The NYT has an op-ed that is an 'I Quit' letter. The letter makes it sound like Jake DeSantis has unfairly had his salary taken in a populist backlash when he had nothing to do with the Credit Default Swaps that made AIG bankrupt and dependent on taxpayer support to remain solvent.

And there is the rub. If AIG had been allowed to fail, collapse and become bankrupt; such that it ceased trading as a solvent financial entity then Jake DeSantis would have no bonus either. It is only due to taxpayer largesse that he has a job in a company that is alive. As part of the taxpayer takeover, employment contracts such as DeSantis' should have been rewritten to remove all bonus compensation.

Secondly, I do pretty well for myself, but I could not survive on a $1 salary like DeSantis does. His experience is not the average or the normal working experience. So while the letter is supposed to evoke in me the feeling that it is all unfair, I do not have empathy.

AIG is a failed company. It should not exist, and would not exist as a trading corporation other than the rest of the country is bailing it - and Goldman Sachs - out. AIG should have gone through a Schumpeteristic creative destruction and consequently died economically. DeSantis should be thankful he is getting even $1 out of AIG.