With each passing day of this recession, I find myself increasingly annoyed by these bankers and money men of Wall Street who basically ruined the economy for the rest of us. The latest outrage of course is
A.I.G. trying to pay out $165 million in bonuses to its executives.
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. [...]
The payment of so much money at a company at the heart of the financial collapse that sent the broader economy into a tailspin almost certainly will fuel a popular backlash against the government’s efforts to prop up Wall Street. Past bonuses already have prompted President Obama and Congress to impose tough rules on corporate executive compensation at firms bailed out with taxpayer money.
A.I.G., nearly 80 percent of which is now owned by the government, defended its bonuses, arguing that they were promised last year before the crisis and cannot be legally canceled. In a letter to Mr. Geithner, Edward M. Liddy, the government-appointed chairman of A.I.G., said at least some bonuses were needed to keep the most skilled executives.
“We cannot attract and retain the best and the brightest talent to lead and staff the A.I.G. businesses — which are now being operated principally on behalf of American taxpayers — if employees believe their compensation is subject to continued and arbitrary adjustment by the U.S. Treasury,” he wrote Mr. Geithner on Saturday.
It's just infuriating that a company who recklessly bet the house on housing mortgages and failed could even consider rewarding its executives with bonuses.
I think it's also quite remarkable how the mistakes of this sector has such massive ramifications on all of us. I mean, a lot of us did nothing to deserve this, yet somehow, I find my salary being frozen because businesses are in cost-cutting mode. I see round after round of layoffs from companies all around me. I have friends struggling to get enough work in order to pay the bills. A quick look at my retirement and investment accounts will reveal something synonymous to a large impact crater. I looked at my savings account, and interest rates have come all the way down to 1% which makes holding cash a pretty poor return on investment, even though it's one of the few safe havens left (it's practically a disincentive to save). All of this is happening to everyday people, and yet we're rewarding those who engineered this financial disaster.
And so, I salute Wall Street for creating such a glorious housing bubble, and making off with a ton of cash, and then having the balls to pat themselves on the back with bonuses after they burned down that house. Kudos.
/end rant.
