Neil D Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 NEW YORK (CNN) -- Under pressure from the Treasury Department, insurance giant AIG plans to scale back bonuses and compensation for some of its top-earning employees. AIG has agreed to restructure bonus payments to its employees. CNN obtained a letter Saturday from AIG Chairman and CEO Edward Liddy to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, in which Liddy pledges in the letter to reduce 2009 bonus payments, which AIG refers to as "retention payments," by at least 30 percent. Liddy also addresses steps to limit compensation in AIG Financial Products, the London-based unit responsible for issuing the risky credit default swaps, which on several occasions has brought the company to the brink of collapse. In the letter, Liddy says the unit's 25 highest-paid contract employees will reduce their salaries to $1 this year and all other officers in the unit will reduce their salaries by 10 percent. Other "non-cash compensation" will be reduced or eliminated. Liddy, who took the helm of the company in September after it had nearly failed, also refers to a conversation he had with Geithner last week, which the AIG chief describes as "a difficult one for me." Liddy says in the letter that he personally does not receive a bonus, but that some bonus payments are unavoidable, because they are binding legal obligations of the company, and "there are serious legal, as well as business consequences for not paying." Some of the bonus payments are due on Sunday, according to the letter. At the meeting Wednesday, Geithner told Liddy that millions of dollars in bonuses to senior employees were unacceptable and needed to be renegotiated, according to a senior administration official. While the bonuses were never a secret, the official told CNN, Geithner felt giving them "was still inappropriate, given the state of the economy and the recent restructuring of the AIG agreement." AIG received at least $170 billion in federal bailout money. Liddy, however, makes clear that he made the changes with trepidation, saying in the letter: "I would not be doing my job if I did not directly advise you of my grave concern about the long-term consequences of the actions we are taking today," specifying that if employees believe the company will have trouble attracting and retaining "the best and the brightest ... if employees believe that their compensation is subject to continued and arbitrary adjustment by the U.S. Treasury." The company, which lost a record $62 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008, has more than 74 million insurance policies issued in 130 countries around the world. Quote Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve. George Bernard Shaw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woody Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 Fire them. That is the solution. Spread the wealth. Let the unemployed run the business. They can't do any worse than what the millionaires are doing. Quote May we be one so that the world may be won. Christian from the cradle to the grave I believe in Hematology. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil D Posted March 15, 2009 Author Share Posted March 15, 2009 Did you read the article at all??? or did you just react to the headlines....? So, let me get this straight...You want to fire all of middle managment since they are the ones who are getting the bonus'? And since the top managment is NOT taking any bonus', you want them to....continue being managment since they are not taking bonuses or fire them as well? Quote Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve. George Bernard Shaw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woody Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 If they refuse to give back their bonuses ... YES. I would fire each and everyone of them. The US government owns 80% of AIG. Surely ... we should be able to dictate what we do with our money and who we hire and fire. Quote May we be one so that the world may be won. Christian from the cradle to the grave I believe in Hematology. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil D Posted March 15, 2009 Author Share Posted March 15, 2009 We "own 80% of AIG"??? Where did you get that??? We don't own AIG...This is what Summers said on Face the Nation- Lawrence Summers, Director of the White House National Economic Council, said on CBS' Face The Nation this morning that recent bonuses paid out by insurance giant American International Group are "outrageous." Reports came out this morning that AIG, which has received $170 billion from the U.S. government to prevent the firm from collapsing, has paid out $165 million in bonuses. "It is outrageous," Summers told host Bob Schieffer. "The whole situation at AIG is outrageous. What taxpayers are being forced to do is outrageous." [color:#990000]But Summers also said that "you can't govern out of anger" and that the government doesn’t have the power to stop bonuses from being paid out under existing contracts. "If we simply throw up our hands, refuse to deal with any of this, we'll have the kind of financial catastrophe that we saw after what happened at Lehman Brothers," Summers said. "[Treasury] Secretary Geithner has negotiated very forcefully with AIG. He has done everything that is legally permissible for the government to do to limit the payment of bonuses. But where there are contracts, binding contracts that were entered into long before the government put any money in to AIG -- we're not a country where contracts just get abrogated willy-nilly." Summers added: "And if we were to start doing that, there would be potentially very destabilizing consequences." Quote Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve. George Bernard Shaw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woody Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 Quote: We "own 80% of AIG"??? Where did you get that??? Just heard it on F _ _ this morning. (Where did you THINK I would get it?) Quote May we be one so that the world may be won. Christian from the cradle to the grave I believe in Hematology. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil D Posted March 15, 2009 Author Share Posted March 15, 2009 Quote: We "own 80% of AIG"??? Where did you get that??? Just heard it on F _ _ this morning. (Where did you THINK I would get it?) Um, would you post the source of Foxes slanderous assurtion, please.... I at least posted what was said on Face the Nation...you can show where Fox got it's information without spreading gossip.... Quote Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve. George Bernard Shaw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woody Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 From experience ... people have asked me NOT to quote sources. It makes them upset. That is why I use _ _ _ Quote May we be one so that the world may be won. Christian from the cradle to the grave I believe in Hematology. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil D Posted March 15, 2009 Author Share Posted March 15, 2009 Oh, Redwood, you are a "martyer" to your own cause.... No one ever asked you NOT to use "Fox" news...You elected to do that because we know that it is just a tabloid rag...It doesn't report news unless it filters it thru the Republican/Murddox filters...Hence, it is NOT journalism...it's not reporting...it's tattle-tailing, and gossip....And you subside on that sort of news.... If you would go on a diet of NO FoxNews for 30 days, and watched the National Geographic channel, I am sure your compassionate generous attitude would ccome back, to the delight of all.... as it currently is, you is addicted to bad info, man.. Quote Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve. George Bernard Shaw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woody Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 Quote: No one ever asked you NOT to use "Fox" news... Neil. You need to look at the facts. Stan and Bravus both did. As you did also. Perhaps your memory is short. Do you recall that Stan asked us ALL to stop the use of F _ _ . That is until he recanted. I like to think that he was converted. But perhaps not. Quote May we be one so that the world may be won. Christian from the cradle to the grave I believe in Hematology. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil D Posted March 15, 2009 Author Share Posted March 15, 2009 Hmmmm.....Key phrase..."he recanted"....I never asked you to stop using Fox and neither did Bravus as I recall... We asked you not to use Fox as a RELIABLE source..... We have consistantly shown that it is NOT a reliable source....YOU filtered the message...but that's your problem and your choice... Quote Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve. George Bernard Shaw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woody Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 The ONLY way I can use F _ _ is as a 'reliable source' And you are the one that needs to recant then ... The News source that you reference ... is the leader in quality reporting ... "fair and balanced". And usually the other major news sources follow suit once Fox reports. Most everything that I post has been also reported on all the other major news agencies. F _ _ is the most reliable and fair news that one can get. Your problem is that you hate to believe the truth. It seems outrageous to you. But over time ... what F _ _ reports is verified as truth. For instance the illegal that killed Sandra Levy. You rebelled and accused F _ _ of all kinds of things. But in the end ... we discovered that he IS an illegal despite your protestations. The truth always come out in the end. And F _ _ is vindicated. Quote May we be one so that the world may be won. Christian from the cradle to the grave I believe in Hematology. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil D Posted March 15, 2009 Author Share Posted March 15, 2009 The ONLY way I can use F _ _ is as a 'reliable source' And you are the one that needs to recant then .... But Fox is NOT a reliable new source. Think about this...Any advertiser that tauts that it's product is anything it say it is needs to be examined...Do you really trust anything made from china as the best that there is???? It used to be that anything that was made in Japan or China was made cheaply and fell apart shortly after purchase... You have Fox saying that they are "fair and balanced"...But this YouTube flick show otherwise and does so rather pointedly. Even Ron Paul says that he wishes Fox to be "fair and balanced."...and the Fox reported agreed with him! Quote Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve. George Bernard Shaw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members phkrause Posted March 15, 2009 Members Share Posted March 15, 2009 I agree with you Redwood. I'd even go further than that, why are they even giving out bonuses?????? For what reason, because they ran the company to the ground!!!!! I agree let the unemployed run AIG. They can't do any worse. And I guaranty that if we, the unemployed, got the company back up and running, we would not see 1 cent in bonuses, period. pk Quote phkrause Obstinacy is a barrier to all improvement. - ChL 60 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woody Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 Quote May we be one so that the world may be won. Christian from the cradle to the grave I believe in Hematology. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil D Posted March 15, 2009 Author Share Posted March 15, 2009 No reconcilliation, eh? Quote Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve. George Bernard Shaw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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