CapitalistMarks

AIG’s management — are they nuts?

Posted on 16. Mar, 2009 by scott in Social commentary, economic daydreaming, markets, political munglings

I just don’t get the audacity, ego and insanity of a good bunch of America’s top industrial/financial leaders.? Key exhibit?? AIG.

First, AIG takes more than $160 BILLION from us taxpayers in lieu of a bankruptcy that would have wiped out any and all further compensation for their management . . . this is not, by the way all, at once but in at least FOUR seperate bailouts over the last 6-7 months.

Hold on here, there is probably something before the above first.? It is the fact that management of AIG found the capacity and intellect to turn one of the biggest (and profitable) corporations in the world into a joke and house of cards with their stupid and reckless investments in derivative financial transactions.? With a company this big (over 100,000 employees) there must be at least 1,000 executives that are grossly overpaid and thus there are 1,000 job openings for the unemployed.

Back on track now. Second, AIG manages to loose more than any company in history last quarter.? The total is an incredible $161,000,000,000!? IN ONE THREE MONTH PERIOD!

Third, with our taxpayer investment to bail out AIG and their incompetent management we (the taxpayers) now own about 80% of the stock of this failed company.

Fourth, the management of AIG has been responsible for ‘pushing’ the stock too hard.? Yeh, pushing it all the way from $74/share to a low of $0.34/share? on March 2, 2009.? Don’t get out your calculators, I’ll do the work for you.? That is a decline in stock value of 99%!!

Fifth, our leaders (from Bush and Paulson to Obama and Giethner) believe that AIG is TOO big to let fail.? Well, the market cap of that entire company was only $1 Billion just a week ago (it is about $2.2 Billion today).? To give you some perspective some other ’struggling’ ?companies today have a market cap (multiply shares outstanding by the price of a singe share) of: GM — $1.5B, CITI bank?– $13.6 B, Ford — $5.5 B, and DELL — $18 B.

Sixth, we (and I guess here I have to mean the Treasury Department by default) ought to be making the key decisions about this company going forward.? Certainly NOT the management who got the company into this mess.? (As a further aside here, if the mafia had any money invested in AIG?then maybe we won’t have to worry about current managment much longer — unless they can manage from the bottom of the Hudson while wearing stylish cement boots)

And lastly, there is an argument out there that we have to keep the idiots who are managing this company in place to complete the workout.? Holy Cow!? Hey, Batman, isn’t it true that hundreds of thousands of the best financial minds in the business (oxymoron) are UNEMPLOYED right now.? NOBODY NEEDS BONUSES IN THIS MARKET TO KEEP A JOB.? There are?at least?10,000 capable people who would do anything right now to get any job let alone one like helping turn around AIG.? Count me in that list.

AIG is a mess.? The picture above, represents the executive kitchen at AIG.? It is indicative of how management there operates.? Make a mess … go on to the next thing … make another mess … go on to the next.? They just don’t bother to clean up first.? My mother would send me to my room if I went out to play before cleaning up!

Clean this mess up President Obama, they are NOT to lare to fail.? Stop any bonuses from being paid Mr. Giethner, this company does not need the kind of management they have now.? Send the knuckleheads responsible for the bonuses to their rooms (and I hope they are 12′x8′ rooms with bars).

Stop the bonuses.? Don’t permit the American taxpayer to be a part of such incredible ‘hutzpah’ and insensitivity.? These guys managing AIG don’t deserve a second chance.? Can ‘em.? I have enough experience to step in right now and there are thousands of?unemployed out there who are a whole lot smarter than me and would jump twice as hard to get any of those?jobs.

AIG’s management — are they nuts?? Heck, yes!

thanks to flickrs photo from eschipul

Tags: aig, geithner, paulson, tarp