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Washington, DC— Today, Congressman Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), a senior member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, released the following statement in response to AIG’s announced plans to spend $503 million in deferred compensation:
“I am becoming increasingly convinced that the senior executives at AIG just don’t get it. Just when I think they cannot possibly make another terrible business decision, I see a new headline showing that it is business as usual over at AIG—and bad business, at that. Edward Liddy and company just do not seem to realize that you cannot come to the government on your knees begging for billions of dollars in taxpayer assistance to save your business, and then stand up thank those taxpayers with a slap in the face.
“Today’s news that AIG plans to pay out $503 million in deferred compensation is demonstrative of the type of mismanagement that led this company to its current situation in the first place. I believe that management at AIG could strongly benefit from learning some basic arithmetic. Citi Group just laid off 10,000 people. Morgan Stanley announced that it will lay off nearly 5,000. 12,000-13,000 employees at DHL will soon be unemployed. The list is nearly as long as the list of expenses on the invoices of AIG’s profligate spending. Any employee at AIG should be exuberant to still even have a job. Their employment itself is the greatest bonus they could need.
“While the rest of the country is receiving pink slips for the holidays, AIG continues to dole out hundreds of millions of dollars even as it comes to the government, cashmere hat in hand, begging for more money. I simply cannot fathom why the company continues to exercise such poor judgment, and I once again call on Edward Liddy to step down from his position as President and CEO and make room for someone who can steer the company back on track, rather than drive it—and the taxpayer money that is funding it—further into the ground.”
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