In advance of his appearance in front of Barney Frank’s House Financial and Anal Exploration Committee at 10 a.m. today, AIG CEO Edward Liddy has penned an op-ed for this morning’s Washington Post, just in case, we suppose, you can’t hear him talk today over the screaming. He also acknowledges that AIG screwed up, big time (“Mistakes were made … on a scale that few could have imagined possible”); says that they’ve been working to fix things (“Taxpayers should also know that AIG has a plan to return money to the government, and we are making progress”); and reminds us that he is, after all, making the Ultimate Sacrifice (“My annual salary is $1. My only stake is my reputation”).
As for Your Anger, he says its “understandable … and I share it.” But does he understand it? Does Edward Liddy really know the toll that this recession has taken on people? Today’s Daily News polled New Yorkers to see what they thought about AIG workers getting bonuses and extracted this grim, depressing story from John Rodriguez, 24, of Williamsburg.
“I’m out of work and these guys are sitting in their leather chairs, counting their money, and they get to have their four-star meal tonight. I don’t eat out anymore. I can’t go out anymore socially in the city.”
Honestly. Putting the country and future generations billions of dollars into debt is one thing, but cramping twentysomethings’ social lives? That is not okay.
