Chicago Tribune requesting bonus payouts

April 22, 2009

Well at least the Tribune is asking before it doles out cash. Severance pay - fine. “Discretionary incentive bonuses” are another matter. AIG’s were “retention bonuses” and 11 folks got a minimum of $1M after they had left the company - including one who received $4.6M.

From WGNTV:

Chicago Tribune parent Tribune Co. today filed motions in Delaware seeking U.S. Bankruptcy Court authorization to resume severance payments to individuals who left the media company before its Chapter 11 filing in December, as well as to pay discretionary incentive bonuses for 2008 to nearly 700 managers, directors and others, according to the Tribune’s Tower Ticker blog.

They’re asking for a more modest sum: $13M (compared to AIG’s grotesque $165M) and consider it “part of the would-be recipients’ annual compensation as part of the normal course of business.”

The proposal:

• Top 10 executives would not get any of the money
• The 700 would split $13M
• Median bonus: $9500
• Average $18K
• 84% < $30K
• 70% < $20K

Unfortunately, it’s not going to help the 53 people they let go today.

How many people could stay on if that $13M was used strictly for salary?

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AIG Timeline
Hardball: timeline of bonuses
Tim Geithner’s AIG Timeline
AIG $165M bonuses after $170B bailout
AIG bonus breakdown
Andrew Cuomo: $30M of AIG bonuses will be returned

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AIG timeline

March 20, 2009

barry was “stunned” but Geithner, ex-president of the NY Federals Reserve Bank was working on TARP before he even got near barry. How stupid do they think we are?

AIG received more than $170 billion, which puts the government - taxpayer’s - stake at about 80 percent. 9 out of the top 10 as well as 15 ou the top 20 have agreed to give the bonus back in full.

Here’s a great recap by REUTERS:

Sept. 16, 2008:

American International Group, the world’s largest insurer, avoids bankruptcy after an $85 billion federal bailout that gives the U.S. government a 79.9% stake in the company.

Sept. 18:

AIG names Edward Liddy, former Allstate chairman, as chairman and chief executive. He succeeds Robert Willumstad, who steps down after three months on the job.

Oct. 3:

AIG announces plan to sell assets to repay its loan from the U.S. government. Moody’s Investors Service cuts AIG’s debt ratings, citing the company’s plans to sell assets, limiting the insurer’s ability to do business.

Oct. 10:

AIG says it had borrowed $70.3 billion from the government as of Oct. 8. AIG draws fire after reports it had spent $223,000 on hotel rooms and spa services days after it got the federal loan.

Oct. 15:

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo says he is investigating “unwarranted and outrageous” spending by AIG. Cuomo seeks a full accounting of “bonuses, stock options, severance payments, gratuities, benefits, junkets and any and all other perks.” He wants AIG to recover or rescind the payments.

So Cuomo was already on to the bonuses. barry gets elected and begins transition.

Nov. 6:

AIG says the total owed under its $85 billion line of credit from the U.S. government is down to $61.3 billion. AIG companies also had borrowed $19.9 billion under a separate $38 billion securities lending agreement, making the total amount the government had made available to AIG about $123 billion.

Nov. 25:

AIG says Liddy’s salary will be $1 for the coming year and rules out 2008 bonuses for AIG’s seven top executives. Fifty more executives won’t get raises in 2009, the company says.

Dec. 2:

AIG and the government agree to clear the insurer of its obligations on about $53.5 billion in bad mortgage debt.

Dec. 22:

German reinsurer Munich Re says it will buy AIG’s HSB Group for $742 million.

Jan. 26, 2009:

AIG says it is working with Bank of America and Merrill Lynch to sell a fund management business that operates 15 funds with more than $12.4 billion in assets.

March 2:

The Treasury and the Fed announce a third new aid plan for AIG, putting $30 billion more at its disposal.

March 14:

AIG once again comes under criticism after reports that its financial products unit is obligated to pay at least $165 million in employee bonuses.

AIG bonus breakdown

March 20, 2009

Rundown of the bonuses. No names as yet - that I’ve seen. AIG Liddy said that some will return their bonuses 100% - but he wants to protect their identities because of death threats.

AIG BONUSES BY THE NUMBERS:

• Top recipient received more than $6.4 million
• Top seven bonus recipients each received more than $4 million
• Top 10 bonus recipients received a combined $42 million
• 22 individuals received bonuses of $2 million or more, and combined, they received more than $72 million
• 73 individuals received bonuses of $1 million or more
• 11 individuals who received $1 million or more are no longer working at AIG, including one who received $4.6 million

Source: New York Office of Attorney General

AIG: Edward Liddy

March 20, 2009

I honestly don’t know what to say about these pigs who accepted that money and I can’t understand how they could use the excuse they needed to keep the best people when those same people made the very decisions that allowed the company to fail.

On top of that 11 of the greedy men aren’t even working there so that logic means nothing. And they were afraid of a lawsuit? So let them try and sue and expose their names to the press.

Here’s Edward Liddy in October saying what he wants to do to save AIG. He really can’t be the scapegoat because he’s working for a dollar and came out of retirement to try and help. I wonder if he can just quit.

drenima55

And here he is before Congress - abbreviated.

talwanonline

Rep LaTourette: “giant sucking sound…tightening of sphincters on both ends”

March 20, 2009

Just watch. He's referring to the AIG bonuses.

08blatz

Rep. Steve LaTourette (R-OH): Ross Perot when he ran for president in 1992 talked about the giant sucking sound. Well, today, there’s another giant sucking sound going on in Washington D.C. And that’s tightening of sphincters on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue as people are having to explain who put into the stimulus bill this provision of law.

The sucking sound ended up being Chris Dodd being thrown under the tires of the bus.

Rep Connie Mack: “The Timothy Geithner experience has been a disaster”

March 18, 2009

Tim Geithner is sinking fast. One wonders if he wants to be forced out early. He looks adrift.

Rep Connie Mack (R-FL) makes an excellent point:

Well before Timothy Geithner became Secretary of the Treasury, he was working hand-in-hand with AIG and other financial institutions to provide them hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer money as one of the key architects of the financial sector bailout.

I was outspoken against the bailouts then, and I’m even more outraged now.

I’ve had serious concerns about Secretary Geithner from the moment he was nominated. In the months since, he has shown us time and again why he was the wrong choice for this critical post. This week’s news on the AIG bonus scandal is but the latest fiasco under his watch and he has lost the confidence of the American people.

Quite simply, the Timothy Geithner experience has been a disaster.

I know nothing about business or the economy or whatever - but who in their right mind thought a man who had used TurboTax, been audited by the IRS and still didn’t pay up was the right man to straighten out the economy and head up the IRS?

Source: CNN