???America is in uproar over recently uncovered news that the American International Group (AIG) plans to pay more than $165 million in bonuses to undisclosed executives.
???AIG has received $170 billion dollars in bailout money to date, and approximately 80 percent of the company is owned by the Federal Reserve and the treasury, which prompts many to question how the company can justify paying any bonuses at all.
???"In the last six months, AIG has received substantial sums from the U.S. Treasury," Barack Obama said on Monday, going on to call the bonuses an 'outrage.'
???Theoretically this money will be repaid to the American taxpayer through stipulations written into the next government deposit into AIG, which will total $30 billion dollars. This raises problems of its own, however, as it is unclear how this plan does not result in AIG paying us back with the money we gave them.
???The Obama administration has by their own admission known about these bonuses for some time and are contending that they have been attempting to quietly resolve the problem without causing a stir. Well, the stir has come so we might as well become well versed in this latest economic travesty.
???According to the Treasury Department, AIG is contractually obligated to pay these bonuses, some of which will go to employees in the company's financial products unit, the mismanaging of which is responsible for AIG's original troubles. In other words the people who proverbially shot first to get us into this mess have, as of Friday, been rewarded for their savvy business instincts. It could be said however that the fact that these people are not deserting the sinking ship of AIG like the rats they are calls the accuracy of their instincts into question even more than their past actions.
???Why were these people given the leeway to award these bonuses? Why was the first check AIG received not bogged down with a stipulation regarding this very situation? It should not have been possible to award bonuses in the first place, contracts or no contracts. The government owns 80 percent of AIG, do you really think that ownership couldn't have come with some kind of contractual moratorium?
???But, alas, it didn't, and so this money, along with an earlier $55 million, has been irrevocably made a bonus. The problem seems to stem in part from the fact that in spite of literally investing enough money to buy 80 percent of AIG, the Treasury and Federal Reserve are mincing around admitting their ownership of the company, and so avoid making managerial decisions.
???As with everything else in this recession the problem is caused by responsibility in some fashion. The government did not and will not take responsibility for their investment, and so with no oversight the executives who remain in charge of AIG make irresponsible decisions with taxpayer money. But it cannot be ignored that there was a time not too long ago when the hardworking employee who was given a bonus in times of company trial gave that bonus back in a voluntary acceptance of the shared sacrifice necessary to fix a problem of this magnitude.
???It's not always about taking what you deserve. Sometimes it has to be about doing what's right, or else this country isn't worth saving.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
