People are getting angrier
Adapted from Financial Times By Emma Jacobs
As public distaste at taxpayer-funded bail-outs has turned to “bonus rage” directed at specific individuals.
The home of the former head of Royal Bank of Scotland was vandalized last month. Windows were smashed, his Mercedes was damaged and e-mails from a group claiming responsibility for the attack branded all bank bosses “criminals” and warned: “This is just the beginning.”
Edward Liddy CEO of AIG told Congress of death threats, and Jimmy Cayne, former CEO of Bear Stearns, hired armed guards.
Corporate security is by nature and necessity a secretive industry but it’s clear that corporate figureheads have become visible targets in the downturn.
One security director said, “There has never been this kind of populist anger before,” she says. “When executives are revealed on television with bonuses they become a target.”