Simply changing a name doesn’t change a culture of half-truths and lies. AIG or any other name you choose, is still going to have the same people who have the same history that resulted in record fine after record fine for illegal acts from one coast of this country to the next.
I want to know when regulators are going to put the “trustworthy” test to these people and yank their authority to do business.
Oh… A-I-U’s executives got bonuses… that’s okay then. As long as it wasn’t that awful AIG.
A-I-U; that’s like a college or something, right?
Boy, I sure and glad there’s great well-run companies around like A-I-U. Inept management like that at AIG and the idiot government we have who are so over their heads are going to bankrupt this country and bring around crazy hyper-inflation but companies like A-I-U will save us from all that.
AIG underwriters are among the best in the business….in a down economy they are sought after. The insurance operations are well capitalized and able to take on risks that other companies are unable to take on.
This riducle at AIG’s insurance operations comes from competitors who have been unable to steal AIG business even in the midst of all the negative publicity that has surrounded the company.
Competitors should grow up…the company is well capitalized with $26 billion in surplus and other companies (Swiss Re, CNA, Hartford, XL, etc) have been hit badly but none of this is picked up or discussed by the business press as much as AIG.
“Best in the Business”? yeah, they are the best in the business for example keeping assessments and reporting them as general liability premiums, the best in the business in rigging bids and paying kickbacks, and the best in the business in being fined from state to state.
Why doesn’t anyone admit this began in the mid to late 90’s and came to light under old greenthumb. And Teflon Warren must have been awful close to that skunk. AIG is a trust and should be broken up just like the phone systems were. not bailed out.
You still didn’t doubt the ingenuity of AIG underwriters in finding solutions to clients problems…that is why they are so in demand among: other carriers, reinsurers, retailers, wholesalers and other insurance organizations.
The loudest voices (see first few comments) are always the least informed.
Let someone spell it out for all of you that haven’t been paying attention. AIG is not an insurance company. AIG is a holding company that, among other things, owns a number of insurance companies.
The insurance subsidiaries (Nat Union, Lex, American Home, etc) have been COMPLETELY fine this entire time, but their parent’s name has been dragged through the mud due to the dealings of the Financial Products division.
I’m sure some of you have a crazy brother/sister/cousin/uncle that gets in trouble. Does that make you a misfit too? Of course not.
I’m sick of all this garbage that ill-informed people are spouting. AIU is a way for the ‘good’ side of the family to distance itself from the bad side since most of you sheeple simply don’t get it.
Jeez is right! I’m ashamed of Darwin, matt, Anon, etc. You’d think people reading an insurance publication would be a little better informed about the difference between the regulated insurance companies (who are o.k.) and AIG Financial Products – whose execs should be in jail.
Sorry…I just typed in my thought before reading your comment. You know what they say about great minds….NO REALLY, do you know what they say about great minds???
AIG is the least of our problems! This new adminstration has take away more wealth in a shorter period than any other period of time in this great country’s history.
>>>I’m sick of all this garbage that ill-informed people are spouting. AIU is a way for the ‘good’ side of the family to distance itself from the bad side since most of you sheeple simply don’t get it. >>>
Hi Jeez, question — did AIU share in the fictious profits when the financial side was raking it it? If so, live by the sword, die by the sword.
what’s this garbage about AIU stealing from shareholders? If you know who the controlling shareholders are/will be (at least for the short-term), you would not post such stupid comments! ILL INFORMED!
You must love to hear yourself speak and see yourself posted.
As another AIU underwriter, thanks Snoopster and Jeez. We are hanging in there and going to remain strong. We are really OVER all this DRAMA! Life still goes on and we still have much business to attend.
AIG to AIU? It sounds almost the same. What are they trying to accomplish here? If you want to change your name, identity, appearance, whatever…Make it unrecognizable. Accenture used to be Arthur Anderson…now they are a totally different company. This is too bad, the insurance entity of AIG did nothing wrong but, to protect your people do a better job. The good people in the former AIG insurance company don’t deserve this.
David- agreed. For now, AIU is just the holding company.
I think of all us know (pray) that there will not be an A, an I, in the brand name of the insurance companies.
I too remember the old Arthur Anderson days and now no one remembers them- it’s Accenture. Those of us at AIU want the distance and the new brand more than anything…the fatigue of AIG on the insurances is beyond tired.
Darwin, you do sound small and bitter. Obsiouly whatever insurance company you work for is not doing as well and the jealousy is shining through.
I have worked with the people at the Insurance Division, and their CS people are friendly, responsive, and very professional. They are the innocent caught in the middle of the Parent company debacle and they are all acting in a very professional manner.
Amen! I agree about having a completely new name that does not start with an A; however, AIU is well regarded in Asia and other parts of the world.
You guys that are bashing and battering us on a daily basis, you guys have NOT a CLUE to how tiresome this has gotten. Not to mention, how silly you are all going to look in a couple of months when things are back on track! The Populist view is not the smartest view. I guess it is just the easiest to understand…
Wow. Talk about misinformed. Who’s wealth have they taken away? Thanks to the previous administration of half-wits and know-nothings, the new guy has been busier than a one armed paper hanger. The only answers to questions that he is faced with is either “bad” or “worse”. Really, who’s weath has he taken away? Not mine. A tax decrease for 90% of working Americans is now in the stimulus bill. He let the prior tax cut given by former President Dumb*** expire. Maybe that is what you are taling about? Give us some SPECIFIC move he has made to take your wealth away from you. Also, while you are at it, tell us all how socialist we have become. What “tools of industry are now owned by the government”? Are we making any hiring, firing, or production decisions for the companies we have bailed out?
Most of you making un-informed, inaccurate, ignorant, and otherwise stupid remarks are following it.
The P&C companies of AIG were never part of the problem; it was the financial products division. Because of morons like you and the media frenzy, it makes good sense to have our own identity so as not to be associated with (painted with the same brush) as AIG. (which by the way is American INTERNATIONAL Group not American INSURANCE Group. You seem to forget there are plenty of Europeans to blame for this fiasco, not just the U.S.
The only reason the Water Street building appeared in the media was because of its accessibility and the prominent log. I guess the corporate offices on Wall weren’t flashy enough.
The P&C companies have always been profitable, well capitalized, and monitored by the state insurance departments. So if you young snots who know nothing about the industry other than what you read……learn something about the business and start directing your anger where it properly belongs.
AIG is a holding company; I think we all understand this. I didn’t mention anything other than the names of a few companies who also changed their name after much public ridicule. I certainly did not suggest that I think AIG’s insurance operations got us where we are today.
I happen to think its wholly appropriate to call out a company that has shamed iself to such a degree that there is literally no recourse beyond rebranding to a different name — whether they are rebranding the tainted division (like Diebold did) or rebranding the untainted division (like AIG did). Should the largest corporate loss in history not bring shame to an organization, whether or not it was their specific division’s fault?
Let’s say I started a holding company called “Superdelicious Candy Inc” and I had two distinct operations — one subsidiary company specialized in the manufacture & sales of candy, and the other subsidiary company specialized in the clubbing of baby seals with rusty truncheons.
How many people would want to buy my candy if it was well publicized that the other half of the business was clubbing baby seals*? It would not be the candy manufacturing employees’ fault, but it would still be reality!
*this comment is not PETA approved while simultaneously being a terrible analogy
Shirley you hit the nail right on the head with this one. I find it sad that people believe everything they see on the news or what they hear in the media. The P&C division of AIG is extremely strong and has more surplus than any other insurance company in the US. It has not received a dime from the US Government, and should rightly so seperate itself from the holding company.
Always a good rule of thumb to not believe everything you hear in the news without doing some research on your own to confirm it for yourself……
All of you commenting on this site must not have been in the insurance business very long, or have short memories. AIG’s insurance company was AIU = American International Underwriters back in the 80’s. Among other lines they did provide insurance coverage for military personnel that were being transferred to Europe. They were able to buy auto insurance before they got there. They were assured to have good coverage and did not have to try to find coverage on the local market.
The problem as I see it…Agents are getting tired of insured’s calling them in a panic, uproar, tizzy…about their coverage with AIG. So it’s becoming easier to move the business than educate the public. Which in turn screws the P&C branch of AIG. The little guy in America has learned to be leary of Big Business and AIG is not going to get the benefit of the doubt on anything…
The few agents who prefer to take the easy way out are part of the problem. It is their job to educate their customers. Any agent to places business elsewhere because they’re too lazy to explain the realities of life should be considered as disloyal to AIU. A professional agent wouldn’t simply roll over on this. It’s still a business of relationships.
I AGREE THE BIGGER PICTURE IS THE HEALTH OF OUR COUNTRY. MAYBE IT WOULD HELP IF BO’S MEDIA WOULD STOP DRUMMING TO US THAT WE ARE IN A RECESSION AND HOW BAD OFF WE ARE—SOME OF THE SHEEP WILL BELIEVE IT! HOWEVER, SHIRLEY, I THINK WE ALL AGREE THAT AIG IS THE PARENT COMPANY FOR THE INSURANCE BUSINESSES, AMONG OTHERS. IF SO, I THINK MANY SEEM TO FORGET THAT PARENTS MAKE THE DECISIONS IN A FAMILY, AND EVEN IF THE KIDS ARE TRYING THEIR BEST TO BE GOOD LITTLE BUGGERS, THE PARENTS MAKE THE RULES!!!!!
Shirley sounds like you should take your own advice and redirect your anger!
I’m sure the epic loss of shareholder value and the eleven-zero’d government bailout had NOTHING to do with the loss of goodwill towards the AIG name…..riiiiggght……
I’ve been an agent for many years and I represent companies with national and internatioal brand name AIG being one of them. Even though I disagree with the bail out of banking industry & Insurance Companies (AIG/AIU), I believe the P&C of AIG is still intact and only the Financial Division was and it is a chaos but still it hurts the P&C because of AIG is the holding company or parent company if you will. We just gonna have to wait and see what the government does with our money. Health Insurance and Unemployment should be the top priorities for the President but he has taken the Bank Industry and AIG to try to help the economy???????????????????????
That’s a brilliant idea. Look what’s happened to phone service. It’s so fragmented it’s almost funny. Now the wireless con men try to sell you a “package” of services most intelligent, mature people don’t want or need. Think about it. We started with a phone that has since morphed into a camera, keyboard, MP3 player, internet access, texting, TV. Too many young people just have to entertain themselves 24/7 since they can’t focus on anything for longer than a minute. NOTHING is that important you have to be on a device 24/7. Our society is becoming a bunch or morons whose thumbs will soon fall off. Just this morning I saw multiple jackasses with headphones on texting while trying to navigate the streets of Manhattan. Where’s a fast moving bus when you need one?
I’m sure that there are fine and contented underwriters at AIG. From conversations I had with friends who did time there, they were always terrified that their jobs would end, were afraid of the Sunday night calls from their manager threatening their jobs if they didn’t get their numbers up the following month, week, whatever or were lured there with the promise that “this” part of AIG was “different” then the rest of the company only to have that business shut its doors 8 months later when things didn’ go according to the unseen plan at the puzzle palace.
The folks there might have been good and in the process learned some survival skills as well as some life lessoons, but I never thought of AIG as a good place to work or more specifically, ply your trade and develop your skills and a career.
Almost forgot. I actually interviewed there a while ago as a favor to a headhunter. I interviewed with the regional mgr of AIU. Within 15 minutes of the interview, he was screaming and cussing at his assistant because he couldn’t find a copy of the annual report to give me. 5 minutes later, the interview was interrupted by some one who had just flown in from New York and had this great idea to start a new business within AIU and it just couldn’t wait-he just barged in an started pitching the idea.
The rest of the interview consisted of some veiled questions about how my current employer was writing certain classes of business and even specific accounts, but nothing about my background, abilities and accomplishments.
At the end of this, I was problaimed as a “great fit” for AIG and was tentatively offered a job.
I was then shuttled to several other interviews where I again was not asked questions about myself and my work, but rather how to compete aginst my current employer and without fail, was pronounced as perfect for whatever job they had in mind for me.
I felt very lucky to be working where I was at the end of this whole experience and turned down several offers from these guys for various mid level manager roles. I am glad I never took a one of them.
Matt, your analogy is not only odd, but completely incongruous.
The big difference that you don’t apparently see is that the AIG (parent/corporate/holding company) people aren’t the one deciding to change the name. It’s the insurance people to distance themselves from this mess.
Let’s use your analogy to make sure you get it:
Let’s say you’re hired to run this candy company (“Superdelicious Candy Inc,” or SCI), and you have a holding/parent company (let’s call them SCI corporate) you report to that also owns a number of other different businesses.
It then turns out that one of the other subsidiaries of your parent company (let’s call them “Seal Clubbing Inc,” another SCI) turns out to be clubbing baby seals with rusty truncheons.
This has nothing to do with the division you work in, but there is massive pubic outcry for your head because you also happen to work at “SCI.”
Wouldn’t you want to change the name of your division if you could?
Don’t you have kids to feed?
Leave these poor people alone. They’ve done nothing wrong, yet they’re subject to ridicule by certain people – completely ill-informed, yet overly vocal.
I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING AGAINST THE FOLKS WHO WORK FOR THE AIG INSURANCE DIVISIONS—I NEVER MET THEM, AND THEY MIGHT BE THE BEST IN THE WORLD. HOWEVER, THEY ARE THE “CHILDREN” OF THE “PARENT” COMPANY, AND THE PARENT MAKES THE RULES FOR THE CHILDREN—GET IT???
Simply changing a name doesn’t change a culture of half-truths and lies. AIG or any other name you choose, is still going to have the same people who have the same history that resulted in record fine after record fine for illegal acts from one coast of this country to the next.
I want to know when regulators are going to put the “trustworthy” test to these people and yank their authority to do business.
Name change – give me a break!
Phillip Morris changed their name after the whole “cancer misunderstanding”
Diebold changed their name after the whole “flawed election machine misunderstanding”
Now AIG will change their name after this unfortunate “quarter trillion dollar disaster misunderstanding”
Oh… A-I-U’s executives got bonuses… that’s okay then. As long as it wasn’t that awful AIG.
A-I-U; that’s like a college or something, right?
Boy, I sure and glad there’s great well-run companies around like A-I-U. Inept management like that at AIG and the idiot government we have who are so over their heads are going to bankrupt this country and bring around crazy hyper-inflation but companies like A-I-U will save us from all that.
AIG underwriters are among the best in the business….in a down economy they are sought after. The insurance operations are well capitalized and able to take on risks that other companies are unable to take on.
This riducle at AIG’s insurance operations comes from competitors who have been unable to steal AIG business even in the midst of all the negative publicity that has surrounded the company.
Competitors should grow up…the company is well capitalized with $26 billion in surplus and other companies (Swiss Re, CNA, Hartford, XL, etc) have been hit badly but none of this is picked up or discussed by the business press as much as AIG.
“Best in the Business”? yeah, they are the best in the business for example keeping assessments and reporting them as general liability premiums, the best in the business in rigging bids and paying kickbacks, and the best in the business in being fined from state to state.
You got that right!
Why doesn’t anyone admit this began in the mid to late 90’s and came to light under old greenthumb. And Teflon Warren must have been awful close to that skunk. AIG is a trust and should be broken up just like the phone systems were. not bailed out.
if the insurance sector changes their name to AIU, does that mean the financial side will change their name to “I.O.U.”???
thank you, thank you…i’m here all day.
You still didn’t doubt the ingenuity of AIG underwriters in finding solutions to clients problems…that is why they are so in demand among: other carriers, reinsurers, retailers, wholesalers and other insurance organizations.
I guess we are in agreement on this point.
The loudest voices (see first few comments) are always the least informed.
Let someone spell it out for all of you that haven’t been paying attention. AIG is not an insurance company. AIG is a holding company that, among other things, owns a number of insurance companies.
The insurance subsidiaries (Nat Union, Lex, American Home, etc) have been COMPLETELY fine this entire time, but their parent’s name has been dragged through the mud due to the dealings of the Financial Products division.
I’m sure some of you have a crazy brother/sister/cousin/uncle that gets in trouble. Does that make you a misfit too? Of course not.
I’m sick of all this garbage that ill-informed people are spouting. AIU is a way for the ‘good’ side of the family to distance itself from the bad side since most of you sheeple simply don’t get it.
Jeez is right! I’m ashamed of Darwin, matt, Anon, etc. You’d think people reading an insurance publication would be a little better informed about the difference between the regulated insurance companies (who are o.k.) and AIG Financial Products – whose execs should be in jail.
How about changing the name to A.I.O.U.
dammit, Agt! I already said that!
Thank you Snoopster, thank you Jeez!
As an AIU insurance professional I appreciate the “Norma Rae” commentary!
PERSEVEREANCE!
Sorry…I just typed in my thought before reading your comment. You know what they say about great minds….NO REALLY, do you know what they say about great minds???
AIG is the least of our problems! This new adminstration has take away more wealth in a shorter period than any other period of time in this great country’s history.
The name change doesn’t bother me but the spin off from the parent without payment to the shareholder is just more theft
Why not just call the new company, LCS — Lie, Cheat and Steal and be done with it?
>>>I’m sick of all this garbage that ill-informed people are spouting. AIU is a way for the ‘good’ side of the family to distance itself from the bad side since most of you sheeple simply don’t get it. >>>
Hi Jeez, question — did AIU share in the fictious profits when the financial side was raking it it? If so, live by the sword, die by the sword.
what’s this garbage about AIU stealing from shareholders? If you know who the controlling shareholders are/will be (at least for the short-term), you would not post such stupid comments! ILL INFORMED!
You must love to hear yourself speak and see yourself posted.
As another AIU underwriter, thanks Snoopster and Jeez. We are hanging in there and going to remain strong. We are really OVER all this DRAMA! Life still goes on and we still have much business to attend.
AIG to AIU? It sounds almost the same. What are they trying to accomplish here? If you want to change your name, identity, appearance, whatever…Make it unrecognizable. Accenture used to be Arthur Anderson…now they are a totally different company. This is too bad, the insurance entity of AIG did nothing wrong but, to protect your people do a better job. The good people in the former AIG insurance company don’t deserve this.
David- agreed. For now, AIU is just the holding company.
I think of all us know (pray) that there will not be an A, an I, in the brand name of the insurance companies.
I too remember the old Arthur Anderson days and now no one remembers them- it’s Accenture. Those of us at AIU want the distance and the new brand more than anything…the fatigue of AIG on the insurances is beyond tired.
Darwin, you do sound small and bitter. Obsiouly whatever insurance company you work for is not doing as well and the jealousy is shining through.
I have worked with the people at the Insurance Division, and their CS people are friendly, responsive, and very professional. They are the innocent caught in the middle of the Parent company debacle and they are all acting in a very professional manner.
Amen! I agree about having a completely new name that does not start with an A; however, AIU is well regarded in Asia and other parts of the world.
You guys that are bashing and battering us on a daily basis, you guys have NOT a CLUE to how tiresome this has gotten. Not to mention, how silly you are all going to look in a couple of months when things are back on track! The Populist view is not the smartest view. I guess it is just the easiest to understand…
Wow. Talk about misinformed. Who’s wealth have they taken away? Thanks to the previous administration of half-wits and know-nothings, the new guy has been busier than a one armed paper hanger. The only answers to questions that he is faced with is either “bad” or “worse”. Really, who’s weath has he taken away? Not mine. A tax decrease for 90% of working Americans is now in the stimulus bill. He let the prior tax cut given by former President Dumb*** expire. Maybe that is what you are taling about? Give us some SPECIFIC move he has made to take your wealth away from you. Also, while you are at it, tell us all how socialist we have become. What “tools of industry are now owned by the government”? Are we making any hiring, firing, or production decisions for the companies we have bailed out?
Oxidental chemical was Hooker chemical before Love Canal
Most of you making un-informed, inaccurate, ignorant, and otherwise stupid remarks are following it.
The P&C companies of AIG were never part of the problem; it was the financial products division. Because of morons like you and the media frenzy, it makes good sense to have our own identity so as not to be associated with (painted with the same brush) as AIG. (which by the way is American INTERNATIONAL Group not American INSURANCE Group. You seem to forget there are plenty of Europeans to blame for this fiasco, not just the U.S.
The only reason the Water Street building appeared in the media was because of its accessibility and the prominent log. I guess the corporate offices on Wall weren’t flashy enough.
The P&C companies have always been profitable, well capitalized, and monitored by the state insurance departments. So if you young snots who know nothing about the industry other than what you read……learn something about the business and start directing your anger where it properly belongs.
to Jeez–
AIG is a holding company; I think we all understand this. I didn’t mention anything other than the names of a few companies who also changed their name after much public ridicule. I certainly did not suggest that I think AIG’s insurance operations got us where we are today.
I happen to think its wholly appropriate to call out a company that has shamed iself to such a degree that there is literally no recourse beyond rebranding to a different name — whether they are rebranding the tainted division (like Diebold did) or rebranding the untainted division (like AIG did). Should the largest corporate loss in history not bring shame to an organization, whether or not it was their specific division’s fault?
Let’s say I started a holding company called “Superdelicious Candy Inc” and I had two distinct operations — one subsidiary company specialized in the manufacture & sales of candy, and the other subsidiary company specialized in the clubbing of baby seals with rusty truncheons.
How many people would want to buy my candy if it was well publicized that the other half of the business was clubbing baby seals*? It would not be the candy manufacturing employees’ fault, but it would still be reality!
*this comment is not PETA approved while simultaneously being a terrible analogy
Rave on Shirley!
Is it possible for an insurance company to have done worse than AIOU?
Shirley you hit the nail right on the head with this one. I find it sad that people believe everything they see on the news or what they hear in the media. The P&C division of AIG is extremely strong and has more surplus than any other insurance company in the US. It has not received a dime from the US Government, and should rightly so seperate itself from the holding company.
Always a good rule of thumb to not believe everything you hear in the news without doing some research on your own to confirm it for yourself……
OY!
All of you commenting on this site must not have been in the insurance business very long, or have short memories. AIG’s insurance company was AIU = American International Underwriters back in the 80’s. Among other lines they did provide insurance coverage for military personnel that were being transferred to Europe. They were able to buy auto insurance before they got there. They were assured to have good coverage and did not have to try to find coverage on the local market.
The problem as I see it…Agents are getting tired of insured’s calling them in a panic, uproar, tizzy…about their coverage with AIG. So it’s becoming easier to move the business than educate the public. Which in turn screws the P&C branch of AIG. The little guy in America has learned to be leary of Big Business and AIG is not going to get the benefit of the doubt on anything…
The few agents who prefer to take the easy way out are part of the problem. It is their job to educate their customers. Any agent to places business elsewhere because they’re too lazy to explain the realities of life should be considered as disloyal to AIU. A professional agent wouldn’t simply roll over on this. It’s still a business of relationships.
I agree with you, but it’s the nature of the business…If it comes down to losing the business, the agent is going to move the account.
I agree..Darwin sounds very bitter. Maybe he had a bad experience or something connected to AIG? What’s the issue Darwin?
Seriously people we need to move past this and focus on the bigger picture (ie how do we fix the economy).
They should go with I.O.U.
dammit, Tony…Agt and I already said that!
I AGREE THE BIGGER PICTURE IS THE HEALTH OF OUR COUNTRY. MAYBE IT WOULD HELP IF BO’S MEDIA WOULD STOP DRUMMING TO US THAT WE ARE IN A RECESSION AND HOW BAD OFF WE ARE—SOME OF THE SHEEP WILL BELIEVE IT! HOWEVER, SHIRLEY, I THINK WE ALL AGREE THAT AIG IS THE PARENT COMPANY FOR THE INSURANCE BUSINESSES, AMONG OTHERS. IF SO, I THINK MANY SEEM TO FORGET THAT PARENTS MAKE THE DECISIONS IN A FAMILY, AND EVEN IF THE KIDS ARE TRYING THEIR BEST TO BE GOOD LITTLE BUGGERS, THE PARENTS MAKE THE RULES!!!!!
Dont know about anyone else but based on how much money they have taken from us taxpayers, they should be renamed
I.O.U !!
Compman – Say Hello to Joe Mama, Tony and I…
Yea, and Jay Leno from back in September….
Shirley sounds like you should take your own advice and redirect your anger!
I’m sure the epic loss of shareholder value and the eleven-zero’d government bailout had NOTHING to do with the loss of goodwill towards the AIG name…..riiiiggght……
I’ve been an agent for many years and I represent companies with national and internatioal brand name AIG being one of them. Even though I disagree with the bail out of banking industry & Insurance Companies (AIG/AIU), I believe the P&C of AIG is still intact and only the Financial Division was and it is a chaos but still it hurts the P&C because of AIG is the holding company or parent company if you will. We just gonna have to wait and see what the government does with our money. Health Insurance and Unemployment should be the top priorities for the President but he has taken the Bank Industry and AIG to try to help the economy???????????????????????
That’s a brilliant idea. Look what’s happened to phone service. It’s so fragmented it’s almost funny. Now the wireless con men try to sell you a “package” of services most intelligent, mature people don’t want or need. Think about it. We started with a phone that has since morphed into a camera, keyboard, MP3 player, internet access, texting, TV. Too many young people just have to entertain themselves 24/7 since they can’t focus on anything for longer than a minute. NOTHING is that important you have to be on a device 24/7. Our society is becoming a bunch or morons whose thumbs will soon fall off. Just this morning I saw multiple jackasses with headphones on texting while trying to navigate the streets of Manhattan. Where’s a fast moving bus when you need one?
I’m sure that there are fine and contented underwriters at AIG. From conversations I had with friends who did time there, they were always terrified that their jobs would end, were afraid of the Sunday night calls from their manager threatening their jobs if they didn’t get their numbers up the following month, week, whatever or were lured there with the promise that “this” part of AIG was “different” then the rest of the company only to have that business shut its doors 8 months later when things didn’ go according to the unseen plan at the puzzle palace.
The folks there might have been good and in the process learned some survival skills as well as some life lessoons, but I never thought of AIG as a good place to work or more specifically, ply your trade and develop your skills and a career.
Almost forgot. I actually interviewed there a while ago as a favor to a headhunter. I interviewed with the regional mgr of AIU. Within 15 minutes of the interview, he was screaming and cussing at his assistant because he couldn’t find a copy of the annual report to give me. 5 minutes later, the interview was interrupted by some one who had just flown in from New York and had this great idea to start a new business within AIU and it just couldn’t wait-he just barged in an started pitching the idea.
The rest of the interview consisted of some veiled questions about how my current employer was writing certain classes of business and even specific accounts, but nothing about my background, abilities and accomplishments.
At the end of this, I was problaimed as a “great fit” for AIG and was tentatively offered a job.
I was then shuttled to several other interviews where I again was not asked questions about myself and my work, but rather how to compete aginst my current employer and without fail, was pronounced as perfect for whatever job they had in mind for me.
I felt very lucky to be working where I was at the end of this whole experience and turned down several offers from these guys for various mid level manager roles. I am glad I never took a one of them.
Matt, your analogy is not only odd, but completely incongruous.
The big difference that you don’t apparently see is that the AIG (parent/corporate/holding company) people aren’t the one deciding to change the name. It’s the insurance people to distance themselves from this mess.
Let’s use your analogy to make sure you get it:
Let’s say you’re hired to run this candy company (“Superdelicious Candy Inc,” or SCI), and you have a holding/parent company (let’s call them SCI corporate) you report to that also owns a number of other different businesses.
It then turns out that one of the other subsidiaries of your parent company (let’s call them “Seal Clubbing Inc,” another SCI) turns out to be clubbing baby seals with rusty truncheons.
This has nothing to do with the division you work in, but there is massive pubic outcry for your head because you also happen to work at “SCI.”
Wouldn’t you want to change the name of your division if you could?
Don’t you have kids to feed?
Leave these poor people alone. They’ve done nothing wrong, yet they’re subject to ridicule by certain people – completely ill-informed, yet overly vocal.
I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING AGAINST THE FOLKS WHO WORK FOR THE AIG INSURANCE DIVISIONS—I NEVER MET THEM, AND THEY MIGHT BE THE BEST IN THE WORLD. HOWEVER, THEY ARE THE “CHILDREN” OF THE “PARENT” COMPANY, AND THE PARENT MAKES THE RULES FOR THE CHILDREN—GET IT???
Kind like “The Sins of the Father’s are Visited Upon the Children”???
Check out these man-on-the-street interviews of people responding to the AIG name change
http://reality-research.net/2009/04/aig-changes-name-to-aiu/