I was listening to the testimony by AIG's CEO Liddy this afternoon. Apparently the retention bonuses were directly tied to each person working out his or her portfolio of problem derivatives satisfactorily to help shut the unit down, at which point their jobs would be finished. The 11 that resigned had completed their assignments. Apparently the resignations were considered to be mutually desirable. For what it's worth, Liddy is working for a "salary" of $1.00 with no bonus in the form of either cash or stock in an effort to unwind the AIG fiasco. Whether correct in his assessment or not, he currently believes that AIG will be able to repay all loans received from the government and that the government will actually make a profit on the assets that it purchased. If this substantially comes to pass I would categorize the AIG bailout as an even bigger success than the original bailout of Chrysler. Only time will tell.
EDIT: BTW, I know it's all Obama's fault if AIG fails. Who's fault is it if the bailout succeeds?

