AIG, the giant insurance company that received $180 billion of bailout funds to date, has been front and center news with the announcement that derivative traders and executives were receiving $165 million in bonuses (it’s important to note that this represents less than 0.1% of bailout funds received). “For what” the public asked. Obviously, the public wants to know.
An equally rampant discussion continues to unfold in the online community, asking the same question. One of the more contrarian views surfaced from The True North Leadership Blog by Bill George and Joe Chung. They position AIG’s CEO Edward Liddy as a great leader taking the fall. They make some great points in that Liddy came out of retirement 6-months ago to help his country, taking over an important business that had been grossly mismanaged for a mere $1 per year. At the other end of the spectrum comes Tom Peters and his blog post titled AIG & Me. Peters states, “The stupidity of AIG leadership boggles the mind… it seemed to border on certifiable insanity.”
Here’s my perspective and I’m going to quote from Joseph Stalin, the former dictator of Russia. Stolin stated, “A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic.” Or in AIG speak, $165 million is a tragedy, $180 billion is a statistic.
From my perspective, the AIG story may be the story that breaks the camel’s back. People are now certifiably angry, and they want action. No matter what Washington does, they aren’t the answer - they’re only a conduit. Over the past 6 months, many people have lived in a state of fear. Today, they’re moving from fear to anger, and that’s good. This is a point where fresh energy enters the arena and big problems can be tackled. I just hope that we keep it up, because it will be good for us as individuals and our country.
Let’s get angry and keep moving forward!
