This may not be layoff related, but as soon as I saw the headline Pay czar grants waivers after government lobbying I knew I had to point out the absurdness of it all.

The story goes:

Officials from the Fed and Treasury asked Feinberg to relax pay rules for workers they deemed essential to its success, concerned that too many departures could cripple the company. Treasury owns nearly 80 percent of AIG. Feinberg said out of several dozen requests, he allowed about 12 employees to earn up to $1.5 million in cash for 2009.

A Treasury spokeswoman declined to comment. Fed officials didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment Friday.

So you and I, the taxpayer, own 80% of a corrupt, poorly managed so-called insurance company and we can’t keep the clueless clowns that destroyed the company from demanding higher salaries than the $500,000 limit? I am positive that there are hundreds of qualified insurance executives that would foam at the mouth for a chance yo earn $500,000. If not, then assign a high ranking federal official to oversee the dismantling of this garbage company.  The story continues:

AIG’s CEO Robert Benmosche received an exception from the pay cap when he took over earlier this year. Benmosche will receive an annual salary of $3 million in cash and $4 million in AIG common stock.

Last month, Benmosche threatened to quit over the restrictions in pay for top executives, according to The Wall Street Journal. He then backpedaled. Benmosche told employees that while he was frustrated with by the regulatory oversight, he plans to remain at AIG.

Under the rules announced Friday, the 25th through the 100th highest earners at Citigroup, GMAC, American International Group and General Motors also must take more than half their compensation in stock. And at least half must be delayed for three or more years.

The new rules apply only to the second half of December. They will not affect money the employees already have been paid this year. But Feinberg said the rules are important because they will affect many workers’ year-end bonuses and stock grants. They also will serve as a starting point for negotiations next year over pay packages for 2010.

Benmosche threatened to quit? He should have been told that he had five minutes to empty his desk into a filing box and then he should have been escorted by armed security out the back door to the parking lot. I don’t care what this elite bozo thinks he’s worth, he certainly shouldn’t be threatening the taxpayer; the people that are paying his out sized salary.

Kenneth Feinberg, the pay czar, is trying to do his job and is being back-doored by those who hired him to do the job he was doing. These actions basically render Feinberg a toothless tool that Treasury and Fed can manipulate at will.

The banking, investment, insurance and corporate robber barons will continue to manipulate government, since they contribute mightily to campaign coffers of our sold out Congress.

It would be nice to see Treasury and Fed demand something from the robber barons, such as immediately lending to small businesses to help create new jobs, increased efforts to renegotiate mortgages, and demanding that interest rates on credit card carried balances can’t be raised. These are small demands that would be beneficial to millions of financially strapped individuals. If the banksters and fraudsters can demand more than $500,000 a year in salary, we should be able to demand that they open up the money spigots for those that are paying their bloated salaries.  The foxes are running loose in the hen house and unfortunately there’s no one there to bring order.





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