>>This was the lead story in yesterday's New York Times, which I got around to reading at lunch time today. I see in today's headlines online that President Obama is trying to get payment of these bonuses blocked. The article makes it sound like that may not be possible legally, but boy, is this aggravating. We are bailing these bozos out to the tune of $180 billion and they are paying themselves huge bonuses? And to the exact business unit that caused all the problems? Truly unbelievable.
>>
>>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/business/15AIG.html
>>
>>Here is my favorite part ---
>>
>>A.I.G., nearly 80 percent of which is now owned by the government, defended its bonuses, arguing that they were promised last year before the crisis and cannot be legally canceled. In a letter to Mr. Geithner, Edward M. Liddy, the government-appointed chairman of A.I.G., said at least some bonuses were needed to keep the most skilled executives.
>>
>>“We cannot attract and retain the best and the brightest talent to lead and staff the A.I.G. businesses — which are now being operated principally on behalf of American taxpayers — if employees believe their compensation is subject to continued and arbitrary adjustment by the U.S. Treasury,” he wrote Mr. Geithner on Saturday.
>>
>>Thank goodness they are retaining that best and brightest talent. Just think how much of a mess they could have created if they were not in such able hands!
>>
>>Grrrr.....
>
>Do you want to know a quick way to fix this? Don't bail them out. :-)

If I remember correctly, Mike B. was the only person on this board supporting first wave of bailouts, that included AIG, about 4 months ago.