AIG exec resigns (sort of)

These days it’s almost always a toss-up as to whether to write about AIG or Octomom. Their stories just never seem to end, & every time you turn the page thinking, “well that can’t be topped,” something even more egregious pops out at you.

But today I’ll let Nadya Suleman firing her nannies because they’re spies for Child Services go & focus on AIG Financial Products exec Jake DeSantis’ resignation.

Which he proffered on the Op-Ed page of the NY Times on Tuesday.

DeSantis—like so many of the erstwhile masters of the universe these days—is in serious danger of leaving Gucci marks on his lower lip. He had nothing to do with the failures of his division that laid the company & the world economy low; he should therefore be allowed to keep his bonus because it’s a contractual obligation, etc.

Well, first of all—I’m sure he shared in the triumph when the division & the company were riding high, even if it wasn’t directly his doing. It’s the nature of corporate life that this sort of thing gets shared. You don't get to pick & choose (any more) whether you get credit or blame for your unit’s success or failure.

Second—AIG has plenty of contractual obligations that it’s buried with a fleet of bulldozers of exigency; why should bonus payouts be set aside from all those abrogations?

What I love is his claim that, “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.”

Where, exactly, would those “more stable employers” be? Any company not making massive layoffs so far is figuring out how/when to do so. Shuffling your feet in the dirt & whining that you could go anywhere really rings hollow these days. Even in the high-flying world of…whatever it is they do there.

DeSantis says he’s keeping the bonus, but donating the entire after-tax amount of $742K to “organizations that are helping people who are suffering from the global downturn.”

Unnamed, but whatever.

He hastens to add, “This is not a tax-deduction gimmick”.

Maybe, but whatever.

Dunno whether he’s started making the rounds of the talk shows yet, but you can pretty much bet that’s in the cards.

DeSantis tosses out one Parthian shot, wishing Ed Liddy, AIG CEO, "success" in repaying the billions in loans from the feds & "luck with the continued unwinding of the company's diverse businesses". He assures Liddy (& NYT readers) that he'll "continue over the short term to help make sure no balls are dropped"—so he's submitting a sort of open-ended resignation. But, he continues, "after what's happened this past week I can't remain much longer—there is too much bad blood."

This brings to mind Oliver Cromwell's admonishment to the Long Parliament:

"You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go."