I just got to read an OpEd in The Times that helps me understand just how out of touch the AIG elite (and perhaps the rest of Wall Street) really are. Come below for the money (and I do mean money) quote:
Mr. Jake DeSantis wrote an "open letter" to the head of AIG that was published in the NYT this AM, lamenting the fact that AIG wants folks to give back their bonuses. He talks about how hard he worked and how he wasn't responsible for the downfall of AIG. Than he talks about how out of the goodness of his heart, he had planned to give the after tax proceeds of his bonus to various charities. He then says:
On March 16 I received a payment from A.I.G. amounting to $742,006.40, after taxes. In light of the uncertainty over the ultimate taxation and legal status of this payment, the actual amount I donate may be less — in fact, it may end up being far less if the recent House bill raising the tax on the retention payments to 90 percent stands. Once all the money is donated, you will immediately receive a list of all recipients.
Now, I suppose it is a good and wonderful thing that he will make donations to charity. But just how out of touch must he be to think that somebody outside of Wall Street is going to cry one tear for a man who's pre-tax bonus payment was over 1.5 million dollars.
Oh the pain.
Where I work - and probably where most of us work - even though there weren't individuals personally responsible for our organization's difficulties this year, NOBODY gets bonuses, and management doesn't even get raises. And more people than I like to think about - who bear no fault for the economy - are now unemployed. That's how the rest of the country works.
I think Ryan would say "Go home - and good riddance.