Check this out.
The public still hasn't been told the entire story. Again, as I have written before, the public does not understand, for those who are not executives, a bonus is not a gift but salary earned. The bonus is on a par with tips for wait staff. The salary would never be a living wage. Neither Liddy nor the media, nor economists have ever made that point clear.
Showing posts with label AIG. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AIG. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Thursday, April 2, 2009
ONE WAY THE MEDIA GETS THINGS WRONG
Today on PBS I heard someone interviewing Sam Donaldson. He confessed that he is saddened by the attrition of newspapers in print because he read them and made up his program from the information he got from them. The disillusionment I felt was massive. He chuckled as he said that they let the AP do the work of digging up the stories and facts and just culled out what they wanted to use, many years ago to date, and mentioned Nixon's era.
I'm not sure that I wasn't more shocked to realize that he was sad to see newsprint less available and that good source leaving us. Did the man not ever use the Internet? Did he never chase down information from many sources to try to find the truth? If anyone has ever been involved with a newspaper story in which they had been an eyewitness or have someone writing about them, they cannot understand the distortions that get printed. Reporters lie frequently to get a story. Today I think the first source to print something is eagerly picked up by everyone else and like the 'parlor game' it spreads through the system that is supposed to be enlightening the public as to what is really happening in the world.
While I struggled with absorbing that bit of information from Sam Donaldson, which certainly explained much of my current disappointment with the network news as well as the printed news, (I won't even mention Time, Newsweek, and those magazines that are frequently outdated by the time they get into print and reach the reader). Something within me feels that my time has been wasted when the 'news' I am reading has already been publicly retracted, replaced with new facts or action, and is too recent to even take its place as history value.
Listening further, I heard an afternoon show in which a caller phoned in to say that he was upset that the government asked the CEO of GM to step down but the government had not asked the AIG CEOs to do the same. That the caller was ignorant of facts was less surprising than that the show moderator agreed. Did either of them listen to Liddy being grilled by the incompetents in the Congress? He just came on board to take the place of the CEO who had left. Cassano in London, the man probably most responsible for the sub-prime fiasco (really wanted to say 'fubar', but I figured lots of people would be too lazy to Google the meaning) had left more than a year ago. Many AIG top brass saw the handwriting on the wall and all too many of the culprits jumped ship early so that there was no necessity for the government to ask them to resign. Does no one wonder that the CEO would consider retaining bonus to keep a few people who know what they did there and what to do to wind things down?
It is amusing and annoying to hear so many people see the employees who have remained at AIGFP as interchangeable with any able bodied people trained in a similar job function elsewhere. It ignores the learning curve it would take for someone to step in and know what to do to shut down a facility that requires another year, at minimum, to wind down all its activities, and that is with people who know exactly what they are doing. Would someone like to double that time while the trainee or experienced-but-new-on-the-job takes that year to learn what they are supposed to be doing. It is learning about the work of the company and its demands that takes time. Lots of people know computers...it is what you do on them to satisfy the employees, the accountants, the tax people, and (in the future) the regulators. That takes time to learn in a company. Even trash collectors have to learn a route and how to separate recyclables from regular trash, and what toxic products not to accept. While that learning curve may be shorter, you would not send an untrained worker out on the job without some training. Go up the food chain and the training takes longer.
Perhaps having trained myself for more than 50 years not to rush to judgment about people in my work as a therapist, I expect others to refrain from passing judgment before they know what they are talking about. Alas, it will never be so. Bush was able to get enough followers to start the war in Iraq by appealing to their impulse to violence as a solution, confident that we had the greater military strength....and look where that got us!
I'm not sure that I wasn't more shocked to realize that he was sad to see newsprint less available and that good source leaving us. Did the man not ever use the Internet? Did he never chase down information from many sources to try to find the truth? If anyone has ever been involved with a newspaper story in which they had been an eyewitness or have someone writing about them, they cannot understand the distortions that get printed. Reporters lie frequently to get a story. Today I think the first source to print something is eagerly picked up by everyone else and like the 'parlor game' it spreads through the system that is supposed to be enlightening the public as to what is really happening in the world.
While I struggled with absorbing that bit of information from Sam Donaldson, which certainly explained much of my current disappointment with the network news as well as the printed news, (I won't even mention Time, Newsweek, and those magazines that are frequently outdated by the time they get into print and reach the reader). Something within me feels that my time has been wasted when the 'news' I am reading has already been publicly retracted, replaced with new facts or action, and is too recent to even take its place as history value.
Listening further, I heard an afternoon show in which a caller phoned in to say that he was upset that the government asked the CEO of GM to step down but the government had not asked the AIG CEOs to do the same. That the caller was ignorant of facts was less surprising than that the show moderator agreed. Did either of them listen to Liddy being grilled by the incompetents in the Congress? He just came on board to take the place of the CEO who had left. Cassano in London, the man probably most responsible for the sub-prime fiasco (really wanted to say 'fubar', but I figured lots of people would be too lazy to Google the meaning) had left more than a year ago. Many AIG top brass saw the handwriting on the wall and all too many of the culprits jumped ship early so that there was no necessity for the government to ask them to resign. Does no one wonder that the CEO would consider retaining bonus to keep a few people who know what they did there and what to do to wind things down?
It is amusing and annoying to hear so many people see the employees who have remained at AIGFP as interchangeable with any able bodied people trained in a similar job function elsewhere. It ignores the learning curve it would take for someone to step in and know what to do to shut down a facility that requires another year, at minimum, to wind down all its activities, and that is with people who know exactly what they are doing. Would someone like to double that time while the trainee or experienced-but-new-on-the-job takes that year to learn what they are supposed to be doing. It is learning about the work of the company and its demands that takes time. Lots of people know computers...it is what you do on them to satisfy the employees, the accountants, the tax people, and (in the future) the regulators. That takes time to learn in a company. Even trash collectors have to learn a route and how to separate recyclables from regular trash, and what toxic products not to accept. While that learning curve may be shorter, you would not send an untrained worker out on the job without some training. Go up the food chain and the training takes longer.
Perhaps having trained myself for more than 50 years not to rush to judgment about people in my work as a therapist, I expect others to refrain from passing judgment before they know what they are talking about. Alas, it will never be so. Bush was able to get enough followers to start the war in Iraq by appealing to their impulse to violence as a solution, confident that we had the greater military strength....and look where that got us!
Thursday, March 26, 2009
AIG: THE POWERFUL AND THE HELPLESS
Once again I find myself writing about AIG because the situation there has been so distorted by the Media and politicians who have not bothered to try to understand the real situation. The NY Times published a letter from an AIG-FP employee of eleven years, whose resignation explained what the political terrorists are doing to the people trying to fix the situation, but are making it worse for many. Those who are being hunted by men like Grassley won't find the ones he'd like to blame because they are no longer there. Those who are there are the people who were trying to do the right thing to the company to whom they had been loyal for years, the company who threw them under the bus.
To read this letter, got to this link. It starts: "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."
To read a letter from an employee who is still there, go to this link. This should hopefully allow you to see how intelligent and thoughtful Obama's remark about taking the time to know the truth before he speaks seems.
To read this letter, got to this link. It starts: "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."
To read a letter from an employee who is still there, go to this link. This should hopefully allow you to see how intelligent and thoughtful Obama's remark about taking the time to know the truth before he speaks seems.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
ONE SIZE FITS ALL DOES NOT DEFINE PEOPLE
There are many things in life to distress me. Among the worst are the pessimists, the paranoid, the slippery-slopers, those who can only see black and white, blamers but not responsibility takers, and people who think if one apple is rotten, it follows that all apples are rotten. When the Legislators and Media hot shots keep talking about all the people at AIG caused the destruction of the behemoth company, so none of them should get a promised bonus (even those who had nothing to do with trading and for whom the bonus serves in lieu of adequate salary). It should then follow that all Representatives and Senators are immoral, crooks, liars, greedy self-serving unconscionable people and worse, because the House and Senate have at times had some of all the above.
Why then does the media stir the pot of mob rage and fail to try to find out that the one-size-fits-all judgment is inaccurate? Even those in Media whom I trust the most, Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow have disappointed me because they have allowed themselves to be swept up by the angry, ill-informed mob. Should we then equate them, as Media people, and say they are ultra-conservatives like Fox News staff? Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are all entertainers who make comment on the news. Does anyone consider them all alike? I would hardly think an intelligent person could do this. Why then has the media been able to whip up a feeding frenzy that is endangering the careers, reputation, and safety of the many loyal employees within AIG, Bank of America, and some of the other places currently where guilty, as well as innocent, are being thrown under the bus?
The Media, as well as the Legislators have the power to search out the truth, analyze the total situation before presenting it to the people. Instead, they are revving up the populace for repeat acts like the massacre at Columbine, the Spanish Inquisition, or the French Revolution with its guillotines. The media ought to hire people who can work on curing the hopelessness that exists in so many who are eager to displace their anger onto innocents; too ready to believe if you work with bad executives you must also be evil. President Obama, in my opinion, did the right thing to go on the Tonight Show and reach 200,000 million people rather than the pitiful few he might reach being on the often-biased political shows, when they are attempting to be fair and balanced but end up giving credence to ridiculous, near-thought0-disordered zealots. The Chariot of Hope on which Obama rode into office is fast being eroded by the Media and others. People are too impatient. The time it will take to fix the mess we are in from the Bush Administration should be very clear to anyone whose eyes and mind are open.
Wikipedia: "Patience (pā-shəns) is the state of endurance under difficult circumstances, which can mean persevering in the face of delay or provocation without becoming annoyed or upset; or exhibiting forbearance when under strain, especially when faced with longer-term difficulties. It is also used to refer to the character trait of being steadfast."
What happened to the patience of the American people who were able to wait out the Cheney/Bush tenure to be able to vote for some people who might make a difference and begin to put into place a cure for our ailing country? Where are the voices of ideas and hope which are not to be found in Media circles?
Why then does the media stir the pot of mob rage and fail to try to find out that the one-size-fits-all judgment is inaccurate? Even those in Media whom I trust the most, Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow have disappointed me because they have allowed themselves to be swept up by the angry, ill-informed mob. Should we then equate them, as Media people, and say they are ultra-conservatives like Fox News staff? Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are all entertainers who make comment on the news. Does anyone consider them all alike? I would hardly think an intelligent person could do this. Why then has the media been able to whip up a feeding frenzy that is endangering the careers, reputation, and safety of the many loyal employees within AIG, Bank of America, and some of the other places currently where guilty, as well as innocent, are being thrown under the bus?
The Media, as well as the Legislators have the power to search out the truth, analyze the total situation before presenting it to the people. Instead, they are revving up the populace for repeat acts like the massacre at Columbine, the Spanish Inquisition, or the French Revolution with its guillotines. The media ought to hire people who can work on curing the hopelessness that exists in so many who are eager to displace their anger onto innocents; too ready to believe if you work with bad executives you must also be evil. President Obama, in my opinion, did the right thing to go on the Tonight Show and reach 200,000 million people rather than the pitiful few he might reach being on the often-biased political shows, when they are attempting to be fair and balanced but end up giving credence to ridiculous, near-thought0-disordered zealots. The Chariot of Hope on which Obama rode into office is fast being eroded by the Media and others. People are too impatient. The time it will take to fix the mess we are in from the Bush Administration should be very clear to anyone whose eyes and mind are open.
Wikipedia: "Patience (pā-shəns) is the state of endurance under difficult circumstances, which can mean persevering in the face of delay or provocation without becoming annoyed or upset; or exhibiting forbearance when under strain, especially when faced with longer-term difficulties. It is also used to refer to the character trait of being steadfast."
What happened to the patience of the American people who were able to wait out the Cheney/Bush tenure to be able to vote for some people who might make a difference and begin to put into place a cure for our ailing country? Where are the voices of ideas and hope which are not to be found in Media circles?
Friday, March 20, 2009
CONGRESS AS FAIR AND BALANCED AS FOX NEWS
AIG either had someone who leaked personal information on employees or was dumpster driven. In any case, the employees were thrown under the bus. Forced to give up their salary if they were not the top bonus receivers, or have it taxed 90% (probably will be proved unconstitutional way far down the pike) the people who worked for AIGFP and were not traders or policy makers have years of career down the tubes because the Congressman haven't done any of their homework. They are painting with the broad brush of ignorance finally feeling empowered.
The analogy that comes to mind is what the families of doctors who sympathized with women wishing not to bare an unwanted child. Abortionists and their families were threatened and some killed. The same thing is happening to some of the upper level employees at AIG who were not actual policy makers but charged with keeping the employees working at their best, equipment running, and all other staff supportive to the banking services. They do not deserve to be lynched by the mobs because they don't have the money to hide themselves and their families safely away.
What the government is doing is analogous to firing the nursing staff and doctors who helped the patient through the operation but are needed but are forced to stick around to get the patient back on its feet. The trouble is that the bailing out by so many employees for their safety and that of their families as well as disillusionment at being considered one of the 'bad guys' for nothing done by them but doing their job ethically and with integrity.
The analogy that comes to mind is what the families of doctors who sympathized with women wishing not to bare an unwanted child. Abortionists and their families were threatened and some killed. The same thing is happening to some of the upper level employees at AIG who were not actual policy makers but charged with keeping the employees working at their best, equipment running, and all other staff supportive to the banking services. They do not deserve to be lynched by the mobs because they don't have the money to hide themselves and their families safely away.
What the government is doing is analogous to firing the nursing staff and doctors who helped the patient through the operation but are needed but are forced to stick around to get the patient back on its feet. The trouble is that the bailing out by so many employees for their safety and that of their families as well as disillusionment at being considered one of the 'bad guys' for nothing done by them but doing their job ethically and with integrity.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
MEDIA SHOOTS LONG BEFORE THE WHITES OF EYES ARE VISIBLE
Chris Matthews: "He (Obama) has to turn away the public anger.....". Matthews makes no mention that the anger is being roiled up by the media, focused for days on raising that anger by speaking on things about which they know little or nothing. I am constantly shocked at the Babbitts in the Legislature. Legislators wasted our taxpayer money on a hearing, all morning, BEFORE they heard the testimony of the current, newly appointed AIG CEO, who came in to do the best he could after the disaster not of his making was in full catastrophe. It showed when their minds were closed and where they got their information. Those who claim their constituents are demanding bonuses be returned are as clueless as their constituents because the source of information has been the same erroneous guessing.
People in the Congress who spoke today only made me aware of how obtund most of them are. They flame, rant, and talk threateningly, raising promises of what they will do, while all the time never listening to facts.
AIG was the target today. If the employees had been black two generations ago, they'd have been lynched by now, apologized for later. What our politicians fail to recognize is that not everyone employed at AIGFP in London, or the many other sites ordered to be closed had anything to do with policy decisions. The workers in IT, for example, made a minimal salary and the yearly bonus was, if fact, their real income on which they lived. When one of the Congressmen asked if replacements couldn't easily be found for all the employees, I cringed. Just because Legislators require no particular skill for their job and need little by way of a learning curve to do it, they should not assume that is true in all corporations. There are those who have set up offices, know exactly how everything works and where everything is backed up as required by the FBI, the IRS, and all other governmental noses stuffed in to find out what happened.
Death threats for just doing your job (the few top people who were really responsible for the major problems are long gone) are pretty much undeserved. In the States, employees are having their cars vandalized and are fearful of the mob mentality that the media is helping to escalate. It is laughable that only Rush Limbaugh was sympathetic when, (I was told) he said 'let them have their bonuses; after all, they're out of a job soon') CEO compensation has been out of hand for many years now. Non-profit companies have been indulging their CEOs with huge bonuses for many years. It became a way of life but was at its worst when employees were paid a minimum salary for the job they did, but unlike food service people they got no tips from customers. Instead, just as with food service waiters, waitresses, bartenders, etc., their 'tips' came in the form of a bonus...no doubt an tax advantage to the company or some other devious reason.
During the campaign I complained bout Chris Matthews (MSNBC)asking guests for an answer or opinion and talks over them. I'm surprised anyone wants to appear on his show he is so discourteous. Then there is Pat Buchanan who does the same and even talked over Matthews. Someone needs to stop the rabble-rousing before people are really hurt, or worse, killed. Will the media take their responsibility for firing up rage over such a tempest in a teapot? I sincerely doubt it. They haven't done so in the past that I can recall.
People in the Congress who spoke today only made me aware of how obtund most of them are. They flame, rant, and talk threateningly, raising promises of what they will do, while all the time never listening to facts.
AIG was the target today. If the employees had been black two generations ago, they'd have been lynched by now, apologized for later. What our politicians fail to recognize is that not everyone employed at AIGFP in London, or the many other sites ordered to be closed had anything to do with policy decisions. The workers in IT, for example, made a minimal salary and the yearly bonus was, if fact, their real income on which they lived. When one of the Congressmen asked if replacements couldn't easily be found for all the employees, I cringed. Just because Legislators require no particular skill for their job and need little by way of a learning curve to do it, they should not assume that is true in all corporations. There are those who have set up offices, know exactly how everything works and where everything is backed up as required by the FBI, the IRS, and all other governmental noses stuffed in to find out what happened.
Death threats for just doing your job (the few top people who were really responsible for the major problems are long gone) are pretty much undeserved. In the States, employees are having their cars vandalized and are fearful of the mob mentality that the media is helping to escalate. It is laughable that only Rush Limbaugh was sympathetic when, (I was told) he said 'let them have their bonuses; after all, they're out of a job soon') CEO compensation has been out of hand for many years now. Non-profit companies have been indulging their CEOs with huge bonuses for many years. It became a way of life but was at its worst when employees were paid a minimum salary for the job they did, but unlike food service people they got no tips from customers. Instead, just as with food service waiters, waitresses, bartenders, etc., their 'tips' came in the form of a bonus...no doubt an tax advantage to the company or some other devious reason.
During the campaign I complained bout Chris Matthews (MSNBC)asking guests for an answer or opinion and talks over them. I'm surprised anyone wants to appear on his show he is so discourteous. Then there is Pat Buchanan who does the same and even talked over Matthews. Someone needs to stop the rabble-rousing before people are really hurt, or worse, killed. Will the media take their responsibility for firing up rage over such a tempest in a teapot? I sincerely doubt it. They haven't done so in the past that I can recall.
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