[Solatar]

I'm sure you've all heard about AIG paying out bonuses to many of its employees. Didn't see a topic so I made one myself.

I was under the impression that bonuses, a form of profit sharing, were given out when a company was doing well to "reward" a lot of the management. Any thoughts? The story seems fairly straight-forward (bailed out company pays bonuses) but I can't help but think it might be a little more complicated.

[Galemp]

Trouble is, these bonuses are written into their contracts, while 'calamitous government rescue' was not. Therefore they are legally entitled to millions of taxpayer dollars under their current contracts, which if denied them, will end up with AIG being sued.

[karajorma]

Pay them the bonuses. Then sack them and hire someone competent.

[BengalTiger]

The first thing that would make me feel a little bit better towards them if they’d follow the Japanese model and come before the American people and take that deep bow and say I’m sorry, and then either do one of two things — resign, or go commit suicide.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/20083.html

[Solatar]

He does have a point though. There's no "I'm sorry"; just "if we go down the economy will go with us! you better save us!".

[perihelion]

If they are contractually obligated to pay them, it is called "wages," not "bonuses."  How can a "bonus" be considered compulsory even if the company is tanking?  My opinion, tell AIG they can either face being sued by the federal government for gross misuse of public funds or they can tell the fat cats they paid off to go screw themselves and give that money back to the people from whom it was given in good faith.

With layoffs hitting every industry, no one anywhere should be getting bonuses this year.  I got mine last week, two days after four of my buddies got laid off.  I felt physically sick then, and I still do.  I have an overwhelming urge to write a check for my bonus and tell them where to shove it, but if I make myself a target for the next wave of layoffs, I have no where else to go.  Goddamnit how many good people could have been kept if my company hadn't given out bonuses this year?  Everyone I know who is still here has said they would have given them up!

[maje]

"Well guys and gals, we certainly did a fine job of running our company right into the ****ing ground, now let's celebrate for a job well done!"

I'm sorry, but I'm on the "no goverment bailouts" bandwagon, especially since the one I was for (under saving the automobile industry) turned out to be BS when GM decided that it would invest $1 billion into operations in Brazil.  That's going to save American auto-manufacturing jobs HOW?

If they are going to reap the rewards of capitalism, then they should suffer the consequences once they screw up and let new blood come in and rebuild.

[Herra Tohtori]

This just in, AIG will be split into divisions during the course of four years from now...

Also, Finnish Broadcasting Corporation's news page is faster than BBC and CNN...

[Sarafan]

That's going to save American auto-manufacturing jobs HOW?

We are on the same continent thus that does save American jobs.

[FUBAR-BDHR]

I do see some of what the new CEO or whatever you call him is saying.  There were 3 divisions.  People from 2 of them that caused the problem got sacked.  The other one isn't doing bad and they got the bonuses. 

I do not see any reason anyone should ever make over 100k in a bonus unless they aren't getting paid in the first place and their bonus is their pay and based on performance.  Even then over a million?  Come on.  No one is worth that kind of money.  Heck if I made a million for 5 years straight I'd retire and never look back.  Scary thing is if these guys knew how to invest in the first place they would have worked for less. put the money into the right places, and lived off the interest the rest of their lives instead of running a company into the ground. 

[blackhole]

If we didn't bail out any companies at all, think about how many jobs would be down the tubes.

[S-99]

Well if a job goes down the tubes, then these people can start selling used panties at a high rate on ebay. Worn for at least 24 hours and not washed
Or move to more lucrative things like marijuana. A couple of my friends stay alive from the proceeds of dealing their crop of weed. Maybe nuke would know something extra about this?

[Grizzly]

Pay them the bonuses. Then sack them and hire someone competent.

Pay the bonuses, and then charge a 100% tax over it .

[Topgun]

PAY THE BONUSES!

[IronBeer]

Negative on the bonuses. It's about time ailing companies finally took some responsibility for their failures. Where were the government bailouts for countless other companies that have gone under already? How come the Wall Street executives can still get their fat paychecks after the monetary clusterf**k that started this disaster? And more importantly, why can't the government just throw me about 5 million dollars? They've already "spent" almost $1.2 trillion already (about $4000 for every man, woman and child in the US). The whole idea of "spending money we don't actually have" was a major contributor to the Great Depression, and it's certainly a major contributor to today's downturn.

[Nuke]

Well if a job goes down the tubes, then these people can start selling used panties at a high rate on ebay. Worn for at least 24 hours and not washed
Or move to more lucrative things like marijuana. A couple of my friends stay alive from the proceeds of dealing their crop of weed. Maybe nuke would know something extra about this?

well i did know an award winning grower, he gave me some good tips on killing mites and explained how to completely automate a hydroponics bay. i know lots of stuff about lighting and what materials to use in construction. and his #1 tip was to miracle grow.

[Wobble73]

It's quite simple pay the bonuses, but in 1000 years with a negative interest rate! If they would have run the bank properly, then it would have had the money to pay them, the government loan should go to pay the general public out!

[DeepSpace9er]

I believe these are called retention bonuses. They sign a contract stating that if they work until a certain date, they are entitled to a bonus.

Lets put some perspective on this though. AIG received 170,000 million dollars, or 170 billion in bailout cash and everyone is focusing on 150 million of that? Why isnt anyone else pissed that they got that much money at all from the government and doesnt anyone care what they are doing with the other 169,850 million?

[SpardaSon21]

Its the government's fault really.  They gave AIG and the rest a bunch of money, with no strings attached.  If they didn't want the money spent on corporate bonuses, they should have stipulated that.  But they didn't.  So AIG can spend the money however they want.

Also, AIG is contractually obligate to pay the bonuses.  Its a situation where they are damned if they do (by populist politicians) and damned if they don't (lawsuit brought against them for breach of contract).

[Bob-san]

If they don't pay the bonuses, you'll basically have every single employee who had it in their contract suing the company. So what happens? They end up spending $5b to settle every contract they breached. If AIG and an individual agreed to be employed for 5 years at a minimum and they've only been on the job 2 years, the employee has the right to sue for the remaining 3 years worth. Now multiply that by a few hundred people with good lawyers and you end up spending a whole hell of a lot more money on this issue.