Ken, your editorials are often a food for thought and are an integral part of Wednesday Journal. With that prominent position that your column occupies in the paper, comes responsibility. It is when you throw opinions that have no support in facts that you are wrong and dangerously adding to the flame. [Finding our humanity in hard times, Ken Trainor, March 25]
It is your right to trump your lack of faith in capitalism. But, your clever epithets making up the AIG name (Arrogance, Ignorance and Greed), lack factual basis. What do you exactly mean when you talk about “those … profiting from our misery”? To avoid the “misery,” AIG should have been allowed to go bankrupt. There would have been no drain on taxpayers’ money and no subsequent bonus controversy. However, since our government decided to rescue AIG, it rescued its contractual obligations as well. People responsible for AIG’s troubles are long gone. Professionals that were retained were asked to orderly put AIG back on its feet. The compensation for their work was to come in the form of retention bonuses to be paid later. Bear in mind that, even in bankruptcy, a judge could have agreed to retain a core team of professionals to carry through bankruptcy process. These people would not be expected to work for free.
I understand the popular outrage over AIG’s bonuses, but it stems from ignorance. The media, of which you, Ken, are a prominent member, had no interest in providing us with relevant facts. The outrage expressed by politicians is phony and calculated. The government, as an 80 percent owner of AIG, was in the know. What is the source of your outrage, Ken – ignorance or calculation?
Jacek Lazarczyk
Oak Park