The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : Quitting AIG

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In all of the controversy over the AIG bonuses, the one side that we haven't heard from is the actual employees of the financial products unit who received the bonuses. Today, the New York Times has run as an op-ed the resignation letter of Jake DeSantis, an executive vice president of the troubled AIG unit. In the letter, DeSantis explains:

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.

According to the letter, he worked in the commodity trading division, which has been profitable for AIG, and he played a role in the pending sale of that division to UBS -- a sale that will generate money for the taxpayer.

DeSantis writes:

As most of us have done nothing wrong, guilt is not a motivation to surrender our earnings. We have worked 12 long months under these contracts and now deserve to be paid as promised. None of us should be cheated of our payments any more than a plumber should be cheated after he has fixed the pipes but a careless electrician causes a fire that burns down the house.

Many of the employees have, in the past six months, turned down job offers from more stable employers, based on A.I.G.’s assurances that the contracts would be honored. They are now angry about having been misled by A.I.G.’s promises and are not inclined to return the money as a favor to you.

The only real motivation that anyone at A.I.G.-F.P. now has is fear. Mr. Cuomo has threatened to “name and shame,” and his counterpart in Connecticut, Richard Blumenthal, has made similar threats — even though attorneys general are supposed to stand for due process, to conduct trials in courts and not the press.

He writes that he plans to donate all of his $742,006.40 bonus -- after taxes -- to charities assisting people affected by the economic crisis.

The whole letter is well worth a read, because it illuminates the fact that at AIG, just like everywhere else, there are people who are suffering as a result of the irresponsibility and sins of others. And in all of the public outrage and grandstanding on Capitol Hill, it's important to keep in mind that not all AIG employees were guilty of blowing up the financial system.

View all comments (19) | Leave a comment

Angel| 3.25.09 @ 10:38AM

Liberal compassion and tolerance on display.

galeharoldfan| 3.25.09 @ 11:35AM

That money isn't Liddy's to give or DeSantis's to take. If he wants to give 100% of the money to "organizations who are helping people suffering from the global downturn" he can give it back to the U.S. government. No organization in the world is doing more to help people suffering from the global downturn.

One set of people it helped is at AIG. If the government hadn't appropriated billions for that purpose, AIG would be in bankruptcy right now and DeSantis would have no job to resign from, let alone a bonus to dispose of as he pleases.

The invincible sense of entitlement of these people even in the middle of a deep recession -- not only to a lucrative job, not only to millions in bonuses at a failed company, but that these bonuses should be paid to them by the U.S. taxpayer -- is nothing short of amazing. The kind of gall it takes to write a Times op ed whining about those who would deny you those bonuses should be used to strip the paint off cars.

Although DeSantis may not have been one of the AIG executives who helped tank the economy, he might as well have been. His greed, his spleen, his recklessness, and his utter lack of perspective are exactly the attitudes that put us in this recession.

That he may not have helped cause it is sheer good luck on his part. That he should be rewarded for lending a helping hand in the crisis is quite just -- and I'm sure his salary is handsome, and that, along with the fact that he still has a job, are a commensurate reward.

If it isn't, perhaps he should consult his patriotism (if he has any loyalty not for sale) for a better one.

Rob| 3.25.09 @ 11:49AM

Dear Mr. DeSantis,

As a taxpayer, and a defacto part owner of your failed employer, I would like to take this opportunity to gladly accept your resignation.

You, and those like you, apparently are oblivious to the fact that your employer is crumbling, and is presently only propped up by the U.S. Government. Had the Government permitted AIG to become insolvent, you would have certainly been facing a substantial likelihood of having the bonus contract nullified by a bankruptcy judge. And, you likely would have been looking elsewhere for employment anyway while the failing company reorganized.

In other words, you only had the opportunity to continue in your present position because of the American taxpayers--the same ones that you so roundly criticize in your resignation letter.

While you claim to have some sympathy for those in need, you clearly don't understand them. If you did, you would grasp why your receipt of a nearly $750,000 "bonus" from what has essentially become a ward of the federal government is so offensive to taxpayers in a country where the median family income is approximately $48,000. If "guilt" is an insufficient motivator to return the grossly unwarranted bonus, perhaps you should give shame a try.

Like you, I was raised by a schoolteacher and a blue collar worker. Like you, I worked hard and got through schools on scholarships. Like you, I have put in more than my share of 10/12/14 hour (and more) work days. Unlike you, I would never dream of taking an almost $750,000 bonus from taxpayer dollars, when that money could be used to help the unemployed, the homeless, or the hungry. Finally, unlike you, I would never be so pretentious to claim to be betrayed or victimized by the legitimate public outrage over this situation.

Please clean out your desk. Security will take your key, and will show you to the door.

Sincerely,

The Management.

offsuit| 3.25.09 @ 12:02PM

And the witch hunt continues, even after this man takes time out to explain to imbeciles like Rob and galeharoldfan why they're wrong. This country is well and truly screwed.

Here is a man whose productive efforts could have secured hundreds of millions of dollars of value being returned to American taxpayer, hundreds or thousands of times the amount of his "bonus" (which of course, was really his sole compensation for his efforts), and what do you do... you run him out of the company on a rail clawing at his earnings and threatening him and his family with physical violence. This man has done much to be proud of, and nothing to be ashamed of, and still you sit there sanctimoniously demanding shame from him. You people are pathetic. You will, in the end, get exactly what you deserve.

notmypresident09| 3.25.09 @ 12:04PM

I have never seen so many bitter people unsatisfied with their own lives and failures that spew ignorant vitriole against all AIG employees. Wait unitl its your turn and the scum-bag-in- chief comes after your money.

galeharoldfan| 3.25.09 @ 12:37PM

offsuit::

If what the American people "deserve" is a deep recession, we've already gotten what we deserve. Mr. DeSantis may set himself apart from the rest of us, but if we deserved it, so did he.

His bonus was "the sole compensation for his efforts"? Hardly. I'd gladly work for a living wage at any financial firm or lawfirm where sleeves are being rolled up to resurrect the American economy. It's my duty as an American, and I'd feel great about it even without a million dollar bonus. Thanks to AIG and other behemoths (and a lack of government oversight) I'm actually out of a job at a lawfirm instead.

Mr. DeSantis's "productive efforts" could NOT have "secured hundreds of millions of dollars of value being returned to the American taxpayer" if (a.) hundreds of millions of dollars hadn't already been taken away from AIG's stockholders, and (b.) the American people hadn't invested hundreds of millions of dollars in a teetering company in the first place.

We didn't have to do that (at least legally speaking), and if we hadn't done that, Mr. DeSantis's productive efforts wouldn't have been rewarded with one thin dime, either in salary OR bonuses. He'd have been out of a job.

The notion that he gets to scrape a million off the top of any monies eventually repaid to the taxpayers years before they actually ARE repaid is ludicrous. Talk about a sense of entitlement -- you're enabling a man in thinking he's so superhuman that he deserves a million bucks of your and my money on the sheer prospect that he'll help arrange for some of that value to be repaid to the taxpayer at some future point.

What reason do I (or Liddy, for that matter) have for being so confident that we'll ever see that money again, let alone that Mr. DeSantis will be solely responsible (at a rate of 10% per every ten million) if any of it ever comes back?

Nobody "ran him out of the company on a rail." Please. If he had enough of a cushion to leave the company in a huff and still pledge to donate the entire bonus to some unspecified charity, he obviously accumulated a big cushion while his company (if not his division) was laying the groundwork for America's ruin. It's not a "witch hunt" to declare that Mr. DeSantis has been very fortunate in life and is no victim.

The country was "well and truly screwed," all right, but not by those of us who think he shouldn't have received a premature share of funds that shouldn't have needed to be paid out and haven't yet been repaid, yet hypothetically will be ONLY if we avail ourselves of his own invaluable services.

He's the one being sanctimonious (an hubristic), not we. Nor are we "threatening him and his family with physical violence." The same taxpayers who want the bonus money back not only paid that bonus, but are paying for the police who will keep him and his family safe. That protection -- another expense we didn't need -- wouldn't be necessary if he hadn't been greedy enough to land on the shame list.

Calling any taxpayer a violent thug who wants his money back is outrageous.

When we bailed out the automakers we made it contingent on the loss of pay, bonuses, unemployment protections and health benefits by ordinary Joes on the assembly line. Those are what I call "productive efforts." Mr. DeSantis's cleverness at creating value by manipulating commodities markets is impressive, but I find it unimpressive compared to the efforts of those who created REAL value by creating the commodities in the first place. The commodities themselves have value, no matter what.

If Mr. DeSantis didn't know that perfectly well, he wouldn't have wanted a million bucks extra currency to buy commodities like a second Porsche. He wasn't buying the cleverness of the guy who manipulated Porsche AG stock, he was buying a damned car.

galeharoldfan| 3.25.09 @ 12:42PM

Which is it, by the way? He agreed to work for one dollar, or he agreed to work for one dollar and another million plus in bonus pay during a year the company has made no profit? He can't have it both ways. Was the one dollar a year thing a pure stunt? I applaud stunts, but only at Cirque du Soleil, not in the financial district.

PaulSerr| 3.25.09 @ 1:30PM

Perhaps some of the bloggers are failing to read the actual letter - Desantis DID his job, and was NOT part of the 'unit' of AIG that brought the company down - he stayed on because his unit was being sold off, and did NOT have to - he could have left and gotten another job elsewhere however CHOSE to stay at his bosses behest, to help in the transfer - his point is altogether valid - not Everyone at AIG contributed to the companies downfall, and if some of you would take the time to actually read the entire letter, maybe you'd realize he has a very valid point - sincerely, an Obama democrat..

mark| 3.25.09 @ 1:33PM

I think what Mr. DeSantis misapprehends is that the only reason AIG exists today as an institution capable of paying that 3/4 million dollar bonus to him is because it was bailed out by taxpayer dollars. If things would have been allowed to run their natural course, there would be no AIG today, hence no bonus.

My family and friends who used to work at other companies that have gone under would love to have Mr. DeSantis problem -- being deprived of a bonus -- instead of being left with not only no bonus, but also no job at all, because the companies no longer exist.

I can sympathize with Mr. DeSantis, it may be unfair that he is taking the hit for this situation. But the sad reality is that that is true for many of the rest of us too -- and we have been deprived of much more than him, because the government did not come and rescue our companies like it did his. He appears to be completely self absorbed in his own situation, and totally uncomprehending that there are a vast number of Americans who have been financially "punished" far worse for things that are clearly equally far less their fault, than what he has as an executive VP in the AIG division that is responsible for his company's problems. Because he seems completely tone deaf to this, that he actually by all rights should have been out of a job 6 months ago had the company gone bankrupt, my sympathy for him is very limited.

Deborah| 3.25.09 @ 1:45PM

Good grief, some of you all have lost your minds. It's a huge corporation, one portion of which screwed the taxpayers. Other portions were profitable. If the "Kindly" government would have left this corporation alone...it could have gone into bankruptcy and sold off the money-making parts. But, I'm sure their "crony capitalists" were in bed with the gov't.

The problem has been the bailouts from the beginning. Capitalism means -- companies fail when they screw up! The problem is when businesses and government get in bed together. That's when taxpayers get screwed. This man was an innocent bystander amidst the massive screwing up of this company -- by whom? That's what we should find out, but my guess, would be government regulations were where this company went astray...just as the banks were led astray by Fannie and Freddie and the Community Reinvestment Act ( thanks Carter, Clinton, Frank, Dodd, Franklin Raines....and many more who should be tarred and feathered.)

Angel| 3.25.09 @ 3:55PM

Attacking Wall Street is just a distraction from the real action. Obama & Co. are destroying capitalism in our country, and tyranny is just around the corner. Who are his ACORN Brownshirts going to go after next?

galeharoldfan| 3.25.09 @ 4:11PM

Obama is doing exactly what was done by the Reagan administration in the Savings & Loan debacle -- either nationalizing or taking part ownership of failing companies in the near term to prevent a complete collapse of the financial system, and later selling that equity back to the public. Did Reagan destroy capitalism? You can yell about ACORN or Joe the Plumber or question the President' s birthplace or his religion or play any number of other silly games, but this is a national crisis, and it's a time for serious people. If anybody has other ideas for fixing this mess (other than cut the top tax rate again, let everybody go bankrupt, and hole up insider your home with a high-powered rifle and your Krugerrands under the mattress), step up. He's said he'll listen. Otherwise, lead, follow, or get out of the way. We have one President at a time, and this one didn't dig the hole.

JohnS| 3.25.09 @ 5:19PM

That's right, galeharoldfan, there is only one President at a time. And the current one signed a bill that allowed for these bonuses, and is now getting huffy about it after the fact.

Heather| 3.25.09 @ 5:33PM

Repubs and demos are even in generic polling now, (first time in three years!) and moderates are now trending repub by 23%. 2010 elections are only 19 months from now--we can reverse a lot of Obama's treachery then.

CH| 3.25.09 @ 5:38PM

Obama is certainly responsible for the hole we're in now. He worked for ACORN and helped blackmail banks into making bad loans in the nineties. ACORN, CRA, Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and Fanny/Freddie are all responsible for this mess. Obama's merely taking a page out of Rahm Emanual's book: 'Never waste a good crisis." Lying troll.

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