At one point in time the C.V. Staff Foundation owned those properties (in addition to many more in Manhatten). Maurice Greenberg was selected by C.V. Staff (the founder of AIG) to be head of his foundation. I can understand why Mr. Greenberg would like to divest those holdings since he personally has lost so much from this debacle.
ANY part of these bonuses, 100%, 50% or 1 %, they shouldn’t be ashamed/afraid to stand up and say so. If they do feel shame or fear, then they don’t deserve a cent.
At the same time when AIG is handing away $165 million to a few employees, they are trying to sell their two buildings in New York for what Craine’s is reporting somewhere in the $101 million to $165 million range.
AIG is selling their 70 Pine Street and their 72 Wall Street headquarters – looking for at best the same amount that they handed to a bunch of employees who sold the company down the toilet. I call that a sample of the corporate intellegence that is taught at the best business schools in America. Unfortunately, now the taxpayer owns the company.
In regards to the bonuses it is obvious that Treasury and the Fed are also culpable since they knew about it before last week. Not only were they informned months ago but this was disclosed in the filed 10K. You don’t hear too much of that being discussed though. As repehensible as the situation is there are other cohorts besides AIG that need to take a beating on this one.
Now as to the sale of the properties-what should the company do if it is being pressured to unload assets as fast as it can? We all know that market conditions are not conducive for selling assets now but do you really think the Gov’t is willing to wait any longer to liquidate after everything that has happened? They have to show the taxpayers (yes us) that they are doing something to recoup taxpayer money? If this was 2 years ago the company could have gotten twice what is being quoted now but the reality is that no one is going to pay full price in todays market and frankly no one has the cash to. Everyone is looking to keep cash on their balance sheet in case of emergencies. Therefore I don’t think it is a matter of “corporate intelligence”, it is the reality of the current market we are faced with. Does anyone really think the Gov’t can run a multinational conglomerate like AIG? They can barely get it together in their own shop.
It seems that a bonus of $100,000 will be considerably more desirable than one of $150,000! Either there are none between $100,000 and $200,000 or, this anomoly is symptomatic of AIG’s general expertise in the field of mathmatics.
I don’t understand the same politicians who voted for the bail out and extended bailout are now bellowing condemnation. They had the bill in front of them which talked about the bonuses, yet they voted for it. Did they read the bill and vote for it? Then they need shut up and take the well deserved heat the taxpayers bestow upon them. If they didn’t read the language and voted to waste our money on this ridiculous bailout then we need to remember these politicians. If they don’t have the time or don’t care to read a bill before they sign away billions of our hard earned dollars then we need to remember them at election and get some people in their that actually care about the people they represent. Let the politicians actually be accountable for their ridiculous actions.
“He said the AIGFP employees were told that if they stay and satisfactorily wind down their part of the business, they would get a bonus. He said some of the employees completed their jobs and left AIGFP, and were the given their bonus after they had left the company.”
Those retention bonuses were there to keep people from quitting midway through the process of closing the books. Once their work was completed they were eligible for those bonuses. As their services were no longer required at that point many of those moved on to the next job.
Think about it… the work most of these people are doing right now will put each and everyone of them out of a job once the AIGFP division closes down. Would you stick around on a sinking ship? Or would you seek a more long term place of employement?
They are no longer with the company because they wound down their part of the business before they left.
Looks like you read the information just like the politicians read the bailout and 10k report
The Congress had the provision that would blocked paying bonuses to AIG written into the bill. The final bill that was sent to the President for signature was written out. The Congress can only blame themselves for their own stupidity. The Congress should read the bills that they draft before getting the President’s signature. This proves that the Congress cannot run a multinational company, and they are not looking out for the taxpayers.
This is just more government BS – I can’t help but notice the Obama appointees who had tax issues weren’t even called on the carpet – They should have built it in to the bill, but I’m sure contributions made to political campaigns stopped that. If the bonuses at Fanny Mae go through, they had better be called on the carpet also. As for Liddy .. can anyone spell F-A-L-L-G-U-Y ?
Who are they kidding? Every incompetent must have a fall guy to blame; too bad Liddy agreed to be the puppet. Geithner finally admitted he knew about the loop hole. This just shows that Liddy was not lying when he said they knew about the bonuses months ago and approved them. AIG meets with the Fed/Treasury for approval of any large payouts, so there is no way they did not know. Be real with the American taxpayers; we are not idiots.
Exactly right!! Congress didn’t do their job. Dodd & his committee allowed the bonuses. Wake up people!! We HAVE to quit letting the government blame others when they are at fault!!
CNN Politics has an article which proves the bonuses were known to Treasury/Fed and disclosed in the 10K as I stated. You should read it. Frankly the excuse that they just found out about them last week now looks totally lame.
This time Liddy was telling the truth!
See Article – Analysis: Who didn’t know about AIG bonuses, and why not?
I applaud Mr. Liddy for keeping his cool in the recent hearings. He has been handed a big pile of —- and in my opinion is doing an admirable job despite the bumbling, uninformed, showboating, repulsive antics of Bawney, Chris and the whole boatload of senate members that have shown they don’t understand what it takes to keep a business running as important as AIG. I’ve never been more down about our “leadership” than I have been lately. Truly a sad state of affairs.
At one point in time the C.V. Staff Foundation owned those properties (in addition to many more in Manhatten). Maurice Greenberg was selected by C.V. Staff (the founder of AIG) to be head of his foundation. I can understand why Mr. Greenberg would like to divest those holdings since he personally has lost so much from this debacle.
ANY part of these bonuses, 100%, 50% or 1 %, they shouldn’t be ashamed/afraid to stand up and say so. If they do feel shame or fear, then they don’t deserve a cent.
At the same time when AIG is handing away $165 million to a few employees, they are trying to sell their two buildings in New York for what Craine’s is reporting somewhere in the $101 million to $165 million range.
AIG is selling their 70 Pine Street and their 72 Wall Street headquarters – looking for at best the same amount that they handed to a bunch of employees who sold the company down the toilet. I call that a sample of the corporate intellegence that is taught at the best business schools in America. Unfortunately, now the taxpayer owns the company.
In regards to the bonuses it is obvious that Treasury and the Fed are also culpable since they knew about it before last week. Not only were they informned months ago but this was disclosed in the filed 10K. You don’t hear too much of that being discussed though. As repehensible as the situation is there are other cohorts besides AIG that need to take a beating on this one.
Now as to the sale of the properties-what should the company do if it is being pressured to unload assets as fast as it can? We all know that market conditions are not conducive for selling assets now but do you really think the Gov’t is willing to wait any longer to liquidate after everything that has happened? They have to show the taxpayers (yes us) that they are doing something to recoup taxpayer money? If this was 2 years ago the company could have gotten twice what is being quoted now but the reality is that no one is going to pay full price in todays market and frankly no one has the cash to. Everyone is looking to keep cash on their balance sheet in case of emergencies. Therefore I don’t think it is a matter of “corporate intelligence”, it is the reality of the current market we are faced with. Does anyone really think the Gov’t can run a multinational conglomerate like AIG? They can barely get it together in their own shop.
I have little trust in politicians. The employees that received these bonuses have more credibility with me and I would love to hear their side.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeYscnFpEyA
It seems that a bonus of $100,000 will be considerably more desirable than one of $150,000! Either there are none between $100,000 and $200,000 or, this anomoly is symptomatic of AIG’s general expertise in the field of mathmatics.
I don’t understand the same politicians who voted for the bail out and extended bailout are now bellowing condemnation. They had the bill in front of them which talked about the bonuses, yet they voted for it. Did they read the bill and vote for it? Then they need shut up and take the well deserved heat the taxpayers bestow upon them. If they didn’t read the language and voted to waste our money on this ridiculous bailout then we need to remember these politicians. If they don’t have the time or don’t care to read a bill before they sign away billions of our hard earned dollars then we need to remember them at election and get some people in their that actually care about the people they represent. Let the politicians actually be accountable for their ridiculous actions.
How are these retention payments when 11 of them went to people who no longer work for the company? The payments didn’t work, apparently!
read the article next time.
“He said the AIGFP employees were told that if they stay and satisfactorily wind down their part of the business, they would get a bonus. He said some of the employees completed their jobs and left AIGFP, and were the given their bonus after they had left the company.”
Those retention bonuses were there to keep people from quitting midway through the process of closing the books. Once their work was completed they were eligible for those bonuses. As their services were no longer required at that point many of those moved on to the next job.
Think about it… the work most of these people are doing right now will put each and everyone of them out of a job once the AIGFP division closes down. Would you stick around on a sinking ship? Or would you seek a more long term place of employement?
They are no longer with the company because they wound down their part of the business before they left.
Looks like you read the information just like the politicians read the bailout and 10k report
The Congress had the provision that would blocked paying bonuses to AIG written into the bill. The final bill that was sent to the President for signature was written out. The Congress can only blame themselves for their own stupidity. The Congress should read the bills that they draft before getting the President’s signature. This proves that the Congress cannot run a multinational company, and they are not looking out for the taxpayers.
This is just more government BS – I can’t help but notice the Obama appointees who had tax issues weren’t even called on the carpet – They should have built it in to the bill, but I’m sure contributions made to political campaigns stopped that. If the bonuses at Fanny Mae go through, they had better be called on the carpet also. As for Liddy .. can anyone spell F-A-L-L-G-U-Y ?
Who are they kidding? Every incompetent must have a fall guy to blame; too bad Liddy agreed to be the puppet. Geithner finally admitted he knew about the loop hole. This just shows that Liddy was not lying when he said they knew about the bonuses months ago and approved them. AIG meets with the Fed/Treasury for approval of any large payouts, so there is no way they did not know. Be real with the American taxpayers; we are not idiots.
Exactly right!! Congress didn’t do their job. Dodd & his committee allowed the bonuses. Wake up people!! We HAVE to quit letting the government blame others when they are at fault!!
CNN Politics has an article which proves the bonuses were known to Treasury/Fed and disclosed in the 10K as I stated. You should read it. Frankly the excuse that they just found out about them last week now looks totally lame.
This time Liddy was telling the truth!
See Article – Analysis: Who didn’t know about AIG bonuses, and why not?
I applaud Mr. Liddy for keeping his cool in the recent hearings. He has been handed a big pile of —- and in my opinion is doing an admirable job despite the bumbling, uninformed, showboating, repulsive antics of Bawney, Chris and the whole boatload of senate members that have shown they don’t understand what it takes to keep a business running as important as AIG. I’ve never been more down about our “leadership” than I have been lately. Truly a sad state of affairs.