HERE WE GO AGAIN - AIG ASKING TO PAY MORE BONUSES

AIG is asking the federal government compensation czar Kenneth Feinberg to bless payment now of $250 million bonuses that were due in 2008. AIG states that bonuses are necessary to retain key employees and is asking for the governments OK.

"Anytime we write a check to anybody" it is highly scrutinized, said an AIG official, who declined to speak on the record because the negotiations with Feinberg are ongoing. "We would want to feel comfortable that the government is comfortable with what we are doing."

This is not a minor problem and it should be scrutinized. The AIG rescue package stands at $180 billion.

A Citigroup analyst warned earlier this week that AIG, if it pays back the billions loaned, might then be worthless to shareholders. "Our valuation includes a 70 percent chance that the equity at AIG is zero," Joshua Shanker of Citigroup wrote in a note to investors. AIG's stock plummeted by more than 25 percent yesterday (July 9, 2009).

Last week AIG filed a proxy statement explaining the reason for retention payments and bonuses. "We needed to confront the fact that many of our employees, perhaps the majority, knew that their long-term future with us was limited, and our competitors knew that our key producers could perhaps be lured away. . . . Allowing departures to erode the strength of our businesses would have damaged our ability to repay taxpayers for their assistance." Understandably this could be very unpleasant for AIG.

Please read the definition of Extortion.

“Extortion: is a criminal offense, which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Organized criminal groups often practice Extortion.

The actual obtainment of money or property is not required to commit the offense. Making a threat of violence or a lawsuit which refers to a requirement of a payment of money or property to halt future violence or lawsuit is sufficient to commit the offense.

Exaction refers not only to extortion or the unlawful demanding and obtaining of something through force, but additionally, in its formal definition, means the infliction of something such as pain and suffering or making somebody endure something unpleasant.”

Please sign the petition to stop the payment of bonuses to AIG executives by clicking on the photo. Thank you.

Melodious