The Lessons of AIG: Deceit, Mob Rule and Leadership

An open letter to Congress and the Administration.

Outrage by Congress and the Administration over AIG retention bonuses is a deceitful mask. You will not admit these bonuses are allowed in the stimulus bill you passed but did not read. If you knew it was allowed in the bill and now pass yourself off as having been deceived you are fundamentally dishonest.

I don't know, you don't know and the American public does not know if the individuals in AIG's Financial Products Group receiving retention bonuses deserve them or not. We don't specifically know if these individuals are the cause or the solution to the current AIG problems. Trying to be "more Catholic than the Pope" you feign outrage to impress your constituency with your fake passion, threaten AIG employees compensation with unconstitutional taxation and now, perhaps inadvertently, jeopardize their safety. And, in the process, you have failed as the stewards of our investment by condemning the management and employees of AIG without study or logic.

When you in the administration and the congress decided to get involved in the financial crisis you also decided to ignore the old axiom “buyer beware”. You erred by not understanding the implications of the AIG bailout, failed after the fact to mitigate the weaknesses of the plan, failed by passing a bill you did not read and then failed to understand you did not know how to manage your new “business”, and when the s—t hit the fan you blamed everyone except yourselves.

The response of principled politician on the public outcry over retention bonuses should be “we have obviously made some errors here. The American people need to understand many AIG employees are talented people involved in very technical, complex financial products that are essential to making financial markets work. While many of the public may not understand how and why they get paid what they get paid, it is important to know that some of these people have education, training and experience that very few people possess and therefore they are essential to the future success of AIG and to the protection of our investment. On the other hand, because of the AIG mess, it is clear some people who worked at AIG or still work there are stupid or criminal. Since the government is now a majority stakeholder in AIG we must make sure AIG management knows into which group their employees fall and reward and eliminate them accordingly. That is what I, as your elected representative, will make sure is done from here on out.”

This is how you lead. Not by running to the front of misguided, emotional mob and heightening its rhetoric. Instead be a leader. Be a statesman (stateswoman). Help the electorate understand the complexity of the the problem, how it must be fixed and what you will do to insure it is done. Do what is right or go home.