We Should Have A “Which” Hunt Instead of A Witch-Hunt

[mathpol]

I told you so. One has to be selective about whom at AIG to direct our “bonus anger”. As “Exhibit A” I give you the resignation letter of Jake DeSantis, an executive vice president of AIG’s Financial Products unit, to AIG president Edward Liddy, which appears as an op-ed in today’s New York Times. Quoting from his letter:

“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.”

And later:

“… 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.”

It’s clear from his letter that he’s not headed toward the poor house, but it’s also clear - if you believe him, and I do - that he had nothing to do with the generation of toxic assets within his division.

As for the title of this post, we have to be careful about which people to be angry at. A lot of people made a lot of money in the Financial Services Industry. No doubt too much. However, that does not mean they were all in the driver’s seat, or able to apply the brakes, as our economy went off a cliff. According to the (London) Times Online, the hunt is now focusing on executives in the London AIG-FP office, some of whom have been called to testify in Hartford, Conn. tomorrow. Will they wear masks or what?

As I’ve said before, we should be more concerned about which companies are being paid off by AIG at taxpayers’ expense, especially those in foreign countries.*

See for example a http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123725551430050865.html?mod=rss_most_emailed_week_asia">recent article in the WSJ.

[Igel]

1. Eh. Old pun.

1972 Chicago Linguistic Society Conference proceedings was the "Chicago Which Hunt" (which, nicely enough, focused on wh-movement and relativization).

More recently, the Language Guy recreated the pun. http://thelanguageguy.blogspot.com/2008/11/kilpatrick-is-on-which-hunt.html