DEAR Mr. Liddy,

親愛的 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:

我很遺憾地在此遞交辭呈。我決定從“AIG 金融產(chǎn)品部”（譯者注：后文簡(jiǎn)稱AIG-FP）離職。我希望您能抽出一些時(shí)間，將整封信看完。在我詳細(xì)敘述辭職的理由之前，請(qǐng)?jiān)试S我說一些心里話：

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.

我對(duì)于自己在 AIG-FP 的商品與權(quán)益部門所做的一切，感到自豪。導(dǎo)致AIG大幅虧損的 CDS 交易，我沒有以任何形式參與，或是應(yīng)該對(duì)此負(fù)責(zé)。現(xiàn)在 AIG-FP 的400多位員工中，和此事有關(guān)的人員屈指可數(shù)。大部分應(yīng)該負(fù)責(zé)的人都早已離職，而且顯然躲過了如今外界公眾的咆哮。

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.

經(jīng)過了12個(gè)月的辛勤工作——其間公司多次跟我們保證，我們將在2009年3月獲得年終獎(jiǎng)——現(xiàn)在，我們這些 AIG-FP 部門的員工，感覺自己被公司出賣了，而且還遭受到政府和國(guó)會(huì)的不公平對(duì)待。作為對(duì)此的回應(yīng)，我準(zhǔn)備離開公司，并且把我得到的稅后獎(jiǎng)金，全數(shù)捐獻(xiàn)給因?yàn)檫@次金融風(fēng)暴受害的人。對(duì)于這筆錢，我一分錢都不留。

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.

在做出這個(gè)決定前，我已經(jīng)為公司奉獻(xiàn)了11年高質(zhì)量的服務(wù)。但是如今我沒有辦法在這種不正常的環(huán)境下繼續(xù)善盡我的職責(zé)，而且公司也不再為此付我薪水了。和你一樣，我也被要求以年薪1美元的代價(jià)工作，而且我也同意了，因?yàn)槲艺J(rèn)為我不只對(duì)公司有責(zé)任，而且也對(duì)提供援助的政府有責(zé)任。但是現(xiàn)在兩者都讓我失望了，我沒有辦法再每天花上10個(gè)、12個(gè)、甚至 14個(gè)小時(shí)，不陪伴家人，卻為了讓我失望的人的利益繼續(xù)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.

你和我從來沒有單獨(dú)見面或交談過，所以我想和你談?wù)勎易约旱囊恍┍尘啊Ｎ业母改付际菍W(xué)校教師，我是在鋼鐵廠里長(zhǎng)大的，那些廠如今都倒閉了。我努力學(xué)習(xí)，被麻省理工學(xué)院錄取，靠獎(jiǎng)學(xué)金讀完了大學(xué)。我在自己身上實(shí)現(xiàn)了美國(guó)夢(mèng)。

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，我作為一個(gè)債券交易員，加入了AIG。隨后，成為了商品和權(quán)益交易部門的主管。在危機(jī)發(fā)生的的數(shù)年前，被提升為商品部門的業(yè)務(wù)開發(fā)主管。在這段時(shí)間內(nèi)，我的部門持續(xù)盈利，大部分的年頭都能獲利超過1億美金。最近，在 AIG-FP 解體的過程中，我也是主要負(fù)責(zé)把聲譽(yù)良好的商品指數(shù)部門賣給瑞士銀行的人。如你所知，類似這樣把業(yè)務(wù)單位賣掉的交易，對(duì)于AIG的生存、以及將來償還美國(guó)納稅人的援助，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.

顯而易見，我的薪資報(bào)酬主要來自于我們部門的高盈利。我從來沒有從現(xiàn)在導(dǎo)致公司巨額虧損的 CDS 交易中領(lǐng)過1分錢。而且，我和許多 AIG-FP 部門的同事一樣，在這些虧損的 CDS 交易中，損失了不少畢生積蓄，因?yàn)槲覀兌及淹七t支付的工資，投資在 AIG-FP中。如同廣大的美國(guó)納稅人一樣，我們從未從CDS交易中獲利，卻深受其害。

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.

我對(duì)你目前在AIG的角色，抱著崇高的敬意。因?yàn)樵贑DS交易上，你和我一樣無辜，而且在國(guó)家需要你的時(shí)候，你勇敢地站出來響應(yīng)政府的號(hào)召，但是現(xiàn)在卻因此而飽受抨擊。

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.

你也相當(dāng)清楚，這個(gè)部門內(nèi)大部分的員工都和這些巨額虧損毫無關(guān)聯(lián)。你沒有站在我們一邊，讓我感到相當(dāng)失望。上周三，你面對(duì)國(guó)會(huì)議員和媒體關(guān)于我們年終獎(jiǎng)的不實(shí)指控、以及后來紐約檢察官發(fā)表一些無事實(shí)根據(jù)的評(píng)論的時(shí)候，卻沒有辦法挺身而出為我們辯解。我們AIG-FP部門的同仁深深感覺自己被背叛了。

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，當(dāng)你知道這個(gè)年終獎(jiǎng)的發(fā)放計(jì)劃時(shí)，我猜想，你認(rèn)為AIG-FP部門的人員需要一些誘因才能夠留下來。而且，這個(gè)年終獎(jiǎng)，既合乎道義又有實(shí)際效果，應(yīng)該得到執(zhí)行。這大概就是公司在那個(gè)月里，先后三次跟我們保證會(huì)履行諾言，發(fā)放年終獎(jiǎng)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.”

這大概也是你決定讓這些年終獎(jiǎng)提早3個(gè)月發(fā)放的原因。這個(gè)決定讓我們感受到你對(duì)我們的支持，這一點(diǎn)都不像一個(gè)真心認(rèn)為這些合約“難以接受”的人會(huì)做的事情。(譯按：AIG CEO 在被炮轟的時(shí)候，曾經(jīng)這樣形容這些年終獎(jiǎng)合約。)

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

最后，這大概也是你在3月13日最終授權(quán)支付這些年終獎(jiǎng)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.

在過去6個(gè)月你領(lǐng)導(dǎo)AIG的期間，你從沒有要求我們修改、重談、或是放棄這筆年終獎(jiǎng)，直到你出席國(guó)會(huì)聽證會(huì)的數(shù)小時(shí)前。

I think your initial decision to honor the contracts was both ethical and financially astute, but it seems to have been politically unwise. It’s now apparent that you either misunderstood the agreements that you had made — tacit or otherwise — with the Federal Reserve, the Treasury, various members of Congress and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo of New York, or were not strong enough to withstand the shifting political winds.

我想你剛開始的想法是，既然這些年終獎(jiǎng)原則上沒錯(cuò)、在財(cái)務(wù)上也說得過去，那么應(yīng)該給予尊重。但是這個(gè)做法現(xiàn)在看來在政治上不討好。那么顯然，你要么是誤解了同聯(lián)儲(chǔ)、紐約州檢察官、國(guó)會(huì)議員、財(cái)政部之間的成文或不成文的協(xié)議，要么就是不夠堅(jiān)定，無法抵擋這些政治壓力。

You’ve now asked the current employees of A.I.G.-F.P. to repay these earnings. As you can imagine, there has been a tremendous amount of serious thought and heated discussion about how we should respond to this breach of trust.

現(xiàn)在，你要求 AIG-FP 部門的同仁繳回這些他們應(yīng)得的年終獎(jiǎng)。你可以想像，我們對(duì)你破壞了大家對(duì)公司的信任是多么怒火中燒，怨聲載道。

As most of us have done nothing wrong, guilt is not a motivation to surrender our earnings. We have worked 12 long months under these contracts and now deserve to be paid as promised. None of us should be cheated of our payments any more than a plumber should be cheated after he has fixed the pipes but a careless electrician causes a fire that burns down the house.

既然我們大部分員工都是無辜的，罪惡感當(dāng)然不是讓我們繳回年終獎(jiǎng)的動(dòng)機(jī)。我們勤奮工作了12個(gè)月，現(xiàn)在理應(yīng)按照合同被支付薪酬。這就好像一個(gè)水管工修好了水管以后，一個(gè)粗心的電匠卻把房子燒毀了，水管工不應(yīng)該被責(zé)怪一樣，我們這些員工也是無辜的。

Many of the employees have, in the past six months, turned down job offers from more stable employers, based on A.I.G.’s assurances that the contracts would be honored. They are now angry about having been misled by A.I.G.’s promises and are not inclined to return the money as a favor to you.

過去六個(gè)月當(dāng)中，許多部門內(nèi)的同仁，因?yàn)檫@份年終獎(jiǎng)的緣故，拒絕了許多比 AIG 更穩(wěn)定的工作機(jī)會(huì)。 AIG高層一直不斷保證，這筆年終獎(jiǎng)會(huì)如期支付。同仁們現(xiàn)在因?yàn)楸或_，而感到非常憤怒，不愿意為了幫你的忙就把獎(jiǎng)金繳回公司。

The only real motivation that anyone at A.I.G.-F.P. now has is fear. Mr. Cuomo has threatened to “name and shame,” and his counterpart in Connecticut, Richard Blumenthal, has made similar threats — even though attorneys general are supposed to stand for due process, to conduct trials in courts and not the press.

現(xiàn)在唯一讓他們繳回獎(jiǎng)金的動(dòng)機(jī)其實(shí)只有恐懼。檢察官已經(jīng)放話，威脅要公布所有得到獎(jiǎng)金的“可恥的人的姓名”。可是，檢察官的正確做法，理應(yīng)是在法庭上處理案件，而不是訴諸媒體。

So what am I to do? There’s no easy answer. I know that because of hard work I have benefited more than most during the economic boom and have saved enough that my family is unlikely to suffer devastating losses during the current bust. Some might argue that members of my profession have been overpaid, and I wouldn’t disagree.

所以，我該怎么辦？這不是輕松的決定。我知道，在此前經(jīng)濟(jì)繁榮的時(shí)候，由于我的辛勤工作，我的生活要比大多數(shù)人過得優(yōu)渥，我也仍然有足夠的儲(chǔ)蓄讓我的家人不至于在這次風(fēng)暴中受到毀滅性的打擊。有些人可能會(huì)批評(píng)我們這行業(yè)的人報(bào)酬過高，我對(duì)此沒有異議。

That is why I have decided to donate 100 percent of the effective after-tax proceeds of my retention payment directly to organizations that are helping people who are suffering from the global downturn. This is not a tax-deduction gimmick; I simply believe that I at least deserve to dictate how my earnings are spent, and do not want to see them disappear back into the obscurity of A.I.G.’s or the federal government’s budget. Our earnings have caused such a distraction for so many from the more pressing issues our country faces, and I would like to see my share of it benefit those truly in need.

這就是我決定把稅后獎(jiǎng)金100%地捐出來、幫助受到金融風(fēng)暴打擊的人的原因。這不是什么避稅花招；我只是希望，我最低限度能夠?qū)ψ约旱募t利獎(jiǎng)金應(yīng)該怎么使用做主，而不是聽任這些錢消失在AIG 復(fù)雜的帳務(wù)中，或是消失在政府預(yù)算中。我們的年終獎(jiǎng)吸引了太多大眾的注意力，讓大家沒辦法把目光放在需要幫助的人身上。我希望能夠盡點(diǎn)力量，幫到那些真正需要幫助的人。

On March 16 I received a payment from A.I.G. amounting to $742,006.40, after taxes. In light of the uncertainty over the ultimate taxation and legal status of this payment, the actual amount I donate may be less — in fact, it may end up being far less if the recent House bill raising the tax on the retention payments to 90 percent stands. Once all the money is donated, you will immediately receive a list of all recipients.

3月16日，我收到了公司支付的稅后年終獎(jiǎng)，總計(jì)$742,006.40。因?yàn)槟壳跋嚓P(guān)稅務(wù)和法規(guī)還不確定，所以我實(shí)際捐贈(zèng)的金額可能會(huì)小于這個(gè)數(shù)字。事實(shí)上，很可能是遠(yuǎn)小于，如果國(guó)會(huì)現(xiàn)在關(guān)于這筆獎(jiǎng)金的90%懲罰性稅法通過的話。總之，當(dāng)我把這筆錢盡數(shù)捐出以后，你會(huì)立刻收到收款對(duì)象和捐款明細(xì)。

This choice is right for me. I wish others at A.I.G.-F.P. luck finding peace with their difficult decision, and only hope their judgment is not clouded by fear.

這個(gè)決定對(duì)我來說是對(duì)的。我祝其它AIG-FP的同仁好運(yùn)，希望他們能夠心情平和地在這個(gè)困難的處境下做出決定，但愿他們不要被恐懼的陰影圍繞。

Mr. Liddy, I wish you success in your commitment to return the money extended by the American government, and luck with the continued unwinding of the company’s diverse businesses — especially those remaining credit default swaps. I’ll continue over the short term to help make sure no balls are dropped, but after what’s happened this past week I can’t remain much longer — there is too much bad blood. I’m not sure how you will greet my resignation, but at least Attorney General Blumenthal should be relieved that I’ll leave under my own power and will not need to be “shoved out the door.”

Liddy先生，我也祝你好運(yùn)，祝你能夠?qū)嵺`把紅利退回給政府的承諾，也祝你能夠繼續(xù)把AIG整頓好，尤其是那些不好處理的 CDS 交易。短期內(nèi)，我會(huì)繼續(xù)幫忙確保沒有什么問題發(fā)生，但是在這周發(fā)生的事情以后，我沒辦法再留下來很長(zhǎng)時(shí)間了，因?yàn)橛刑嘞酉逗筒恍湃?。我不知道你將如何看待我的離職信，但是我想紐約檢察官應(yīng)該會(huì)感到欣慰，因?yàn)槲沂亲栽鸽x職的，而不是如他所威脅的讓他“掃地出門”。

Sincerely,

Jake DeSantis 敬上