The NYT today published the letter of resignation of Jake DeSantis, Executive Vice President of the A.I.G. Financial Products division. He’s been working 10-14 hours a day for $1, but won’t work for a boss (Edward M. Liddy) who will roll over for political hacks like of Bernie Sanders. He will give his bonus to charity, rather than see it go back into the amorphous pile.
It’s a great letter, and he’s lucky that there’s no Wesley Mouch (yet) to enslave him.
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Bravo for Jake DeSantis. These bonuses have become a political witch hunt for congress. As though we should be concerned with $165 million but care less about $1.6 trillion in deficit spending or $3+ trillion in the new budget for overall spending.
It would have been much better for the AIG CEO, Mr. Liddy (who came out of retirement to try and help) upon being grilled by congress to stand up and say,
“You fools have helped create the moral hazard that led to the current economic crisis. In addition you’re the biggest thieves on this planet with your confiscatory tax rates and theft through inflation via government spending. And to add insult to injury, you waste the money you steal. I hold the common thief in higher regard than you.”
Then promptly get up, state, “I’m not your slave” and walk out.
Well done.
I keep waiting for someone to do what Dogbert did to a Congressional hearing in the Dilbert strip: when asked if he had flown in a private jet to the hearing, Dogbert tartly replied, “Yes, the same jet that took you on a fact-finding trip to Aruba, you wool-coated glob of fat.”
Alas, I wait in vain.
Wow,
This is almost right out of Atlas Shrugged
Great comment Enjoy Every Sandwich!
I feel this is just another meaningless distraction.
If you want to get a sense of the ugly face of the mob, read some of the comments regarding Mr DeSantis’s letter on the Times web site. Talk about the “menace of the herd”. Just appalling.
@pussum207
Yeah, I read some of the comments on the NYT website. So many people saying it was their money that they took to give to AIG. I’d like to see some proof from some of those folks on just how much they paid in income taxes. Not that I like income taxes, because I don’t. But if someone isn’t paying any income taxes, it was hardly any of their money.
What the mob mentality people don’t seem to realize is that $165 million is pocket change compared to the trillions being spent by congress. The whole absurdity can be illustrated like this:
We’ll divide all the amounts by 1 billion. This changes $170 billion to $170. AIG was given $170. AIG handed out bonuses of $0.17. Now I realize that $165 million is still a lot of money, but I also realize that $170 billion is 1000 times bigger. The mob folks don’t seem to care that the $169.83 was handed out, no we’ll get the pitchforks out because of the $0.17. Where do they think that other $169.83 went to? Some people some where got it.
I hope Jake takes the end with some dignity. They are coming for you, buddy.
DeSantis’ letter was needed counterpunch to the madness that taking place, however, I hope, for his sake, he didn’t really give the money to charity just yet. When the thugs come for him, they are still going to want the money.
This was a delightful letter. Moral courage is apparently not completely dead in this country.
It is indeed appalling to watch the mob lynch the plumber after the electrician burned down the house and slipped out the back door.
Liddy owes it to his employees and his country to send a similar letter to Congress. Heck, they brought him in on a $1 salary to clean up the mess that happened under the watchful eyes of Hank Greenberg and Martin Sullivan, and now Liddy is excoriated as Madoff of the Month. Why put up with this? Unless, of course, Liddy has other reasons to play the scapegoat.
I hope Geithner plays Wesley Mouch in the movie. Perfect for the part.
If there had been no bailout, there would be no AIG, and DeSantis would get no bonus. So he’s asserting that he has the *right* to take taxpayer money — and all of you “libertarians” back him?!
Nick said
If there had been no bailout, there would be no AIG, and DeSantis would get no bonus. So he’s asserting that he has the *right* to take taxpayer money — and all of you “libertarians” back him?!
Fine, but he would have quit last September. This is a breach of contact pure and simple.
New York City defaulted on its muni bonds in 1976(?). They have been paying the price ever since. Th founding fathers recognized the importance of obligations of contract an the problems with ex post facto legislation.
The recent AIG hearings revealed the true problem – not that most members had not read the “Stimulus Package”, but that they had not read the Constitution that they had sworn to uphold. The reality that Congress can abrogate contacts on a whim is something that is going to come back and bite them in the ass for decades to come. It sets the precedent that any contract entered into with the US Government is not worth the paper it is printed on.
Who would want to enter into the “Toxic Asset Program” knowing that at some level of return, Congress will go after “obscene profits”.
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