Why is fired GM leader getting more money?

Is firing someone, but handing him $23 million as he walks out the door, really a punishment? That’s the question left in the wake of Rick Wagoner, the man who was the CEO of General Motors until he was given his walking papers by the Obama administration.

Everyone seemed to be celebrating the fact that finally one of those high-flying corporate CEOs was given the boot. After the Obama administration let those banking and AIG guys ride along with their outrageous and nonsensical bonuses, the feds finally did what needed to be done with GM.

But wait, what’s all this about a “pension payout”?

That’s right. Wagoner was handed a $23 million golden parachute just for screwing up the company and subsequently getting fired. (That’s the job to get – one that will pay you to be fired!)

According to published reports citing GM’s annual report, here is what Wagoner’s gift-for-failure will include:

·      An accumulated pension of $22.1 million

·      Stock awards worth $367,000

·      Deferred compensation of $535,000

Deferred compensation? Why is this guy getting ANY compensation for being fired?

Of course, Wagoner’s supporters are rallying to his side, saying GM is legally bound to pay it out because it’s in his contract.

Wait a minute. This was the same argument the administration – in the form of Director of the White House National Economic Council Lawrence Summers – tried to make about those AIG “retention bonuses.” And a day later, President Obama did a 180 and said he would do everything possible to make sure taxpayer money wasn’t frittered away as supposed “bonuses” to corporate ne’er-do-wells.

At a time when workers are being told that they need to reconsider their contracts in order to save the companies they work for, these corporate bandits should be told the same, legal contracts be damned.

And if GM is getting all this federal bailout money, the now-fired former CEO shouldn’t be getting $23 million of company funds. He should get exactly what he deserved for leaving GM in ruins.

AIG is hungry for more of our $$$

Just when you think this whole AIG mess couldn’t get any worse, it does. Believe it or not, the brain trust that is the American International Group is now suing the U.S. government. This would be the same government that bailed the company out with taxpayer money.

Now, AIG is using that same money to sue the feds for over $300 million!

Apparently, the $144 billion - that's billion with a B - in government bailout money wasn’t enough for these money-grubbing corporate parasites.

Keep in mind that the total amount of “bonuses” paid out to AIG honchos earlier this month was $165 million. So the amount AIG is suing the government for is nearly double that figure.

And why is AIG suing? Because it claims it overpaid taxes related to deals that were reportedly made using offshore tax havens (in places such as the Cayman Islands and the Dutch Antilles).

That’s right. AIG used loopholes in the law to avoid paying taxes, and now it’s claiming it paid too much and wants money back.

AIG has revealed itself to be nothing more than an insatiable money-eating beast. Feed the beast, and it still wants more.

The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in New York City about a month ago, but was only reported on last week. (And for some reason, the mainstream media hasn’t really run with this story. I guess journalists have an easier time explaining “bonuses” than tax law.)

AIG also tried to keep this story quiet. Wonder why?

Maybe it's because the bright lights at AIG knew that they would look pretty bad suing the majority owner of their own company. Remember, the U.S. government now owns 80 percent of AIG thanks to all of the bailout money.

Worse yet, the arm of AIG involved in this whole tax mess is the financial products unit, the same division that brought AIG to the brink of financial ruin.

This is so sick and twisted, if AIG were a person, it would be committed to a mental institution.

Interestingly, one of AIG’s offshore entities involved in this tax-and-sue hocus pocus is a private Panama company called the Starr International Company, known as SICO for short.

Sicko, indeed.

Note to AIG: Pretty please ain’t good enough

American International Group chief Edward Liddy told Congress yesterday that he asked his employees to return half of their controversial “retention bonuses.” Wait a second. He asked, not ordered? And just half, not all? This is the corporate equivalent of saying, “Pretty please, with sugar on it.”

And this is from the guy who also told Congress that he has “heard the American people loudly and clearly.” What a joke!

Liddy and his AIG brethren still have corporate cotton in their ears. He may be testifying on Capitol Hill, and he might be seeing the protesters with their signs screaming, “Give our $ back,” but Liddy is still surrounded by his cone of silence – paid for by American taxpayers.

The culture of corporate America is beyond sick. What is a “retention bonus” anyway? Isn’t a multi-million-dollar salary enough of a retention to stay in your job and do it well? The fact that such bonuses are considered normal should have been clue #1 that something was wrong.

Additionally, Liddy wrote a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner that such bonuses are necessary to “retain the best and the brightest talent to lead and staff the AIG business.” Is he serious? Liddy’s supposed “best and brightest” are the same people who brought AIG to the brink of bankruptcy. If these guys are the best and the brightest, bring on the worst and the dumbest.

And Liddy’s “pretty please” plea only went to those whose bonuses were over $100,000. So if your bonus is $99,999, you could keep the whole damn thing? Again, this is nonsense.

As if all that weren’t enough, Liddy is trying to make the case that he is mandated to hand out these bonuses because they are built into employee contracts. While true, those contracts would have been null and void if AIG went into bankruptcy. Ironically, it was the federal government that saved AIG’s ass. The feds should have just let AIG and its corrupt contracts fall into the ninth circle of hell, where they belong.

Speaking of the government’s ownership of AIG, President Barack Obama is right. Institutions like AIG, which is an insurance company, should be subject to the same rules as banks. Regulate, regulate, regulate!

Barney Frank is right, too. The Massachusetts Democrat who is chair of the House Financial Services Committee wants AIG to submit to Congress a list of AIGers who received bonuses. If names are not provided, he would seek to subpoena them. Since the feds own 80 percent of the company, that only seems fair.

Cough up that list, Liddy.