>>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.
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>>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/business/15AIG.html
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>>Here is my favorite part ---
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>>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.
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>>“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.
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>>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!
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>>Grrrr.....
>
>Do you want to know a quick way to fix this? Don't bail them out. :-)

After the NCAA selection show yesterday I kept the TV on a few more minutes to see Ben Bernanke on "60 Minutes". (Quite a coup for the old show -- normally Fed chairmen don't grant interviews, ever). He was asked specifically about A.I.G. and had a very interesting response. Actually two of them. The first was he said they really were too big to let fail. He said in his opinion it would have precipitated a global financial crisis. (Along the same lines, he said he wishes he had a do-over on Lehman Brothers, which did give markets a megajolt when it was allowed to fail). The second was he said he was angry with A.I.G. It was such an uncharacteristic response for a Fed chairman the interviewer did a double take and asked Bernanke to confirm it. "Yes, I was and am angry with them," he said -- for making such colossal business mistakes and leaving us holding the bag.