Some of the most disturbing reports now coming out of the US tell us that AIG employees are now living in fear. Now we're told employees have been told to avoid sporting the company logo and to travel in pairs at night. Bomb sniffer dogs and body guards are in demand.
As the Hartford Courant reports, activists are now preparing protest bus tours of their houses.
Now, it's true that AIG only exists today for one reason: US taxpayers have forked out $173 billion to pay for what are essentially its gambling debts from credit default swaps. Worse still, the people who have helped place those bets are receiving $165 million in bonuses.
That's why the tabloids have gone to town, with the New York Post singling out James Haas, executive VP and the co-leader of AIG's North American marketing and belittling him with the monicker "Jackpot Jimmy". Not to be outdone, there's Senator Charles Grassley who has come out saying that AIG executives should resign or commit suicide.
This is disturbing stuff. Yes, people have lost money and homes and are doing it hard but this is going too far because it's turning into a witch hunt. As lisa Solod Warren writes in the Huffington Post, these people aren't criminals and to attack them at a time when the US is pouring billions into zombie banks and financial institutions is missing the point. The ghost of Joe McCarthy has returned, in hot pursuit of a menace that does not exist.
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