LEAVE THE GALTIES ALOOOOOOONE

Much is being made of the publicly printed resignation letter of AIG executive VP Jake DeSantis. The letter ended up in the NY Times Op-Ed section.

I am proud of everything I have done for the commodity and equity divisions of A.I.G.-F.P. I was in no way involved in — or responsible for — the credit default swap transactions that have hamstrung A.I.G. Nor were more than a handful of the 400 current employees of A.I.G.-F.P. Most of those responsible have left the company and have conspicuously escaped the public outrage.

After 12 months of hard work dismantling the company — during which A.I.G. reassured us many times we would be rewarded in March 2009 — we in the financial products unit have been betrayed by A.I.G. and are being unfairly persecuted by elected officials. In response to this, I will now leave the company and donate my entire post-tax retention payment to those suffering from the global economic downturn. My intent is to keep none of the money myself.

The Galties are hailing him as a hero, giving us dire warnings that as American workers any of us could be next. My response:

Dear Mr. DeSantis:

The millions of Americans who were denied the choice of your noble gesture to resign and donate your bonus because of the damage your company wrought upon the financial landscape of the globe, the millions of families were forced to sacrifice and pay for your mistakes while they have to resort to the indignity of assistance to make ends meet, the millions of Americans kicked out of their homes or rental properties having to uproot their lives to make other arrangements, and the millions of Americans who are personally offended at being lectured at by a man such as yourself who can no doubt afford to donate your bonus, all have but one question to ask you.

Where's my $182.5 billion, you sanctimonious asshole?

Next time, try returning that money. Then -- and only then -- you will have regained permission to speak of how your rights as a free-market capitalist are being impinged upon by the government -- the same government from which your company so freely took a staggering 12-digit sum of money from and which we know will never be paid back in my lifetime -- and only then will your gesture begin to count as having corrected the balance in the universe.

Until then, have fun finding a job in this economy.

Sincerely,

Zandar

P.S. You're still an asshole.

[UPDATE] Obligatory constructive criticism because I just might have been a skosh hard on this guy: If you really want to help unwind the mess your company made, I hear Treasury is looking for people. Also, don't throw hissy fits in the NY Times next time you feel like resigning out of guilt. That's what blogs are for.