Dear A.I.G., I Quit!

[Chris]

The following is a letter sent on Tuesday by Jake DeSantis, an executive vice president of the American International Group’s financial products unit, to Edward M. Liddy, the chief executive of A.I.G.

DEAR Mr. Liddy,

It is with deep regret that I submit my notice of resignation from A.I.G. Financial Products. I hope you take the time to read this entire letter. Before describing the details of my decision, I want to offer some context:

I am proud of everything I have done for the commodity and equity divisions of A.I.G.-F.P. I was in no way involved in — or responsible for — the credit default swap transactions that have hamstrung A.I.G. Nor were more than a handful of the 400 current employees of A.I.G.-F.P. Most of those responsible have left the company and have conspicuously escaped the public outrage.

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.

You and I have never met or spoken to each other, so I’d like to tell you about myself. I was raised by schoolteachers working multiple jobs in a world of closing steel mills. My hard work earned me acceptance to M.I.T., and the institute’s generous financial aid enabled me to attend. I had fulfilled my American dream.

I started at this company in 1998 as an equity trader, became the head of equity and commodity trading and, a couple of years before A.I.G.’s meltdown last September, was named the head of business development for commodities. Over this period the equity and commodity units were consistently profitable — in most years generating net profits of well over $100 million. Most recently, during the dismantling of A.I.G.-F.P., I was an integral player in the pending sale of its well-regarded commodity index business to UBS. As you know, business unit sales like this are crucial to A.I.G.’s effort to repay the American taxpayer.

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[rich_t]

Awesome.

[RobJohnson]

That is why I have decided to donate 100 percent of the effective after-tax proceeds of my retention payment directly to organizations that are helping people who are suffering from the global downturn. This is not a tax-deduction gimmick; I simply believe that I at least deserve to dictate how my earnings are spent, and do not want to see them disappear back into the obscurity of A.I.G.’s or the federal government’s budget. Our earnings have caused such a distraction for so many from the more pressing issues our country faces, and I would like to see my share of it benefit those truly in need.

 

[DixieBelle]

I read that letter on consumerist. Wow. Good to see someone peeling back the curtain though....

[NHSparky]

Sent a copy to my moonbat Congresscritter--who voted to tax these folks.  Included a little nasty addendum of my own.

Here's the full text of what I sent:

Dear Congresswoman,

It is with profound disappointment that I must write you regarding your misguided and wrong-headed vote regarding taxing of AIG and other bonuses under HR 1586.  As you are well aware, some $165 million in bonuses was guaranteed under previous legislation YOU voted for (aka the Dodd Amendment).  A significant portion, if not a majority, of that money was in fact paid to AIG employees outside the United States, and as such, they are not subject to US tax laws.  Of the remaining $65 million, over $50 million has been returned to date.

As a Representative, you are supposed to be a member of a deliberative body, and as such not one to rush headlong into rash decisions.  What you have done is compound a situation you, yes YOU, created by ripping out the guarantees you voted for in February.  But by not reading a thousand page bill before voting on it, and then feigning selective outrage at your creation rather than take responsibility for your actions, or lack thereof, smacks of hypocrisy and misdirection for your own malfaesance.

What you have also done is poisoned the well, by driving otherwise innocent and wholly competent employees to firms either outside US jurisdiction or ones not subject to TARP regulation, thereby slowing the recovery of those troubled firms and laying the bill on us, the taxpayer.  I give you an Op-Ed published on Tuesday in the New York Times by Jake DeSantis, a young man who until recently was an executive VP with AIG's Financial Products group:

Link to Op-Ed:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/25/opinion/25desantis.html?pagewanted=1&_r=3&partner=rss&emc=rss

Further, Congresswoman, as my Representative, I would expect you to have at least a modicum of knowledge of the workings of the United States Constitution.  As a fellow Rochester resident, I'm well aware of your previous profession prior to your election in 2006, but you've had a term now, and I would have hoped that by now you would have at least READ the Constitution, specifically Article I, Section 9, paragraph 3, which states:

"No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed."

In fact, what you did last week was in direct contravention of BOTH of these clauses.  You as a legislative body do not have the right to pass a summary judgement on any individual or group, yet you did just that.  Insomuch as HR 1586 affected bonuses already either paid or scheduled to be paid, this also falls under violation of ex post facto law; specifically, the one YOU voted to approve and which President Obama signed.

Blame former President Bush all you like for this, and while the situation we face began on his watch, the actions which you and your fellow Democrats have taken within the last two months have only exacerbated an already bad situation.  The deficit has QUADRUPLED over last fiscal year--this is not something you can blame solely on the Bush administration.  Own up to your actions, Congresswoman.  Show some integrity, or come next year we will find someone who can.

[Eupher]

Great letter, Sparky. 

Now that Congress' childish rampage is over and they can look around and see the shambles they've made of the Constitution, maybe - just maybe - they are starting to get a clue.

Nah, WTF am I talking about?

Business as usual for the douche nozzles down in D.C. 

[DixieBelle]

h5 sparky

[Hawkgirl]

Sounds like a whiny little crybaby to me.
 
A simple " Please accept my resignation effective xxxx"  would have sufficed. 

[NHSparky]

I got a response back from Che-Porter today.  A ****ing form e-mail.  I should have guessed.  Absolutely blew me off.  Amazing, but then again, I should have expected as much.

March 27, 2009

Dear Mr. XXXXXXXX:

Thank you for contacting my office and sharing your thoughts with me regarding the tax on bonuses for certain Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) recipients.

I voted in favor of H.R. 1586 to impose a 90% tax on bonuses for recipients of TARP funds in excess of $5 billion, and for employees of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The additional tax is only imposed on employees who earn more than $250,000 a year. I do not believe that these bonuses should be paid at the taxpayer's expense. I have voted against TARP twice and I remain opposed to any additional funds being released for the program.

Thank you again for contacting my office. It is a privilege to serve you in Washington.

Sincerely,

Carol Shea-Porter

Member of Congress

Note: She voted against TARP because she was in a tight race in October, not because she actually believed in what she was voting for.  It was a matter of political expediency, plain and simple.  If she was against TARP, then why vote for every piece of pork-laden crap since she got re-elected?  I swear she must think we're all idiots.
 

[Rebel]

Sounds like a whiny little crybaby to me.
 
A simple " Please accept my resignation effective xxxx"  would have sufficed. 

You don't think the people need the whole truth? Or are you happy and content with being angry at what the government tells you to be angry at?

This says it all:

http://www.conservativecave.com/index.php/topic,26587.0.html

Oh, and the 40 people that caused the mess? They've been gone. These are the ones that were begged to stay on to get the issue resolved. Then, when the year was up, they were shafted.

[DixieBelle]

^I somehow missed that picture! Good one....