AIG Chief to Testify Amid Rising Rage

Big finance could face populist pitchforks

(NEWSER) - Bailed-out Wall Street execs handing themselves hefty bonuses this month should prepare for outrage not only from Dems inside the Beltway but from tea partiers, who hold their first convention in Nashville next month. The rage that has been focused on big government and health care reform could easily swing toward Wall Street, Gerald Seib writes in the Wall Street Journal . More»

CEO is 'committed' to firm's employees

(NEWSER) - AIG CEO Robert Benmosche isn’t fed up with running a government-controlled insurance giant after all: Backing away from his threat to quit, Benmosche said today that he remains "totally committed” to the company. The CEO conceded, however, that he and the board “are indeed frustrated” with the government’s restrictions on compensation, which he called a barrier to “restoring AIG’s value,” the Wall Street Journal reports. More»

Says he doesn't back retention bonuses

(NEWSER) - AIG’s former CEO tells CBS that the bonuses now sparking national outrage would not have happened under his watch. Hank Greenberg, ousted in 2005, said he doesn’t back such retention bonuses, blamed the firm's collapse on the "stupidity" of his successors, and thinks the current CEO should go. “When I was there, nobody had a contract in the company, including me. I didn't believe in them. If you didn't do the job, you didn't deserve to be there,” he said. More»

Liddy says paying employees will help taxpayer in long run

(NEWSER) - AIG's $165 million bonus payout has produced "a palpable wave of anger," admits Edward Liddy, the insurance giant's government-appointed CEO. But in an op-ed for the Washington Post, Liddy says that paying employees now will prevent "undue risk" and help AIG wind down the most dangerous positions on its book. He adds that "had I been chief executive at the time, I would never have approved the retention contracts." More»

(NEWSER) - Record-breaking losses and $170 billion in federal loans haven't curbed AIG's plan to pay out $165 million in executive bonuses, the New York Times reports. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner called up AIG chief Edward M. Liddy to halt the payments, and the company agreed to alter some—but Liddy said in a letter that canceled bonuses could spark lawsuits from angry employees. More»