LAS VEGAS, NV (March 16, 2009) — Clearly AIG has a tin ear when it comes to the American people.  Why are they acting like this? Because they know if AIG collapses the entire economy takes another major body blow – that might send us to the canvas.

Before I trash AIG, let me take their side for a moment.

To maintain AIG as a viable company, their leaders believe they should honor contracts with their employees. An insurance sales director in the company, for instance, may have met his quotas and is deserving of his commissions and bonuses.

This is very typical in the financial field.  You bring in the customers: you get more pay.  Some of these salespeople (business development officers) are given lower salaries with the incentive of big money if they produce. It makes sense.

And, in fact, if the employee had nothing to do with the risky derivative side of the AIG business then maybe he should be paid for keeping the company out of even more financial trouble. Remember only a small portion of AIG’s business caused this incredible free-fall.

So, breaking these contracts with qualified employees could lead to other legal ramifications for the company. If you were due a quarter million dollars in legitimate bonuses and they decided you weren’t going to see it, then wouldn’t you sue? I would. So, breaking these employee contracts could set a precedent – especially down the road – with the courts and not our lawmakers making the decisions.

Again, we don’t know what’s in those contracts. Government and AIG officials need to explain to all of us the exact nature of the AIG contracts with the employees getting these bonuses. Without that, we can’t make a logical assessment.

Here’s where siding with AIG ends.

No matter what’s in those contracts, though, there are precedents to allow the government to break those contracts.

We’ve already torn up other labor deals. Remember the concessions the automakers gave back so GM and Chrysler could get government help? Why can’t those contracts with AIG employees fall into the same category? If you’re going to make the case that unions don’t deserve it because it’s too expensive, then white collar workers don’t deserve those bonuses either.

OK, maybe you don’t like unions so you that comparison doesn’t work for you. How about the average guy and gal – not in a union – who has been fired or laid-off, even for no legitimate reason except the economy? In Nevada, it happens all the time and it’s legal. We have a right-to-work state or as laid-off workers call it right-to-fire state – for any reason.

Even when contracts are signed with workers, the employer seems to get the upper hand. Take my TV contracts, for example. Each contract contained force majeure clauses.  That clause said if the company or TV station suffered severe damages – like an Act of God that ended the businesses – and the station could no longer continue making money and they couldn’t honor my contract, then the contract is null and void without any penalties paid to me.

In other words, a plane crashes into the station and destroys it. There’s no place for me to do a newscast; no newscast, no advertisers, no revenue, no job for me. Makes sense.

What’s the difference for AIG? The company just went through the equivalent of a jetliner crashing into it and taking it down. The only difference is they did it to themselves; only a few of their employers under the direction of their officers were the hands of an evil god.

Here are my solutions.

First, the company should stop all bonuses unless these two reasons occur: the person entitled to the bonus has an unlivable wage; and that person was not involved in the portion of the company that led to the financial downfall. If the person meets the criteria then they will receive 20% of what they were supposed to get.

The explanation to the AIG employee would be this. The majority of Americans are getting no bonus this year and their companies did not play a major role in the economic downturn as AIG did. There are also about 5 million Americans who have no paycheck, thanks in part to your company. Be happy you’re getting something.

Second, if AIG won’t do that, then if anyone from AIG accepts their bonus, they are terminated immediately.

In sports, the highest paid players are sometimes the first to go – especially if the team failed to make the playoffs. AIG not only didn’t make the playoffs, they lost every game that was a blow-out.

I was the most successful anchor at KTNV — as far as ratings. Yet I knew two things. The first was if those ratings dropped, then the exit door was not far away.  The message was clear: there was another anchor-type who could read the news just as good as I could. Second, when my value soared, because I was getting offers from national TV shows, the station was happy to see me leave since they knew they wouldn’t be able to afford me in the future. And they got compensation from my new employer.

(In fairness, KTNV and Journal Communications also allowed me a chance to improve my career in a national venue.)

My point is this. We’re all expendable in the eyes of management. Why now — when companies need to cut back, when we’re facing the worst economic crisis in 70 years, and when the taxpayers are keeping your company afloat — is AIG and some its employees thumbing their collective noses at taxpayers?

So, yes it’s OK to be pissed off at AIG.