In the midst of all the anger and outrage, is the public being fair to AIG?

I can't help but liken the AIG fiasco to the Frankenstein Monster, best portrayed by famed actor Boris Karloff. The monster was put together by various parts to form one giant being. When the monster was exposed to the public, it came across a little girl who was not frightened by his appearance. If my memory serves me correct, the little girl may have been blind. In any event, the little girl sensing the monster’s presents, offered him a flower off the river bank. When the towns folk saw the monster near the little girl they instantly assumed the monster would harm the little girl, when in actuality it was not the monsters intent to harm the little girl at all. Had the monster stayed in its element, within the mad scientist laboratory, not trying to venture out into unknown territory, life would have been great for the monster and no one, including the monster, would have been hurt.

If AIG had just did what it does best, offer sound insurance, and not venture out into the risky business of derivatives, credit default swaps or toxic assets, no one, including AIG, would have been hurt. The public outrage to kill the perceived "AIG monster" has gotten out of hand. Some of the employees have actually received death threats. While I understand the public's anger and outrage over using tax payer dollars to payout retention bonuses, while the country is in economic straits, this is still no cause for rioting or burning people at the stake. Calm down, take a deep breath, and get more of the facts.

Many AIG employees don't even work in the financial division, but are still berated because of guilt by association. A few employees agreed to take a salary of $1 for several months with promises of a paycheck (the now infamous bonus) by March of 2009. Those bonuses were included in employee contracts written in early 2008. Now imagine your salary is $50K per year, and your employer negotiated to pay you $10K now and the balance of $40K six months. Six months later, would you expect to receive your $40K, or would you be O.K. with the company telling you, "my bad, we had a problem at the payroll office and you won't be getting your $40K balance, but thanks for the tireless hours and free labor." Still no sympathy for AIG employees?

Perhaps if AIG bonuses weren’t tied to our tax payer dollars funding these payouts, or the fact that so many other people, like auto-workers, were asked to make deep sacrifices and be willing to reduced their pay in order to keep a job, perhaps you (we) could have a little more sympathy. Maybe like some Americans, who may have lost their jobs all together, a $750 to $1 million dollar bonus just still doesn't seem like much of a sacrifice. I’m beginning to feel your pain, but it’s still no cause for death threats or violence.

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