[Assam] Dear A.I.G., I Quit!

[Chan Mahanta]

Here are some responses:


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/opinion/l26aig.html?hpw












At 10:51 AM -0700 3/25/09, Dilip and Dil Deka wrote:
>Have you ever written a resignation letter like this? - long, with 
>criticism of the boss, suggestions for improvement, and discussion 
>of US congress actions.
>>From the NYT:
>===========================================================================
>Dear A.I.G., I Quit!
>
>Peter Ahlberg
>Published: March 24, 2009
>The following is a letter sent on Tuesday by Jake DeSantis, an 
>executive vice president of the American International Group's 
>financial products unit, to Edward M. Liddy, the chief executive of 
>A.I.G
>\
>DEAR Mr. Liddy,
>It is with deep regret that I submit my notice of resignation from 
>A.I.G. Financial Products. I hope you take the time to read this 
>entire letter. Before describing the details of my decision, I want 
>to offer some context:
>I am proud of everything I have done for the commodity and equity 
>divisions of A.I.G.-F.P. I was in no way involved in - or 
>responsible for - the credit default swap transactions that have 
>hamstrung A.I.G. Nor were more than a handful of the 400 current 
>employees of A.I.G.-F.P. Most of those responsible have left the 
>company and have conspicuously escaped the public outrage.
>After 12 months of hard work dismantling the company - during which 
>A.I.G. reassured us many times we would be rewarded in March 2009 - 
>we in the financial products unit have been betrayed by A.I.G. and 
>are being unfairly persecuted by elected officials. In response to 
>this, I will now leave the company and donate my entire post-tax 
>retention payment to those suffering from the global economic 
>downturn. My intent is to keep none of the money myself.
>I take this action after 11 years of dedicated, honorable service to 
>A.I.G. I can no longer effectively perform my duties in this 
>dysfunctional environment, nor am I being paid to do so. Like you, I 
>was asked to work for an annual salary of $1, and I agreed out of a 
>sense of duty to the company and to the public officials who have 
>come to its aid. Having now been let down by both, I can no longer 
>justify spending 10, 12, 14 hours a day away from my family for the 
>benefit of those who have let me down.
>You and I have never met or spoken to each other, so I'd like to 
>tell you about myself. I was raised by schoolteachers working 
>multiple jobs in a world of closing steel mills. My hard work earned 
>me acceptance to M.I.T., and the institute's generous financial aid 
>enabled me to attend. I had fulfilled my American dream.
>I started at this company in 1998 as an equity trader, became the 
>head of equity and commodity trading and, a couple of years before 
>A.I.G.'s meltdown last September, was named the head of business 
>development for commodities. Over this period the equity and 
>commodity units were consistently profitable - in most years 
>generating net profits of well over $100 million. Most recently, 
>during the dismantling of A.I.G.-F.P., I was an integral player in 
>the pending sale of its well-regarded commodity index business to 
>UBS. As you know, business unit sales like this are crucial to 
>A.I.G.'s effort to repay the American taxpayer.
>The profitability of the businesses with which I was associated 
>clearly supported my compensation. I never received any pay 
>resulting from the credit default swaps that are now losing so much 
>money. I did, however, like many others here, lose a significant 
>portion of my life savings in the form of deferred compensation 
>invested in the capital of A.I.G.-F.P. because of those losses. In 
>this way I have personally suffered from this controversial activity 
>- directly as well as indirectly with the rest of the taxpayers.
>I have the utmost respect for the civic duty that you are now 
>performing at A.I.G. You are as blameless for these credit default 
>swap losses as I am. You answered your country's call and you are 
>taking a tremendous beating for it.
>But you also are aware that most of the employees of your financial 
>products unit had nothing to do with the large losses. And I am 
>disappointed and frustrated over your lack of support for us. I and 
>many others in the unit feel betrayed that you failed to stand up 
>for us in the face of untrue and unfair accusations from certain 
>members of Congress last Wednesday and from the press over our 
>retention payments, and that you didn't defend us against the 
>baseless and reckless comments made by the attorneys general of New 
>York and Connecticut.
>My guess is that in October, when you learned of these retention 
>contracts, you realized that the employees of the financial products 
>unit needed some incentive to stay and that the contracts, being 
>both ethical and useful, should be left to stand. That's probably 
>why A.I.G. management assured us on three occasions during that 
>month that the company would "live up to its commitment" to honor 
>the contract guarantees.
>That may be why you decided to accelerate by three months more than 
>a quarter of the amounts due under the contracts. That action 
>signified to us your support, and was hardly something that one 
>would do if he truly found the contracts "distasteful."
>That may also be why you authorized the balance of the payments on March 13.
>At no time during the past six months that you have been leading 
>A.I.G. did you ask us to revise, renegotiate or break these 
>contracts - until several hours before your appearance last week 
>before Congress.
>I think your initial decision to honor the contracts was both 
>ethical and financially astute, but it seems to have been 
>politically unwise. It's now apparent that you either misunderstood 
>the agreements that you had made - tacit or otherwise - with the 
>Federal Reserve, the Treasury, various members of Congress and 
>Attorney General Andrew Cuomo of New York, or were not strong enough 
>to withstand the shifting political winds.
>You've now asked the current employees of A.I.G.-F.P. to repay these 
>earnings. As you can imagine, there has been a tremendous amount of 
>serious thought and heated discussion about how we should respond to 
>this breach of trust.
>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.
>Many of the employees have, in the past six months, turned down job 
>offers from more stable employers, based on A.I.G.'s assurances that 
>the contracts would be honored. They are now angry about having been 
>misled by A.I.G.'s promises and are not inclined to return the money 
>as a favor to you.
>The only real motivation that anyone at A.I.G.-F.P. now has is fear. 
>Mr. Cuomo has threatened to "name and shame," and his counterpart in 
>Connecticut, Richard Blumenthal, has made similar threats - even 
>though attorneys general are supposed to stand for due process, to 
>conduct trials in courts and not the press.
>So what am I to do? There's no easy answer. I know that because of 
>hard work I have benefited more than most during the economic boom 
>and have saved enough that my family is unlikely to suffer 
>devastating losses during the current bust. Some might argue that 
>members of my profession have been overpaid, and I wouldn't disagree.
>That is why I have decided to donate 100 percent of the effective 
>after-tax proceeds of my retention payment directly to organizations 
>that are helping people who are suffering from the global downturn. 
>This is not a tax-deduction gimmick; I simply believe that I at 
>least deserve to dictate how my earnings are spent, and do not want 
>to see them disappear back into the obscurity of A.I.G.'s or the 
>federal government's budget. Our earnings have caused such a 
>distraction for so many from the more pressing issues our country 
>faces, and I would like to see my share of it benefit those truly in 
>need.
>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..
>This choice is right for me. I wish others at A.I.G.-F.P. luck 
>finding peace with their difficult decision, and only hope their 
>judgment is not clouded by fear.
>Mr. Liddy, I wish you success in your commitment to return the money 
>extended by the American government, and luck with the continued 
>unwinding of the company's diverse businesses - especially those 
>remaining credit default swaps. I'll continue over the short term to 
>help make sure no balls are dropped, but after what's happened this 
>past week I can't remain much longer - there is too much bad blood. 
>I'm not sure how you will greet my resignation, but at least 
>Attorney General Blumenthal should be relieved that I'll leave under 
>my own power and will not need to be "shoved out the door."
>Sincerely,
>Jake DeSantis
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