AIG FP bonuses

Full disclosure, if it hadn't been for AIG FPs determination to keep its best people, Madame Cura and I would not be in the house we live in today, as we were able to take advantage of generous relocation offers when the subsidiary moved from Manhattan to Westport CT and MC's bosses wanted to keep her continuing to work 12-14 hour days.

Which is what makes the bonus scandal so painfully fascinating. The vast majority of those receiving bonuses are the admins and other worker bees who aren't paid all that well salary-wise, but are relied on to keep the trains running on time and, in turn, rely on those year-end bonuses. Now, those workers aren't promised those bonuses in a contract. Quite the contrary, they're told again and again that bonuses aren't guaranteed and depend on their individual performance and the performance of the unit. In other words, they'll get whatever is left over when the senior execs take care of themselves.

One expects that at the end of the negotiations, those people will be screwed out of their bonuses. Those that can least afford it. And the senior executives -- those who knew they were about to default on billions in rancid Credit Default Swaps-- did have contracts. They'll keep their bonuses. Cause we simply can't have the government ripping up contracts, can we?

Such heavy-handed government intervention might suck all the "trust" out of the financial sector, don't you know.

UPDATE: Oh, and if we, the shareholders of AIG, don't stand and deliver, they might blow it all up.

But what about the commitment to taxpayers? Here is the second, perhaps more sobering thought: A.I.G. built this bomb, and it may be the only outfit that really knows how to defuse it.

A.I.G. employees concocted complex derivatives that then wormed their way through the global financial system. If they leave — the buzz on Wall Street is that some have, and more are ready to — they might simply turn around and trade against A.I.G.’s book. Why not? They know how bad it is. They built it.