Opinion: In Thursday’s Letters
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
AIG grabs headlines in Thursday’s Letters to the editor.
Many readers are angered by the financial giant’s arrogance: how can it take billions in bailout money and hand it over to employees as bonuses? The U.S. government -- and by extension, the American people -- own 80% of the company, after all. Writes Joannie Parker, of Los Angeles, in response to this report:
American International Group says it has to pay bonuses because of its contracts. Simple: No contract is valid, because the bonus money is not the company’s. The bonus money belongs to the American middle class. It’s my money and my neighbors’ money. We do not have to honor a ‘contract’ into which we did not enter. We demand that our money not be distributed to the obscenely greedy executives of AIG. Because AIG no longer has any money, other than our money, it no longer gets to write the rules.
But others, including Robert Dames of Hollywood, find fault with the government:
Washington is awash with bonus fury directed at AIG? I’m sorry, but this seems a badly scripted (or teleprompted) morality play. President Obama takes more than $100,000 from AIG in contributions in 2008; Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) adds to the bailout bill a clause protecting retention bonuses; Congress votes to accept this clause; Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner approves the bonuses in advance ... and now they are outraged? It’s time to point out that this president and his team are trying to sell us campaign rhetoric. Perhaps this emperor is lacking more than clothes.
Judicial appointments and empathy, yet more backlash on Times coverage of conservative talk radio, and Anna Nicole Smith, too.