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AIG CEO Edward Liddy asked the employees that received the bonuses to return them. Meanwhile, the insurer's corporate security cautioned employees "to increase their overall safety and security," avoid wearing name badges and avoid wearing any AIG apparel. The memo is posted on Gawker and Dealbreaker. An AIG executive, James Haas, nicknamed "Jackpot Jimmy," was cornered Thursday by press and neighbors in his his home in Fairfield, Conn., according to The New York Times. "How do I feel?" said Haas to a New York Times reporter. "I feel horrible. This has been a complete invasion of privacy. I didn't have anything to do with those credit problems. I told Mr. Liddy I would rescind my retention contract." Other AIG employees that received bonuses, Douglas Poling and Jonathan Liebergall, were also named in media reports. One unidentified AIG employee had to relocate his family after a London tabloid printed his address, according to The Buffalo News. While there are few justifications for these bonuses, there are no justifications for threatening and menacing people. In fact, asking AIG executives to kill themselves sounds like a terroristic threat. Don't you think? One AIG unit composed of about 6,000 people, AIG Financial Products Corp., which generated the credit default swaps and other derivatives, brought down the company, but AIG alone did not ruin the economy. Most of AIG's 116,000 staff had nothing to do with derivatives trading, and their units were likely profitable operations. Do they deserve to be harassed? The real problem is that we want someone to blame. So what we have is a lot of finger-pointing all over the place, and especially in the direction of the bailed-out banks and AIG executives. It's not surprising that it has come down to the employees themselves. But, let's step back. Why on earth did AIG decide to pay these bonuses anyway? Because of a contract. Perhaps that contract could have been reworked prior to awarding these bonuses. Shouldn't Liddy and the administration have known those bonuses were coming? Actually they did. They knew in December, according to Clusterstock. Perhaps decision makers such as Liddy and the government should be shouldering more of the blame rather than the average AIG employee, who likely had nothing to do with derivative trading. - Maria Woehr Follow me on twitter: @newsgirlmw
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American International Group Inc.'s (NYSE:AIG) employees are going to have an interesting weekend. There are already reports that 463 executives along with other employees are being harassed by neighbors and members of their community to return the $165 million in bonuses awarded.
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Why this crying over AIG?
There was no similar outrage when thousands of American workers lost their life savings!
If their contracts could be torn up, then those of AIG can.......what the US needs is a progressive tax, just like any other civilized country in the West. The Swedish or Danish models--and their citizens have the highest living standards in the world--is the best.