Posted by
Catmman on Wednesday, March 25, 2009 10:18:21 AM
They were castigated by the very public officials and current corporate executives they agreed to help bring the company out of the crapper. Those same public officials, like Barney Frank, indeed encouraged the outcry and fanned the flames of public anger and negative sentiment. All of this was done contrary to law and morality. What is really sickening is the fact that some of those who were effigized as greedy ne'er do wells were working for the company out a sense of duty to the company and the public officials (Congress) who bailed out the company.
Altruism (from Latin: alter: the other) is the
deliberate pursuit of the interests or
welfare of others or the public interest. How was this altruism repaid?
After 12 months of hard work dismantling the company — during which A.I.G. reassured us many times we would be rewarded in March 2009 — we in the financial products unit have been betrayed by A.I.G. and are being unfairly persecuted by elected officials. In response to this, I will now leave the company and donate my entire post-tax retention payment to those suffering from the global economic downturn. My intent is to keep none of the money myself.
I take this action after 11 years of dedicated, honorable service to A.I.G. I can no longer effectively perform my duties in this dysfunctional environment, nor am I being paid to do so. Like you, I was asked to work for an annual salary of $1, and I agreed out of a sense of duty to the company and to the public officials who have come to its aid. Having now been let down by both, I can no longer justify spending 10, 12, 14 hours a day away from my family for the benefit of those who have let me down.
Mr. DeSantis is leaving the company after the current leader Edward Liddy and certain Congressman (mostly Democrats, but aided by Republicans) have stabbed him in the back and made him and others the object of populist anger. This was done to deflect the fact those same Congressman were responsible for the "bonuses" to begin with and were caught with their pants down. This whole episode would reveal that Congress has in fact NOT monitored either the legislation for these bonuses or the doling out of the money itself. To deflect criticism someone was needed to act as a "distraction" and these AIG officials, Mr. DeSantis among them were convenient scapegoats.
The true anger should be placed squarely at the feet of Congress, the Administration (primarily Timothy Geithner) and ultimately Barack Obama for allowing the whole mess. A debate could be had about whether the bonuses were in "poor taste" or not. But that should be a separate issue. The fact is, AIG officials (some of them) have been working for the better part of a year with no pay, to fix the companies problems - and were summarily sacrificed upon the alter of public opinion for no better reason than to cover for the mistakes of Washington politicians.
Mr. DeSantis and others have learned a valuable lesson - the wages of altruism (at least when it comes to dealing with Washington) is, quite simply, betrayal.