March 18, 2009 2:01 pm

AIG, Wilton, And How The Courant Perceives Fairfield County

You’d think Wilton wasn’t home to some global brands or something. From the Courant:

For an enterprise that wrought crippling damage on the American financial system, AIG’s Financial Products unit kept a low profile in a town of 18,000 residents dominated by mom-and-pop businesses.

Even after the prominence of AIG’s name in the news, many locals remained only dimly aware that their town hosts an AIG office at all, and those who knew of it had no idea what went on there.

“I’m sure if you went downtown and polled 10 people, nine would have no idea,” said Stacy Robertson, owner of South Wilton Veterinary Group, located across Danbury Road, also called Route 7, in direct view of the Wilton Corporate Park building.

Unlike ASML Lithography Systems, Deloitte & Touche and Louis Dreyfus Corp. — major employers in town and loyal supporters of civic causes — AIG Financial Products does not belong to the Wilton Chamber of Commerce, despite an invitation to join.

“They’ve done nothing, good or bad, for us,” said Stephanie Barksdale, executive director of the chamber.

Lack of prior knowledge hasn’t stopped many locals from joining in the criticism.

“If you come in for a haircut and I cut your ear off, are you going to give me a tip?” said Chris Fusaro, a barber along Route 7 in Wilton who said he’s had customers from nearby Merrill Lynch and UBS offices, but none from AIG as far as he knows.

AIG Financial Products has reduced its worldwide workforce from 450 employees in early 2008 to about 370 employees today — roughly the same amount of people one former employee said were stationed in Wilton alone in the mid-2000s. The unit also has offices in London and other cities.

Anonymous

A drive-by hit job from a clueless reporter with little or no basic fact-checking. Does anyone still wonder why this and other mainstream papers are tanking?
What about Dodd????

What about the Kleptocrats B. Frank and C. Dodd. When are we going to point to them. The Courant at least has highlighted all of the corrupt actions of Dodd. Special mortgage deal, house in Ireland on sweetheart deal with felon’s friend; sweatheart deal with felon on Washington Condo; approval of Fannie and Freddie writing mortgages to people who don’t qualify; hundreds of thousdands of campaign dollars from AIG, Merrill, Fannie and Freddie and other banks. Approval of AIG bonuses as part of pork bill recently passed. Dodd is the real bad guy in all of these issues and its time we all started talking about it.
1 of the SMD 3

Thank God I’m not the only one who sees what a GD Crook, Lying arrogant *sshole our so called “Senator” Dodd really is!
WHEN will we see his resignation???
He should be in JAIL for what he has done to this country. Dodd & his slobbering idiot buddy B. Frank (D) MA, who have done more damage to this country than the entire congress should be run out of town, tarred & feathered!
Dodd wants to TAX bonus’s of AIG’s executives @100%? HE is the one who WROTE the legislation that made these bonus’s ok to be paid!! My GOD the arrogance!
How about Dodd showing us THE DOCUMENTS OF HIS SWEETHEART DEAL WITH COUNTRY WIDE MORTGAGE??????
Let’s TAX HIS assets at 100% ! It’s about time HE PAID HIS FAIR SHARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Old Timer

This is the same part of AIG involved in a $500 million dollar fraud deal with Gen Re in Stamford that resulted in five convictions in federal court and a ton of money paid out already to settle civil suits ? That fraud case is a major reason AIG needed a bailout. The trial and convictions killed their stock. See link, below.
http://money.cnn.com/2009/02/25/news/companies/general_re.reut/
sal liccione

hey jackie it is sal i be at nj ryans tomrow at 3 for my birthday come down ok my number mike has it or mike coffey ok sal liccione
DE

A thought on how the bonus or lack of affect the state budget. With AIG here in Wilton I wonder how much tax income is derived from AIG that goes into state coffers? Could the state be shooting itself in the foot?
Just a thought.
Do not interpret this as an endorsement for the b0nus payout because I don’t.
Have you noticed through all this sanctimonious blather from the administration and congress about out rage and sacrifices that we need to make. That Congress has not considered a pay cut or cutting back on their expenses,especially they are the real culprits in causing this mess, and that’s anyone who voted in favor of all the relaxing of the rules.
The President uses air force one as a if where a Smart Car flying to be o9n talk shows. I guess its only hard times for us donkeys!
anonymous

How can they create a 90% tax on a legal bonus that congress itself created and signed, along with the president? Now many, including the president, are saying that they didn’t read the bailout before they approved it and made it a law. Yes, the president signed the law that allowed AIG to pay those bonuses without even reading the law. And now they are retroactively trying to change the law they signed? Sounds like many of the homeowners who took out loans that they couldn’t afford and then cry and get a handout because they didn’t read their mortgage papers before they signed them. I just don’t get it.
Political Doo-Doo

Trying to enact that tax seems like the most blatant political pandering. The time to act was when writing the bailout bill and what it could be used for and what it could not. If they were allowed to use the money this way, then it is legal — whether the populace likes it or not.
Political Doo-Doo

And who is so naive that they don’t read something as importnat as a mortgage document? Haven’t they ever heard about “reading the fine print”? Maybe we need grammar school courses on basic contracts and agreements to make people a bit more savvy. I remember that there used to be a checkwriting course (what a check is, how to properly write it, etc.) way back when I was in grade school. They told you things like drawing a line to fill in that space for the ammount so that no one could change what you wrote — anyone else remember that?
1 of the SMD 3

Looks like it’s time for another “Basic” lesson that a lot of people have forgotton.

Here’s a nice story to help the dimwitted understand.

I feel this explains in simple terms the difference
in ideology in the two parties:

I was talking to a friend of mine’s little girl, and she said she wanted to be President some day. Both of her parents, liberal Democrats, were standing there, so I asked her, “If you were President what would be the first thing you would do?”

She replied, “I’d give houses to all the homeless people.”

“Wow…what a worthy goal.” I told her, “You don’t have to wait until you’re President to do that. You can come over to my house and mow, pull weeds, and sweep my yard, and I’ll pay you $50. Then I’ll take you over to the grocery store where the homeless guy hangs out, and you can give him the $50 to use toward a new house.”

She thought that over for a few seconds while her Mom glared at me, then she looked me straight in the eye and asked, “Why doesn’t the homeless guy come over and do the work, and you can just pay him the $50?”

And I said, “Welcome to the Republican Party