Scorn Trails A.I.G. Executives, Even in Their Driveways

[Purveyor]

The A.I.G. executive who was nicknamed “Jackpot Jimmy” by a New York tabloid walked up the driveway toward his bay-windowed house in Fairfield, Conn., on Thursday afternoon. "How do I feel?” said the executive, James Haas, repeating the question he had just been asked. “I feel horrible. This has been a complete invasion of privacy."

Mr. Haas walked on, his pink shirt a burst of color on a slate-gray afternoon. The words came haltingly. "You have to understand,” he said, “there are kids involved, there have been death threats. ..." His voice trailed off. It looked as if he was fighting back tears.

"I didn’t have anything to do with those credit problems,” said Mr. Haas, 47. “I told Mr. Liddy” — Edward M. Liddy, the chief executive of A.I.G., the insurance giant — “I would rescind my retention contract.”

He ended the conversation with a request: “Leave my neighbors alone.”

Too late. Jean Wieson, who has lived down the block for 24 years, had stopped her car in front of Mr. Haas’s house before he arrived home. She was angry about the millions of dollars in bonuses paid to its executives, the credit-default swaps that brought American International Group to its knees, the $170 billion the federal government has spent to prop it up. "It makes me absolutely sick," she said. "It’s despicable. It’s disgusting what these people have done. They should be forced to give every cent back."

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NYTIMES: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/20/nyregion/20siege.html?_r=1

[Liberal_in_LA]

1. Pity for the kids and neighbors only, not the execs

[aquart]

2. He "would"? DID he give the money back?

Because then all he'd need is a sign saying so, right?

I'm glad he's concerned about his children. And the ones in his exclusive neighborhood.

But all I hear is fear and self-pity. He gets to be scared in luxury. The rest of us just get to be scared.

[varkam]

3. In a way I feel bad for them.

I do believe that people should have their privacy at home. I also think that people who make death threats should be prosecuted to the maximum extent possible under the law.

But on the other hand, I also think that these crooks should be prosecuted to the maximum extent possible under the law.

[soothsayer]

4. Obviously this is wrong, but I wish we had the gumption to rail against the gov like this

Starting with when the supremes installed boosh, and then for iraq, and many other injustices. Private citizens should be left alone, but govt is fair game according to our heritage.

[L0oniX]

5. No shit ...there are kids involved ...from families that are now out in the street ...assholes!

Yea and like retentions are needed to keep these assholes who fucked up ...retentions my ass ...Where are they going to go ...China?