I don't think there should be any physical harm to these people, but they should be the objects of scorn and ridicule. They took in millions, and now they're all claiming complete ignorance and innocence. First, I'm kind of curious what happened to those who were responsible for the lousy credit transactions. Where are they now? Dead? Retired? With Sawyer and Hurley on the Lost island? Or are they plying their trade and maintaining a low profile while getting the big bucks at another big financial firm?Scorn Trails A.I.G. Executives, Even in Their Driveways
The New York Times; Published: March 19, 2009
The A.I.G. executive who was nicknamed “Jackpot Jimmy” by a New York tabloid walked up the driveway toward his bay-windowed house in Fairfield, Conn., on Thursday afternoon. "How do I feel?” said the executive, James Haas, repeating the question he had just been asked. “I feel horrible. This has been a complete invasion of privacy."
Mr. Haas walked on, his pink shirt a burst of color on a slate-gray afternoon. The words came haltingly. "You have to understand,” he said, “there are kids involved, there have been death threats. ..." His voice trailed off. It looked as if he was fighting back tears.
"I didn’t have anything to do with those credit problems,” said Mr. Haas, 47. “I told Mr. Liddy” — Edward M. Liddy, the chief executive of A.I.G., the insurance giant — “I would rescind my retention contract.”
. . . Those bonuses in years past helped make A.I.G. executives into prominent local citizens. They own big houses like Mr. Haas’s, with its three chimneys and its views of Southport Harbor and Long Island Sound in the distance. Some are well-known contributors to arts groups and private schools in Connecticut communities not far from the office park in Wilton that is the workplace of many of the employees in A.I.G.’s Financial Products division, which is at the center of the storm over bonus payments.
Now these executives are toxic, and those communities are rattled and divided. Private security guards have been stationed outside their houses, and sometimes the local police drive by. A.I.G. employees at the company’s office tower in Lower Manhattan were told to avoid leaving the building while a demonstration was going on outside. The memo also advised them to avoid displaying company-issued ID cards when they left the office and to abandon tote bags or other items with the A.I.G. logo.
When Enron went under, thousands of rank and file employees who were truly innocent were wiped out. Careers destroyed, retirement savings gone. They didn't know. They had no way of knowing. They had no way to do anything about it if they had known. But that's how corporate America works. The big guys screw up and it's the little guys who pay the price.
At worst, this is an attempt to spread the hurt around. If you work at a company that goes belly up, you're likely to get hurt. And that should be the same, or more, if you're an exec than if you're a peon. Because as an exec, you have a chance to do something about it, and you should have some idea about what's going on.
If this becomes the norm, you will see execs looking around more closely to monitor their companies and practice some prudent policies to avoid a recurrence of this instead of engaging in a Sergeant Schultz style burying of their heads.
And unless all those Lehman and Bear Stearns execs and all the others who have been downsized during the last couple of years are also with Sawyer and Hurley, there's plenty of financial talent out there that just might take a flyer on saving AIG for a big payoff, IF AND ONLY IF they succeed.
