AMERICAblog: AIG paying $3 million to executives who were fired
tlsintx
· 1 year ago
that does it. i say we let the entire insurance industry crater. i'd rather bail out the auto giants and get them ready to produce efficient vehicles...at least they make products...insurers are just an unnecessary layer of greedy jerks who prey on peoples' fears. medical costs would plummet if we got rid of health insurers. it's a racket.
SCLiberal
· 1 year ago
I find it interesting that the Republicans pushed so hard for bailouts to the super rich while fighting just as hard to leave the auto workers twisting. I'm ready for socialism now.
tlsintx
· 1 year ago
me too.
SCLiberal
· 1 year ago
It doesn't matter if Congress doesn't "get it" or not. Who are they going to answer to? Certainly not you or me.
Older_Wiser
· 1 year ago
Agree with both points below. Of course, with Paulson in charge, AIG will get what it wants--for now.
Meanwhile, it's amazing to me hearing people on CSPAN who absolutely forget what unions have done for ALL working people in this country. So many would jeopardize the lives of millions of workers in or related to the auto industry (including small businesses--restaurants, clothing stores, etc. not even directly related) in order to "punish" the last great manufacturing sector in this country.
Just get rid of the execs who allowed this to happen--those with no vision or tied to the oil industry--and put plenty of restrictions on the loans.
Meanwhile, new al Qaeda message out, "criticizing Obama" and warning him not to adhere to the Bush policies...
SCLiberal
· 1 year ago
My boyfriend and I had this auto bailout discussion last night. He said auto workers make $73 per hour. He saw it on the evening news. I sent him this email this morning:
Been doing a little research online.
Autoworkers at Nissan in Mississippi make $12 per hour while the supplier industries for the plant in Canton are paying $9 to $11 per hour. This was in 2006. Source: http://www.larouchepub.com/other/2006/3319canto...
The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the wages of assemblers and fabricators at $8 to $28 per hour. I found this page very interesting. Source: http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes512099.htm
This last article comes from the ultra-conservative magazine the National Review. In it they bemoan the fact that even workers such as those cutting grass and cleaning toilets make $26 per hour. "In the real world, these jobs would be outsourced to $8 an hour, no-benefit wage earners..." In the real world, NO ONE can live on $8 per hour.
In 2006 the living wage enacted by law in Lansing Michigan was $12.50 without health benefits.
What we tell people when we okay them working for poverty wages is that we don't value their labor. Corporations never will unless forced to do so. Granted, unions overstepped in the 1980s but without labor unions there would be no minimum wage, no weekends, no overtime pay, no sick leave, etc. I really don't understand why people in the south are so anti-union.
This is why I don't rely on the American media for my news. It is usually bullshit.
Older_Wiser
· 1 year ago
Usually the hype about $45-50/hr wages also include the value of health benefits and retirement funds, something they don't reveal. And besides, higher wages for some working people always mean higher wages for all, even as corporations try to escape to cheaper labor. They would have 10 yr old kids working if they could pay them lunch money.
ZennButtKicker (tlhwraith)
· 1 year ago
Just my opinion, but they'd probably pay them lunch money, make a rule so they can't leave from work or bring in external packages (security, or some such nonsense), then charge more than what they pay for lunch in the company cafeteria, effectively creating a permanent slave labor class....
Oh yeah, that's been done under ideas like "share cropping" or the way a lot of "company towns" used to be run.
ShirleyGoodnessanMercy
· 1 year ago
Good job! Thanks for doing this research.
SCLiberal
· 1 year ago
Had to. Ignorance annoys me.
SCLiberal
· 1 year ago
Regarding that message warning Obama not to adhere to Bush policies... was that from al Qaeda or the American people? ;)
Older_Wiser
· 1 year ago
: ) According to MSNBC, from al Qaeda, purportively...allegedly. And I thought I had fixed that--should be, "Bush policies concerning Iraq."
KerrynowCampau
· 1 year ago
Great idea about getting rid of the execs. After all, it is THEIR fault.
I would agree with loans with that provision.
inlrar
· 1 year ago
*Puts tin foil hat on* Don’t they have a long and even historical partnership with the CIA? *Takes tin foil hat off* No I don’t believe everything I read but I’ve “heard” about CIA/AIG (CIAIG?) links for quite awhile now.
caphillprof
· 1 year ago
Fascinating article today on how the demise of the Detroit automakers would hurt small towns in the center of very Red, very Republican Kansas: http://www.saljournal.com/news/story/Domestic-a... It's easy to say Detroit and Michigan but the damages will be nation wide.
Meanwhile, isn't it fascinating that execs have earned their deferred compensation while retired autoworkers have no entitle to their pensions and retirement healthcare. There is no shame.
tlsintx
· 1 year ago
digby has a good post up on how many fingers Congress has in so many pies...
I can't get why you liberals are so pissed off with people getting compensation deferred from a time when their so-called profitable decisions were in fact destroying the world financial markets. You thought this bailout was for loosening the credit markets? No, it was for paying off all the deferred compensation from all the success they had.
My guess is that AIG had to pay $3 million because the executives are contractually obligated to receive a payout if terminated... Bailout or no bailout, contract law still stands
bluestockton
· 1 year ago
If AIG were not coming hat in hand to Congress to ask for the taxpayers' money, then the terms of its contracts with the execs would be nobody's business. But they are. That should give the taxpayers the right to demand that those contracts be amended or nullified.
okojo
· 1 year ago
I agree, but it is probably easier to pay off the executives who have pretty airtight clauses for compensation via termination than fight them in court, lose and pay even more. I am not condoning the compensation, I am offering an explanation why they were paid off to incompetent and reckless people.
Executives of mulit national companies are well taken care of, and try to cover as much of bases as possible. There are also standard contracts for certain corporate officers that point out if an executive is let go.
tas
· 1 year ago
OK, so your employer is obligated to pay you severeance pay by contract but gets assistance from the Feds for some reason. So, is your pay now forfiet? 3 million for these employees is nothing and could expose AIG to much more in an action for wages under state laws such as attorney's fees and costs with possible treble damages, etc. and they must not be that high a level of employee to only get a total of 3m in deferred compensation. And Congress does not have the ability to void those compensation contracts retroactively. that is against the federal constitution.
bluestockton
· 1 year ago
Cuomo for president in 2016!
okojo
· 1 year ago
Cuomo would get slaughtered if he ran for nationwide office, there is a reason he was spanked when he tried to run for governor of New York in 2002.
T. Scheisskopf
· 1 year ago
AIG won't get it. They can't get it. Getting It is not part of their corporate culture. The only thing that they will understand is when a new Attorney General brings The Hammer of The Gods, a RICO indictment, down on them. Not one minute before will they clue up.
For they are The Masters of The Universe. Just ask them.
Lourdes
· 1 year ago
Anyone have any ideas on how Americans can help stop the bleeding of American funds? The November elections seem to have stopped the bailout topics. Almost as if America is waiting for the new president elect to take office and the hero miraculously save the day. In the meantime the raiding of the American coffers by private corporations continues. Once the bailout money is disbursed anyone, anywhere can ask any questions they choose and the money will 'poof!' have disappeared - just like magic. Why must we wait until this is over before we begin to ask the embarrassing questions?
Phil
· 1 year ago
$3 million for actual deferred compensation for properly doing a job in a company the size of AIG is nothing. At another website which rhymes with Maily Hos you can actually ask AIG ten questions are they are actually responding. If $3 million out of $152 billion is bothering you so much, ask AIG. This sounds very much like a legitimate expense to me. For instance , insurance writers may be eligible for a bonus for exceeding a certain amount of insurance written which was deferred because AIG had no money.
Karen
· 1 year ago
Hence the convenient timing of Eliot Spitzer's 'outing'. He was on to all of these guys and wrote a scathing editorial about the shenanigans on Wall Street right before he was destroyed. Now, the guy was dumb enough on his own, and I'm not excusing his behavior, but how can Obama get him in a position to pay the scumbags back with real investigations? I'd enjoy that.
Rupert
· 1 year ago
Deferred compensation is not the same as a bonus. In 2004, as a "highly compensated" employee (just shy of $90k at the time, IIRC), I deferred some of my compensation. It goes in a fund similar to your 401(k), the difference being you have the option of taking it (after paying tax) when you leave the company. You'd be pissed if your employer decided to take your 401(k) to pay back the taxpayer, and I think these AIG executives would have just as much right to be pissed if AIG had given away money they had intentionally saved.
All Comments
I'm ready for socialism now.
Meanwhile, it's amazing to me hearing people on CSPAN who absolutely forget what unions have done for ALL working people in this country. So many would jeopardize the lives of millions of workers in or related to the auto industry (including small businesses--restaurants, clothing stores, etc. not even directly related) in order to "punish" the last great manufacturing sector in this country.
Just get rid of the execs who allowed this to happen--those with no vision or tied to the oil industry--and put plenty of restrictions on the loans.
Meanwhile, new al Qaeda message out, "criticizing Obama" and warning him not to adhere to the Bush policies...
Been doing a little research online.
Autoworkers at Nissan in Mississippi make $12 per hour while the supplier industries for the plant in Canton are paying $9 to $11 per hour. This was in 2006.
Source: http://www.larouchepub.com/other/2006/3319canto...
The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the wages of assemblers and fabricators at $8 to $28 per hour. I found this page very interesting.
Source: http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes512099.htm
Auto line-workers under UAW union earn $26 per hour ($60,000 per year).
source: http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/payne2005...
This last article comes from the ultra-conservative magazine the National Review. In it they bemoan the fact that even workers such as those cutting grass and cleaning toilets make $26 per hour. "In the real world, these jobs would be outsourced to $8 an hour, no-benefit wage earners..." In the real world, NO ONE can live on $8 per hour.
In 2006 the living wage enacted by law in Lansing Michigan was $12.50 without health benefits.
What we tell people when we okay them working for poverty wages is that we don't value their labor. Corporations never will unless forced to do so. Granted, unions overstepped in the 1980s but without labor unions there would be no minimum wage, no weekends, no overtime pay, no sick leave, etc. I really don't understand why people in the south are so anti-union.
The question was posted at Yahoo, "What is the hourly wage rate for a 25 year GM autoworker. Several answers ranged from $18 to $30.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=200...
This is why I don't rely on the American media for my news. It is usually bullshit.
Oh yeah, that's been done under ideas like "share cropping" or the way a lot of "company towns" used to be run.
According to MSNBC, from al Qaeda, purportively...allegedly. And I thought I had fixed that--should be, "Bush policies concerning Iraq."
I would agree with loans with that provision.
Meanwhile, isn't it fascinating that execs have earned their deferred compensation while retired autoworkers have no entitle to their pensions and retirement healthcare. There is no shame.
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/backing-...
http://thesebastards.blogspot.com/
Executives of mulit national companies are well taken care of, and try to cover as much of bases as possible. There are also standard contracts for certain corporate officers that point out if an executive is let go.
For they are The Masters of The Universe. Just ask them.
You'd be pissed if your employer decided to take your 401(k) to pay back the taxpayer, and I think these AIG executives would have just as much right to be pissed if AIG had given away money they had intentionally saved.