The next chapter in the Jim Cramer saga comes courtesy of Deal Journal, in the form of a letter to the Jerry Springer of finance from AIG CEO Ed Liddy. Just imagine those chairs flying.
Edward M. Liddy
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
AIGOctober 20, 2008
Mr. Jim Cramer Mad Money
CNBC
[Address]
Dear Mr. Cramer,
I was deeply disappointed last Thursday when you urged your viewers to harass AIG employees, saying:
‘We should hound them in the supermarket, we should hound them in the ball park, we should hound them everywhere they are. We should make fun of them and we should point fingers at them and we should tell them that you have no shame.’
Those comments are outrageous. I demand they be retracted and that you apologize to AIG’s employees. It is one thing to criticize the executive leadership of AIG – that’s fair commentary. But it is way out of bounds to incite people to confront and harass other AIG employees – hard-working, dedicated people who are running good businesses and are committed to our success. The employees of AIG did not cause this mess, but they are paying for it – in diminished 401K savings and in some job losses as we sell companies to repay the Federal loan. The irony is that AIG employees did not cause the problem, but they will solve it. For that they deserve our praise and our gratitude.
I await your prompt response.
Sincerely,
Edward M. Liddy
Of course, both Cramer and AIG have been under pressure recently — the first fending off criticism of his erratic investment strategies and the latter for the same hosting partridge-strewn parties like these.