even care who actually is being the label President…what I care about is what is going to happen to the people. Politicians do not care about the people anymore…all they care about are the next votes for the next election. They have quietly planted distractions which seem to be working on the people so that the real issues are being ignored. It is a very sad state of affairs. Even sadder than the dire straits that the economy is in.
Oops…now I have ranted.
We all need to pull together as one to be able to overcome this mess that we are ALL in!
~D~
From a “Libertarian” standpoint though… These were “contractual obligations” that were made before the “bail-out”, and contract law should not be degraded, it protects the working man and woman… If it were your boss reneging on a contract, you would be whizzed.
I say let the “bonuses” stand, fulfill the contractual agreement, and learn from this experience!
What could have saved us from this garbage in the first place was NOT to bail out ANYONE in the first place! These companies went into these bonuses BEFORE the bailout, knowing they were insolvent, ergo they were plotting for a “bail-out”… I smell pre-meditated corruption there!
Both houses of Congress wanted this bail out so bad, now it is time to live with that decision…
Whether they learn from this or not is yet another story.
And “Blaming Bush’ for this one is straw man at best. It was Congress that wrote it, and voted for it, not “W”…
Dorothy, you are right now about the politicians not caring about anything but themselves. They knew about the bonuses before they even gave them the first dollar.
It is all a scam. Just look up what politicians received donations from AIG before all this ‘bailout’ crap started. Obama himself received over $100,000 from them as did his new Sec of Treasury.
We need clear house in the both the Senate and the House!
@Guy Vestal : Then I can only assume that you believe the union contracts at GM and Chrysler should be honored without modification even after the companies are bailed out with taxpayer funds?
Hey, look, we agreed on something! And… whizzed?
@Grandma Betty :
Come out and say what you mean, Grandma Betty. Did President Obama solicit campaign funds from AIG with the promise that his administration would “bail them out?” Is that what you believe?
Shall we go back and have a look at some of the large corporations (and corporate executives) that made rather hefty contributions to George W. Bush’s campaigns and the benefits they received from doing so? Are you sure you want to go down that road?
I could not agree more. Those Republicans gotta go!
I think it’s catharsis for America’s collective economic anxiety. It’s also a story that the media doesn’t have to do mental heavy lifting on (They can ask questions like, “Is rewarding bad guys good?” “Do you agree with it?” “How mad does it make you?”). So it’s a story that is kind of, just, lingering.
Hmmm…well except for the fact that it is an easy News Heading or a good conversation piece….I doubt very much that we the people will be able to do anything more than converse about all the why’s of Economic crash or Politics itself. Other than try and protect our own little corners.
All I see is Greed & Power for certain people and it has nothing to do with how it affects us as long as we are still working to pay off their debt.
I also think that this economy was headed for disaster far ahead of this election and the mortgage issues.
Who knows what else they have been doing with our money and our world and just have not been caught?
I have always wondered exactly how these Presidents spend more money than they have on their campaigns and who is backing them….more so what favors are they committed to repay and on who’s dollars or whose land.
These thoughts are coming from a very non-political person but a person with rights nevertheless.
It is even worse when the silent majority as so many call us non-voters are stepping up to say something.
~D~
Hey Len! Mark this day! You are not going to believe this, but I AGREE WITH THIS POST 100%! Why are we bailing out failing companies? And why did our government put the loophole in the bailout bill to allow outrageous bonuses? I even agree that the republicans left a mess, and I, too, am sick of hearing about our economical problems as a country.
Every once in a while he hit those rare moments when we can both agree on something. This is one of them. (Well, except the whole Bush and Iraq war thing you so neatly tucked in there)
Good post. I have been reflecting on much of this myself these days, especially the part where you are sick of hearing about “because the economy.”
I agree that the bonuses for AIG execs is bad timing and should be scrutinized, but this is a slippery slope and we’re treading into dangerous territory. A previous commenter mentioned the trouble with not honoring contracts, which is very true.
Bonus structures, golden parachutes, fringe benefits…these are all little perks that have been rampantly running out of control in corporate America for years. It’s easy for us to blame AIG because now we have a entity to gather around with our pitchforks, but punishing the AIG execs is not going to solve the bigger problem. We’ve had a LONG epidemic of the rich getting richer, and it’s been largely at the expense of the average middle class.
A story broke just yesterday about my own company paying out millions in bonuses, even though earnings last quarter were abysmal. My company has taken no government bailout, but there has been some layoffs and consolidation. They made sure to point out exactly how much our bigwigs earn in base, how much they got in bonuses, and many other little fringe benefits they are getting. Yeah that sucks and makes me angry. But what about the rest of the people in that bonus pool? These are the middle level and site managers who really did earn those bonuses. Despite bad economic conditions, they managed to exceed expectations.
So now bonus is a bad word for anyone who gets them? Should the person earning a modest salary of $60,000 per year give back a $2500 bonus simply because no one should get a bonus when the economy is in the tank? We’re looking for ways to stimulate these same people to infuse cash back into the system, but when they are handed a check and its called a bonus, then we should stamp our feet and call foul?
To me, it’s starting to be symptomatic of a growing trend that seems to punish the people who’ve been working hard and playing straight all along. What about the millions who took the time to research their mortgage options and chose not to take that shady deal? Or the ones that have scrimped and saved decent down payments to try to ensure they had equity, but now see their home values tanking because of all the foreclosures around them? Should we punish the man who knew times were tough, worked late nights and weekends and missed time with his wife and kids, just to try to get that bonus so his family could breath a little easier?
Where does it end? I hear a lot of clamoring about saving and supporting the millions who are losing their jobs and homes, and I truly grieve for them…especially the ones who were trying to live honestly and are an unfortunate victim to a lot of other people’s mistakes. However, to demand equality among all…to say if we can’t give everyone something, then no one should get something…frightens me a little. It starts to sound very familiar…I think I hear Karl Marx knocking.
I hope and pray that we question the fundamental issues here. Let’s not get too obsessed with what happened with AIG, and let’s not punish everyone. These bonuses are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the slimy deals that company has been making…and it’s not just them. Let’s take advantage of the massive amounts of attention and funnel all that anger and clamoring into getting some REAL changes made in how big companies do business.
You are right Len, I just wanted to clarify something. The auto companies didn’t get a bailout with tax payer funds. They got government loans that have to be paid back, and the union contracts should be honored because they are not bonuses, they are what the workers earn for their hard work to pay the bills and feed their families.
@Len :
Yes, a contract is a contract. If an employer and an employee enter into an agreement, they both need to uphold their end of it. If folks are going to complain about it, they should have never given the bail-out in the first place.
I don’t think it is fair to pick and choose which “contracts” should be honored, and which should not, that just ruins the validity of such an agreement. As long as both parties have not breached the contract, then I will be the first to demand that it stand!
Give those AIG bonuses out! They may not have earned it, but they have a legal right to them. Maybe we will be more careful in the future when we just throw $’s at companies that should be allowed to collapse if they have made bad business decisions…
I have a question for those that support the bail-out tho…
What did the companies learn from this bail-out experience besides… “Who cares what we do, Uncle Sam will bail us out anyways, so lets celebrate AIG STYLE! WooHoo!”
This is just a smoke screen. I want to know where the rest of the 180 billion dollars went.
Meanwhile, it’s been estimated that the ur-RAHOWA in Iraq (of which today is the six-year anniversary) has cost the Good Taxpayers of the United States some $800 billion–a little more than the estimated $787 billion value of President Obama’s Economic-Stimulus Package, as it turns out.
And, come to think of it, worth reminding people is that donations are actually accepted by the Bureau of the Public Debt, United States Treasury, towards reducing The National Debt held by the public. Which can be sent by cheque or postal order (payable to “Bureau of the Public Debt,” with the notation “Gift to reduce debt held by the public”) to:
They can also be included with your Federal income tax return on Form 1040, 1040A, 1040EZ, 1040NR, 1040ES and 1040X.
(As a matter of fact, I plan to donate part of the online shopping proceeds off my weblog to reducing the National Debt, if interested.)
@The BoBo ; @James : Y’all need to quit sneaking up on me like that. I do not need another heart attack!
Uphold the contracts? With who, the criminally negligent imbeciles that lost millions of peoples money??? I don’t think so. Only the imbecilic cretins on wall street didn’t see the impending financial iceberg, they were to caught up in playing the high rolling Las Vegas gambler in a fancy suit on wall St.
We don’t bail out Las Vegas losers, why do we bail out Wall St. losers???? Oh that’s right because they make donations to loser politicians on the take.
One step in the right direction would be for the Government to make 1 or 2% long term loans available to all companies manufacturing in the USA, small and big. The industrial sector has to be stabilized. This will in turn, stop the increasing job losses, then consumption will resume after everyone isn’t scared to death of losing their jobs, house, car etc.
It’s going to take time, but the clock hasn’t started ticking yet because nothing bush nor obama did or is doing will do a single thing, but fill the fatcats pockets with some more of the taxpayers money.
We as the people get a choice between the clowns and the criminals.
The criminals were in last, now we have the clowns, we just don’t know what kind yet, are they funny ha ha kind or Spawn evil clown types.