I read with interest the resignation letter offered by Jake DeSantis in the new york times published March 24.
While I think it is valuable to hear from all parties involved in any debate I think Mr. DeSantis makes one fundamental flaw in his argument - AIG is a company not a collection of individual units. AIG has lost billions and requires the government to bail them out. The bailout did not go to AIG-Financial Products and sorry, Mr. DeSantis, but at AIG you are all in the same boat. If your company has failed I think it is incumbent upon all employees to sacrifice in order to make the company more profitable. Under his logic there would be no need for CEO Liddy to take a $1 salary - he surely was not involved in the credit default swaps either.
Mr. DeSantis also makes an analogy:
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.
I would agree with him if the plumber and electrician were two separate companies. However, if both worked for the same general contractor is he seriously contending I should still pay for the plumbing work? I certainly would not because if both the plumber and electrician were working for Contractor A, and the electrician burned down the house, I would probably sue contractor A for damages rather than paying for plumbing.
Separating a company into units is merely an organizational tool for organizing employees. AIG is a company that requested money from the company to avoid going bankrupt. I would suggest Mr. DeSantis ask how the employees at Lehman Brothers who had nothing to do with credit default swaps are handling their bonus checks.