再见，AIG (AIG副总裁的辞职信)

24EN编者按：以下的这封信是2009年3月24日发出的，发信人是AIG集团金融产品部的副总裁Jake DeSantis，收信人是Edward M. Liddy，AIG的CEO。

原载：2009年3月25日《纽约时报》

译者：（台湾）George Lee

DEAR Mr. Liddy,

亲爱的 Mr. Liddy，

It is with deep regret that I submit my notice of resignation from A.I.G. Financial Products. I hope you take the time to read this entire letter. Before describing the details of my decision, I want to offer some context:

我很遗憾地在此递交辞呈。我决定从“AIG 金融产品部”（译者注：后文简称AIG-FP）离职。我希望您能抽出一些时间，将整封信看完。在我详细叙述辞职的理由之前，请允许我说一些心里话：

I am proud of everything I have done for the commodity and equity divisions of A.I.G.-F.P. I was in no way involved in — or responsible for — the credit default swap transactions that have hamstrung A.I.G. Nor were more than a handful of the 400 current employees of A.I.G.-F.P. Most of those responsible have left the company and have conspicuously escaped the public outrage.

我对于自己在 AIG-FP 的商品与权益部门所做的一切，感到自豪。导致AIG大幅亏损的 CDS 交易，我没有以任何形式参与，或是应该对此负责。现在 AIG-FP 的400多位员工中，和此事有关的人员屈指可数。大部分应该负责的人都早已离职，而且显然躲过了如今外界公众的咆哮。

After 12 months of hard work dismantling the company — during which A.I.G. reassured us many times we would be rewarded in March 2009 — we in the financial products unit have been betrayed by A.I.G. and are being unfairly persecuted by elected officials. In response to this, I will now leave the company and donate my entire post-tax retention payment to those suffering from the global economic downturn. My intent is to keep none of the money myself.

经过了12个月的辛勤工作——其间公司多次跟我们保证，我们将在2009年3月获得年终奖——现在，我们这些 AIG-FP 部门的员工，感觉自己被公司出卖了，而且还遭受到政府和国会的不公平对待。作为对此的回应，我准备离开公司，并且把我得到的税后奖金，全数捐献给因为这次金融风暴受害的人。对于这笔钱，我一分钱都不留。

I take this action after 11 years of dedicated, honorable service to A.I.G. I can no longer effectively perform my duties in this dysfunctional environment, nor am I being paid to do so. Like you, I was asked to work for an annual salary of $1, and I agreed out of a sense of duty to the company and to the public officials who have come to its aid. Having now been let down by both, I can no longer justify spending 10, 12, 14 hours a day away from my family for the benefit of those who have let me down.

在做出这个决定前，我已经为公司奉献了11年高质量的服务。但是如今我没有办法在这种不正常的环境下继续善尽我的职责，而且公司也不再为此付我薪水了。和你一样，我也被要求以年薪1美元的代价工作，而且我也同意了，因为我认为我不只对公司有责任，而且也对提供援助的政府有责任。但是现在两者都让我失望了，我没有办法再每天花上10个、12个、甚至 14个小时，不陪伴家人，却为了让我失望的人的利益继续工作。

You and I have never met or spoken to each other, so I’d like to tell you about myself. I was raised by schoolteachers working multiple jobs in a world of closing steel mills. My hard work earned me acceptance to M.I.T., and the institute’s generous financial aid enabled me to attend. I had fulfilled my American dream.

你和我从来没有单独见面或交谈过，所以我想和你谈谈我自己的一些背景。我的父母都是学校教师，我是在钢铁厂里长大的，那些厂如今都倒闭了。我努力学习，被麻省理工学院录取，靠奖学金读完了大学。我在自己身上实现了美国梦。

I started at this company in 1998 as an equity trader, became the head of equity and commodity trading and, a couple of years before A.I.G.’s meltdown last September, was named the head of business development for commodities. Over this period the equity and commodity units were consistently profitable — in most years generating net profits of well over $100 million. Most recently, during the dismantling of A.I.G.-F.P., I was an integral player in the pending sale of its well-regarded commodity index business to UBS. As you know, business unit sales like this are crucial to A.I.G.’s effort to repay the American taxpayer.

1998年，我作为一个债券交易员，加入了AIG。随后，成为了商品和权益交易部门的主管。在危机发生的的数年前，被提升为商品部门的业务开发主管。在这段时间内，我的部门持续盈利，大部分的年头都能获利超过1亿美金。最近，在 AIG-FP 解体的过程中，我也是主要负责把声誉良好的商品指数部门卖给瑞士银行的人。如你所知，类似这样把业务单位卖掉的交易，对于AIG的生存、以及将来偿还美国纳税人的援助，是非常必要的。

The profitability of the businesses with which I was associated clearly supported my compensation. I never received any pay resulting from the credit default swaps that are now losing so much money. I did, however, like many others here, lose a significant portion of my life savings in the form of deferred compensation invested in the capital of A.I.G.-F.P. because of those losses. In this way I have personally suffered from this controversial activity — directly as well as indirectly with the rest of the taxpayers.

显而易见，我的薪资报酬主要来自于我们部门的高盈利。我从来没有从现在导致公司巨额亏损的 CDS 交易中领过1分钱。而且，我和许多 AIG-FP 部门的同事一样，在这些亏损的 CDS 交易中，损失了不少毕生积蓄，因为我们都把推迟支付的工资，投资在 AIG-FP中。如同广大的美国纳税人一样，我们从未从CDS交易中获利，却深受其害。

I have the utmost respect for the civic duty that you are now performing at A.I.G. You are as blameless for these credit default swap losses as I am. You answered your country’s call and you are taking a tremendous beating for it.

我对你目前在AIG的角色，抱着崇高的敬意。因为在CDS交易上，你和我一样无辜，而且在国家需要你的时候，你勇敢地站出来响应政府的号召，但是现在却因此而饱受抨击。

But you also are aware that most of the employees of your financial products unit had nothing to do with the large losses. And I am disappointed and frustrated over your lack of support for us. I and many others in the unit feel betrayed that you failed to stand up for us in the face of untrue and unfair accusations from certain members of Congress last Wednesday and from the press over our retention payments, and that you didn’t defend us against the baseless and reckless comments made by the attorneys general of New York and Connecticut.

你也相当清楚，这个部门内大部分的员工都和这些巨额亏损毫无关联。你没有站在我们一边，让我感到相当失望。上周三，你面对国会议员和媒体关于我们年终奖的不实指控、以及后来纽约检察官发表一些无事实根据的评论的时候，却没有办法挺身而出为我们辩解。我们AIG-FP部门的同仁深深感觉自己被背叛了。

My guess is that in October, when you learned of these retention contracts, you realized that the employees of the financial products unit needed some incentive to stay and that the contracts, being both ethical and useful, should be left to stand. That’s probably why A.I.G. management assured us on three occasions during that month that the company would “live up to its commitment” to honor the contract guarantees.

去年10月，当你知道这个年终奖的发放计划时，我猜想，你认为AIG-FP部门的人员需要一些诱因才能够留下来。而且，这个年终奖，既合乎道义又有实际效果，应该得到执行。这大概就是公司在那个月里，先后三次跟我们保证会履行诺言，发放年终奖的原因。

That may be why you decided to accelerate by three months more than a quarter of the amounts due under the contracts. That action signified to us your support, and was hardly something that one would do if he truly found the contracts “distasteful.”

这大概也是你决定让这些年终奖提早3个月发放的原因。这个决定让我们感受到你对我们的支持，这一点都不像一个真心认为这些合约“难以接受”的人会做的事情。(译按：AIG CEO 在被炮轰的时候，曾经这样形容这些年终奖合约。)

That may also be why you authorized the balance of the payments on March 13.

最后，这大概也是你在3月13日最终授权支付这些年终奖的原因。

At no time during the past six months that you have been leading A.I.G. did you ask us to revise, renegotiate or break these contracts — until several hours before your appearance last week before Congress.