Even the Wehrmacht Had Honorable Soldiers

That was my reaction when I read the resignation letter of Jake DeSantis, an AIG executive. He understandably does not like being tarred with the brush of scorn being used to paint AIG.

Cry me a river.

AIG, among with many other companies, engaged in betting humongous sums of money that the worthless mortgage-backed securities would never fail. AIG insured not just junk securities, but rotting, putrid securities on a belief that the housing market would continue to grow. AIG, by insuring those valueless heaps of decomposing offal, was at the core of the meltdown of the financial credit markets.

All that is beyond dispute. So there were hard-working and honorable people at AIG, and that most folks at AIG were the salt of the Earth? OK. But there were enough skells there to bring down the economy of the planet. Of course everyone at AIG is going to be tarred with that. That is a fact of life.

DeSantis should have his Tough-Shit Card stamped and he should be loaned the key to the Weep Locker. If he is so incensed, if he is so certain that he is entitled to all of his bonus payments, then he ought to at least be man enough to say "frell all y'all, I earned it, I'm keeping it."

But no, he's not that gutsy.

Cry me a river.