The Fear-Mongering to Silence the AIG Employees
The memo AIG sent to employees offering safety tips might lead you to believe that AIG is concerned about its employees’ safety. And, true, it offers really practical advice about how to limit the chances that someone is going to attack an AIG employee: hide your badge, alert security if people are hanging around.
I do hope AIG employees–and all the banksters–remain safe.
But there’s one fact that suggests this memo is simply a scare tactic.
Edward Liddy, someone who has been on TV as the public face of AIG, took the train to DC for his testimony.
Whatever Liddy’s personal record — he is taking $1 in salary this year without a bonus and took the train to Washington for the hearing — lawmakers didn’t stop in their quest for the names.
If you are genuinely concerned about the safety of your employees, you do not let the most public of those employees take public transportation on a widely-publicized trip.
So I would suggest that the warnings from AIG might serve a completely different purpose (aside from instilling a sense of defensiveness that might draw employees closer together). Consider this warning, for example, ostensibly designed to keep employees safe:
Avoid public conversations involving AIG and do not engage any media personnel regarding the company.
You see, all but a few of the warnings AIG gave its employees have a dual effect: they remind employees to guard their personal safety (and I do hope they remain safe). But they also ensure that anyone trying to report on AIG will be regarded as a physical threat.
And the net effect of such fear-mongering is articles like this one, in which the employees at the highest risk AIGFP employees quoted as being concerned about their privacy and safety (in an article, funnily enough, that provides names and towns of residence), are ignoring the guidelines AIG gave them on protecting themselves. They are talking to the press!!!!
But I’m guessing that’s not exactly what happened–that Jackpot Jimmy somehow ignored the warnings and instead decided to gab to the press. You see, I find it rather curious that the two AIGFP employees described in the article–Jackpot Jimmy and Douglas Poling, the latter of whom got the biggest bonus–are now returning those bonuses. I find it rather remarkable that NYT happened to find employees who can be made to look like good guys here, rather than the ones who are still holding the US taxpayer hostage to get their bonuses. Particularly given that NYT also spoke to an official spokesperson for the article, you don’t suppose that AIG picked which employees the NYT would use to represent the plight of AIG’s employees, do you? (And how did NYT figure out who got the biggest bonuses, since Andrew Cuomo hasn’t released those names yet?)
If AIG has made its employees afraid to speak to the press, then it gives AIG a great deal of leeway to choose which employees will be the public face of this scandal.
And the fearmongering serves to ensure that those who might have real details about the shitpiles at AIG–the ones who might not be trusted to hide the company’s secrets–don’t talk to the press.
Of course we want the AIG employees to remain safe. What the majority of Americans want is ACCOUNTABILITY and prosecutions of those who are guilty of fraud and illegal financial crimes. Logical especially when the American taxpayers are paying for their crimes.
As I believe (Reader of Tea Leaves) pointed out there really are nutcases out there…but most people throw out verbal assaults as a way to release steam. The anger is “justifiable” as Senator Frank pointed out this morning.
Liddy seemed to be using the verbal threats as a way to keep the names of the guilty from the public
Rep Al Green just pointed out that the public does not seem “privy” to these prosecutions
Thanks ew.
digg is open.
AIG’s priority reminds me of a famous Swiss priority: spilling the beans about a Swiss company is considered state treason. I bet the one regret that Bush and Cheney have is that they didn’t enact similar legislation here.
Funny you should say that. This is the company cannibalizing AIG’s people (which is why we’re bribing them to stay).
Ausgezeichnet. The Swiss embassy’s promoter of American business investments in Switzerland is a busy chap.
I like this one, right at the top:
Corporate security is a tough business, everything from door locks and computer passkeys to thousands of CCTV cameras to physical protection from aggrieved potentates whose insurance contracts permit AIG not to pay when certain conditions arise.
But under the current circumstances, that language from the Men in Black is neither friendly nor protective nor written with the best interests of average employees in mind. It’s a text message from the limo motorcade: STFU.
It’s a nit, but a tell-tale one. AIG corporate security misuses the semi-colon at the beginning of their second paragraph. They follow it with a dependent clause, not an independent one. A slip of the pen from a global financial powerhouse, but a revealing one. The miscue relates to dialing 911 in the even of an emergency; it’s left dangling, as if unwanted.
Interestingly, on the same topic, dialing 911, Corporate Security correctly uses a comma instead of a semi-colon in the last paragraph. It is used immediately before the writer reminds “Individual Senior Business Managers” to report a perceived “immediate threat or danger” to Corporate Security.
The analogy that comes to mind is Bush’s bumbling mumbling in speeches about topics that he found uninteresting, which was most of them. When talking about seeking revenge or cutting taxes for heirs of family fortunes, he lost his Texas twang and assumed a precise, articulate WSJ diction. The mind works in mysterious ways.
I have a different perspective on this than EW: This reeks to me of corporate damage control.
My translation: Everything is under control. Don’t panic. REMAIN AT YOUR POSTS. DON’T ABANDON SHIP. IT’S A JUNGLE OUT THERE.
The people whom they would want to deliver a shup-up message to are a smaller group. It was likely delivered personally, outside of company offices, and accompanied by a reminder of the hushee’s personal exposure.
Boxturtle (And potentially, with a large bonus check)
We can be sure that some of the AIG employees want American citizens to shut up…don’t ask for names….don’t demand accountability…shut up go away and move on
I am sooo relishing these rare moments of accountability.
Small groups of insider players can be controlled through informal means. It’s larger groups of employees that need reminding to STFU: those who prepare, copy and deliver reports; those who take notes at board and senior manager meetings; those who overhear conversations while driving limos or serving drinks on private jets.
I’ve read estimates at various times that sending out a single business letter can cost $500 in corporate resources, and that a single top secret note by the UK prime minister’s office goes through the hands of thirteen people on its way out the door.
There are lots of bodies not receiving retention bonuses who have beans to spill, just as there are in the federal bureaucracy Dick Cheney did his best to eviscerate.
With all due respect, bollocks.
The corporate PR department is sending that smaller group out to talk to the press!!
But the people who can really fuck them over are the IT guys and the HR people and so on–the peons that aren’t getting these bribes and have the data that can expose it all.
lol. I was just going to say, the pitchfork crowd can probably distinguish between the IT crowd and the executive suite crowd.
But you know, if it’s a problem for these entitled boneheads they of course assume it’s a problem for everyone. Their best interest is your best interest, is the thinking. Their problems are your problems. And of course, if they are doing well, then there are no problems.
Never mind the bollocks, these guys are the fraud pistols!
Sorry; I had to say it…..
Ha. Now that creates an interesting mind-image…a ship surrounded by a jungle instead of water.
I think we could all come up with more practical ways to stay safe.
* Avoid conspicuous purchases like private jets, tropical islands, etc.
* Postpone office remodeling until public attention is back on Iraq War, automotive industry, and busting unions.
* Instead of AIG logo, wear UNICEF charity race tee shirts, Livestrong bracelets, and Never Forget baseball caps.
* Broaden your interests to include such populist topics as sports, reality TV, and Brangelina. Do not talk stocks!
Love it. I think you’ve got great promise in corporate security.
Any AIG employee who becomes a whistleblower would earn the protection of many grateful Americans and would have more to fear from AIG itself.
There’s another angle here too: we are starting to agree that the bonuses are ”hush money” and apparently in many cases, they are also promised coverage on individual traders’ own losses. It goes beyond enrichment, the bonuses are ”bailouts” for the exposed employees. Even if they wanted to be whistleblowers, they don’t have that option because they are broke and if they sank the bonus system they would be taking their buddies down with them … and the AIG masterminds might still walk!
Anyone want to organize one of these for SE MI?
http://anewwayforward.org/demonstrations/
Found it at baselinescenario.com. I’d offer too but I’m a prisoner to my anxiety.
The only thing AIG employees have to fear is AIG itself.
the “truth” may not set some of them free
“rare” indeed and the peasants keep pushing for accountability
They want private security?
What’s wrong with police? All of us feel a little threatened at times. The rest of us don’t to call on expensive private security firms, though.
The continuing sense of entitlement is incredible.
It is way passed time to haul these guys up before a congressional hearing.
AIG has had a longstanding rep as one of the worst large financial services firm in the world to work for. They spy on their employees, pay their (non-superstars) abusively (and, no, those aren’t the ones getting bonuses), and when Greenberg entered or left the building, the entire lobby had be to cleared and the elevators locked, so that he wouldn’t be troubled with the sight of his own plebian staff. I had friends who worked there up until a few years ago, and they all have horror stories. This isn’t Morgan Stanley or GS or CSFB, which at least pamper their employees while they pillage the economy.
damn
EW~
What info do you have on the Zurich – AIG poaching? Sounds not unlike the UBS – Enron employee sharing that went on in 2002-2003.
This is from Democratic Underground…a site known to be a gatekeeper, but this is some good info…
————
II. UBS Is Enron
This employment opportunity did not come out of nowhere. U Warburg had already bought Enron’s Energy Trading Unit in early 2002, making UBS the new Enron—literally—since energy trading was Enron’s main source of income.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html…
The Enron Corporation announced yesterday that UBS Warburg had won the bidding for its energy-trading business, which was the crown jewel of Enron and was responsible for about 90 percent of its revenue.
snip
”UBS Warburg is excited by the prospect of re-establishing this technology-based trading business,” John P. Costas, chief executive of UBS Warburg, said in a statement. ”It will be a valuable extension of our worldwide trading activities.”
Let’s not forget Phill Gramm ,author of deregulation{Gramm-Leach-Bliely] that facilitated lax rules on banking instruments.
BTW,Wendy Gramm[Mrs.Phil] was on board of Enron.
During the 1990s, Enron’s revenue increased 1,750%, based on energy trading + deregulation.
19 June 2001, after the California energy price spikes, temporary caps were placed on prices. Within 6 months, Enron would be bankrupt.
August 2001, Skilling resigned as CEO of Enron; Ken Lay came back in.
Sept 2001, Texas Sen Phil Gramm announced that he would not run for reelection.
October 2001, UBS (Union Bank of Switzerland) announced that Sen Phil Gramm would become ‘part of its team’.
16 October 2001, Enron posted a loss of $681 for the third quarter, shocking Wall Street (which was still in trauma from 9/11). In addition, shareholder equity took a hit of $1.2 billion.
28 October 2001, Enron announced that it had eaten through its $3.3 billion credit facility, which jolted smart minds on Wall Street to wonder about what might be happening with derivatives.***
March 2009, Sen Carl Levin held hearings on Offshore Banking. Only he and Sen Claire McCaskill were present for the Dems; only Tom Coburn present for the Republicans.
IIRC, one of those who testified was an employee of UBS, and it became clear in Levin’s questioning that Swiss bankers trained in ‘anti-surveillance techniques’ had been coming to the US, that large amounts of money have been heading for tax havens, and that Swiss secrecy laws have almost certainly enabled huge tax and other forms of fraud.
UBS is supposed to turn over some info to a court in Miami, but how long it will take, who knows?
Anyway, others here who may be interested can add more data.
I’ve listed my sources below.
————————-
Dates and info taken from a book called “Other People’s Money,” p. 160.
The Offshore Banking subcommittee hearing can be located via C-SPAN search; use ‘offshore banking’ as the search term.
These thugs use the same playbook, again and again and again!!
Hahaha, companies send out notices like that all the time to their employees, it’s standard procedure when there is any media interest in what’s going on. Typical emptywheel article once again!!!!!!
time to hire Burson Marsteller… hey, if they can spin Blackwater, they can do anything!
Already done. Last October.
seriously? hehe. Boy. evil can be so predictable sometimes… Burson Marsteller’s kinda like Joss Whedon’s Wolfram & Hart ;-P
Chris hanson on msnbc now touting his new piece on the crisis.
“mortgage brokers ‘under pressure’ to make these loans”
I don’t like the general language he’s using “people were getting rich”
who was doing the pressuring? who was getting rich? ooooh, tune in to find out!
This is MOST assuredly the result of a PR strategy. How do I know?
1)The names were given from the official spokesperson, that always goes through PR.
2)PR people go to the big papers and offer them up juicy piece of info (Names!) and they tie it with “The right thing to do” (Give the money back)
3)The PR people know that if they get the public to see these millionaires as real people who give the money back they will score points, but if they show that they are just poor admins who fear for their lives, well a lot more people can relate to that.
When KSFO lost 27 advertisers in early 2007 because I and other bloggers alerted the advertisers of the horrific things the radio hosts said on the air, the hosts said that they were afraid for their personal security. I never say anything directing violence at any of the hosts. (The host might have been talking about financial security) I can’t speak for others, but I was very clear this was about removing the financial support from these hosts. It wasn’t about free speech (although THEY shut me up by shutting down my blog) it wasn’t about physically attacking them, (although I was threatened with arrest and financial ruin).
Talking about taking away rich people’s money is almost more frightening to them than physical violence. If they still have money they can still buy security. With out money, they figure they will be thrown to the wolves (which is what they would do, so they figure others think this way too.)
During the KSFO 3 hour program where they attacked me and tried to do damage control) the comment that they were worried for their personal security came from the female host. It was designed to garner support from both supporters and detractors. People on the left generally don’t like to use violence. That is something that the people on the right like to use. They assumed that angry listeners on the left would come with pitchfolks because that is what THEY would do because they HAVE done stuff like that in the past. (Compare right wing shooter methods in UUC Church to MLK Jr. methods.)
The biggest fear the AIG people have is that someone will give out more info that will hurt them more financially, but they can’t play that card so they play the physically safety card because most liberals can get behind this.
Can you imagine if the right takes this up because Rush Limbaugh gets behind an idea that these people needed to be physically hurt or have a “show down” at “High noon”? (BTW, that language, “show down at High noon” were the phrases used by ex-KSFO host Melanie Morgan said she needed to go after the peaceful protester people from Code Pink. Morgan gathered 300 of her supporters to go confront Medea Benjamin in Berkeley at the Marine Reciting Center. During the event a Morgan supporter produced a knife and slashed the Code Pink sign and the cord of the microphone they were using.
Code Pink was lucky that nobody was shot. Medea told me that she has been confronted by people with guns in the past.)
The PR team for AIG is from Burston-Marsteller. Mark Penn and Karen Hughs.
Check out this great clip from Rachel Maddow talking about AIG PR.
http://davefleet.com/2009/03/m…..-agencies/
“When evil needs a PR firm Burson-Marseller is on speed dial.”
And WE are PAYING for it!
Great points.
But I think that Barney Frank did exactly the right thing to say, “Hand those names over, we’ll confer with [law enforcement] about releasing them publicly.”
The names have to be handed over — I think Cuomo already did that.
The second phase is more problematic, but you make a great point that AIG is the last outfit that should be driving those decisions or processes.
FWIW, I think that Liddy had to cover his ass in that hearing by refusing to release those names on the spot. I think he played that correctly. But in an era when we’ve all learned the NSA spies on all of us all the time, for anyone to pretend that those ‘names’ can’t be uncovered it silly.
It’s how, when, and with what info that matters.
Not all AIG employees are scum.
But some are.
I remain convinced that people at the top are desperate to save their own skins, and what I’d like to know is whether there’s enough political will and law enforcement resources to nail their asses to the proverbial legal walls for a very long time.
Thanks for post Spocko. I followed that episode closely… you really put it on the line for that one.
Didn’t know Karen Hughes was working for AIG. She keeps showing up in criminal enterprises it seems.
It is intersting to note that Doug Polin,who was the recipient of the most generous largesse bonus,has a coincidental link to AIG CEO Liddy.
One of Liddy’s first positions,years ago ,was with Ford Motor Company.
Poling’s father was/is an executive with Ford.
P.S. @25—-When Gramm left politics he became a lobbyist for UBS.
AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND…
Citizen emptywheel and the Firepup Freedom Fighters:
Isn’t it about time to task the Attorney General to work with Congress to establish good old fashioned special prosecutors with unlimited budgets to investigate for fraud, criminal, treason and RICO violations…one for fraud in federal contracting in Iraq, one for fraud and anti-trust in the securities industry, one for fraud and anti-trust in the oil industry, one for exposing a covert agent, one for USA firings, one for the Siegleman case and one for war crimes?
If you say “no”, that the law and our legal system is too corrupt to handle all of this or too weak to protect the public against these most heinous of crimes, then I think we have to discuss throwin the whole rotten structure out and build another one! And please don’t givre me any of that crap about “rule of law and equal protection for thieves and muderers. We are living in a broken country, whose political power rests with a fascist oligarchy that is international in scope and whose phyiscal power rivals the power of the public governments.
Time is the friend of cancer and corrpution…there is no more time to waste.
KEEP THE FAITH AND PASS THE AMMUNITION, THIS SHIT HAS GONE ON LONG ENOUGH!!!
Styve @ 25
During the California energy crisis of 2000, then-Treasury Secretary Summers teamed with Alan Greenspan and Enron executive Kenneth Lay to lecture California Governor Gray Davis on the causes of the crisis, explaining that the problem was excessive government regulation.[8] Under the advice of Kenneth Lay, Summers urged Davis to relax California’s environmental standards in order to reassure the markets. [9]~~~~~~~Wikipedia
Phoenix Woman: Wilkerson Revelations + ICRC Report = Torturing the Innocent
Just a guess, but if AIG suddenly decided to back the EFCA and unionize,woo hoo ,I bet some intersting things might shake down from the AIG trees!LOL!
Thanks to Sen. Susan Collins, the whistleblower protections were taken out of the economic stimulus bill:
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpoi…..ower_p.php
I can’t wait to hear that districts are wasting money but the whistleblowers are not allowed to say what is going out of fear. Of course, Suzie-Q is saying this all has to do with national security and this is why the whistleblowers should not be protected.
Uh ha. Spit.
The AIG situation isn’t identical, but similar considerations apply to the policy of publishing the names, addresses, and photos of sex offenders.
I’m not sure the guy had a chance here, for, like the auto execs who were rightly bashed for flying in on private jets to demand handouts, he would have been bashed for arriving on a private conveyance with an army of bodyguards.