Let them eat cake

A.I.G. planning Huge Bonuses after $170 Billion Bailout

This was a headline story in the New York Times. I wonder what folks who have lost their jobs and savings feel about these clowns. I have a problem understanding how you can get a bonus for running your business into bankruptcy (why didn’t that happen?).

In my opinion the most ironic part of the article is the letter that Edward M. Liddy (the government appointed chairman of A.I.G.) wrote to Timothy F. Geithner:

“We cannot attract and retain the best and the brightest talent to lead and staff the A.I.G. businesses — which are now being operated principally on behalf of American taxpayers — if employees believe their compensation is subject to continued and arbitrary adjustment by the U.S. Treasury,” he wrote Mr. Geithner on Saturday.

Let’s file that statement under “Pay for Performance”