Jake DeSantis, an AIG executive and a recipient of a bonus amounting to approximately $750,000 after taxes, has up and quit. In it, he blames everyone for his woes -- CEO Liddy for betraying him, Cuomo for stoking populist rage for political gain, and Congress for listening to their constituents and asking questions on their behalf.
He takes the opportunity in his resignation letter to tell Mr. Liddy a little bit about himself because they have never met, see, and he wants Mr. Liddy to know he's the child of humble school teachers. He just happens to have cc'd his letter to the New York Times, so if millions of other people read that too, he's cool with that.
Oh, and btw, he's donating your tax dollars to a charity of his choice. But tax that too much, he warns, and you'll be screwing them over, not him.
The best part is listening to Mr. DeSantis wax righteous about working for $1, when he knew full well he would be handsomely compensated in exchange for touting that line.
For him to assert that he did it for the good of the company, indeed the country, is absurd. In lieu of a reasonable salary, he opted for an outrageously high, guaranteed bonus, to be issued regardless of performance. He argues that he was given repeated assurances on that point, and for the company to renege on it, well, his resignation is nothing less than a matter of honor.
The best part is listening to Mr. DeSantis wax righteous about working for $1, when he knew full well he would be handsomely compensated in exchange for touting that line.
For him to assert that he did it for the good of the company, indeed the country, is absurd. In lieu of a reasonable salary, he opted for an outrageously high, guaranteed bonus, to be issued regardless of performance. He argues that he was given repeated assurances on that point, and for the company to renege on it, well, his resignation is nothing less than a matter of honor.
Please. He wasn't working for $1 any more than Bernie Madoff accepted clients out of the goodness of his heart.
But don't even think about shaming him into returning that bonus. He writes:
Mr. DeSantis may not have been a culprit of the collapse, but he was complicit in a bonus scam, and hell if he's sorry about it. Why didn't he jump ship if, as he claims, all his colleagues were receiving attractive offers left and right? Surely dozens of companies were enticing him with better deals than the paltry $750,000 after taxes the government was offering.
It doesn't take much to see that the culture of entitlement and greed that created the villains of AIGFP also created the likes of this twerp.
But don't even think about shaming him into returning that bonus. He writes:
"As most of us have done nothing wrong, guilt is not a motivation to surrender our earnings. We have worked 12 long months under these contracts and now deserve to be paid as promised. None of us should be cheated of our payments any more than a plumber should be cheated after he has fixed the pipes but a careless electrician causes a fire that burns down the house."Hm. More like the electrician burned down the house, and then the company had no choice but to call in a plumber who leveraged his position to charge usurious rates to fix a toilet sitting in ashes. What is it with this country and plumbers anyway?
Mr. DeSantis may not have been a culprit of the collapse, but he was complicit in a bonus scam, and hell if he's sorry about it. Why didn't he jump ship if, as he claims, all his colleagues were receiving attractive offers left and right? Surely dozens of companies were enticing him with better deals than the paltry $750,000 after taxes the government was offering.
It doesn't take much to see that the culture of entitlement and greed that created the villains of AIGFP also created the likes of this twerp.
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Oy, Oy. Why is this guy complicit in a "bonus scam?" He signed a contract for services and his letter rightly points out the hypocrisy of Messrs. Liddy and Cuomo. To that list he could have added gutless congressmen, hysterical newspersons and bloggers, and those economic experts organizing bus trips to burn crosses in the lawns of bonus recipients. This obsession with a minute blip in our economic crisis, and one that is mostly misunderstood, is actually going to end up causing long term damage. Sounds like Rush of the left.
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