We Have Plenty of Acronyms to Go Around

What we learn now is that Willumstad walked away from a $22 million severance package from AIG.  Public outrage has ensued, and for what purpose?  It’s not Willumstad’s fault that he got the CEO position at AIG and negotiated an excellent salary and incentive package just in case the company tanked! 

What most people are taught to believe is that people like Willumstad and Sullivan are the evil scum that created this financial mess we’re in.  Another group wants to think that these former CEOs wanted the severance package because they didn’t qualify for the refund check in 2008.  The CEOs are just trying to make it fair. 

The entire point behind the refund checks in 2008 was that people would spend the “free” money.  In the case of the stimulus package of this administration, the thinking from companies being bailed out is, “What are we supposed to do with all this free money?”

The answer is, “Spend it!”

Here’s the irony.  Willumstad has a history of production.  When he got done playing CEO at Citigroup, he developed his own investment company.  Willumstad’s replacement, Edward Liddy is not as bright.

Liddy had top positions at Ford, Sears, 3M, Kroger, Allstate and most recently, Goldman Sachs.  Now he’s in charge of AIG and would you believe we just learned that AIG gave $12.9 billion to Goldman Sachs in 2008 alone.

The part I truly love in this entire scheme is that one of Goldman Sachs money making ideas was to broker the privatization of major highways in this country.  The plan is to sell toll roads to foreign investors.  And the first place they decided to make their pitch for privatized toll roads?  Chicago, of course!  The Chicago Skyway to be exact.

Goldman Sachs Headquarters, New Jersey.  Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

When I was a kid, I remember my teacher sending my report card home with me.  It was 1st or 2nd grade, and we got a grade for everything.  Math, English, penmanship, phonics, neatness, art, — everything!  I recall getting a poor grade in art.  I didn’t fail, and the grade certainly wasn’t going to hold me back in school, but the comment to the side of the grade read I had, “… trouble staying inside the lines.”  Somehow this skill translated to something down the road, and now I see what it is.

For those of you with kids or nephews, nieces, neighbors – whoever – you’re familiar with a child bringing you a piece of original artwork.  You might say, “That’s beautiful.  What is it?”  The kid will answer, “It’s you!”  In all honesty, it looks nothing like you.  There are no discernable lines, no boundaries, no color coordination – it’s just a big blurry mess.  You don’t want to discourage the child, so you compliment them, hang the artwork on the fridge, and try to forget that this child you know thinks you look like an alien.

So what have we learned?  First of all, President Obama is promoting the rebuilding of this country’s infrastructure as a means of helping the country recover.  Second, Goldman Sachs wants to broker a deal with foreign investors to privatize major highways in this country – possibly starting with the Chicago Skyway.  Third, Goldman Sachs was the second largest contributor (behind the University of California) to the Obama campaign in 2008 with nearly $1 million in contributions.  Fourth, AIG took its 2008 bailout money and gave a huge chunk to Goldman Sachs.  Fifth, AIG had some loose change left over ($422,000 to be exact), so they took a road trip to a resort at Monarch Beach in California.

Is it me, or does this look like that messy picture hanging on the fridge that your kid drew?  Nobody is inside the lines.  Nobody seems to care about the ethical boundaries.  Color coordination is so passé. 

For me, the icing was in October 2008 while driving by the AIG building on Interstate 17 (currently not a toll road) in Phoenix.  There I saw a huge blue and white banner (childlike art work) stretched across the front of the building (not a fridge) that read, “Now Hiring!”  It should have read, “Now Spending!”