If AIG had been put into receivership, not only could we have prevented this travesty, but we could have avoided the $160 BILLION taxpayers put into the company, and even if the government had to step in later, any payments would have been subject to review by a judge. There is no such thing as a "too big to fail" company.

Where is common sense in government.

Roy

I find this distasteful as well as the bailout, but to let AIG fail would have had serious consequences to the entire financial industry. What should happen is that regardless of the contracts, these bonuses should not be paid. If it's illegal, then new laws should have been passed to prevent the payments.

However, with the filibuster these kinds of rules would never be passed by congress.

Yawn - if you don't like it don't use products who use AIG. Vote with your feet not your whining...

Ferrosynthesis "Roy I find this distasteful as well as the bailout, but to let AIG fail would have had serious consequences to the entire financial industry."

A Chapter 11 filing would have only been a "reorganization" of the company, with a savvy judge being able to decide on the propriety of any payments. By avoiding this step, the company was unable to change any of the "pay contracts".

I still say a reorganization would have saved us perhaps over $100 Billion.

Since AIG was involved in the Swindle and Fraud perpetrated by the Bailouts they are in my view part of organized crime.

Why does this company still exist? There is no hope of saving it. How hard is it to auction off the assets and close the doors? The government has already paid off it's debts. What is there left to do? Shut it down and be done with it.

Yeah..., it's that simple Rick..., yeah..., simple...

F**K AIG, DEMAND THEY PAY US BACK IN THE NEXT 90 DAYS AND LET THEM FAIL!!!!

This Piece of Sh*t company should have been allowed to fail from the beginning. If their "Too Big To Lose" employess don't understand let them go find new jobs that will give them more money. This disaster company of crime, corruption, fraud and corporate prostitution needs to GO AWAY!!!!!! They will keep manipulating OUR $180 BILLION in bailout money as long as this incompetent government allows it. Instead of bending over backwards and taking it in the A$$ any longer the government needs to step on these criminals.

The Treasury bails this company out yet NO ONE knows where the money went. Regulators refuse to tell anyone who the counter parties are. The FEDERAL RESERVE refuses to publicize a list of AIG's derivative counter parties. Over $50 BILLION DOLLARS of the Bailout went to Golden Sacks, Deustche Bank, Merrill Lynch, Societe Generale, Ratobank, Danske, Wachovia, BofA, Lloyd's Group and who knows how many other domestic AND foreign banks!!!!!!

Criminal investigations of the Fed, Treasury, Congress and AIG should be started IMMEDIATELY!!!!!!!

I bet you a whole lot of this money is in a few off-shore bank accounts assuring many in our government and Wall Street have a nice retirement package when they're done RAPING OUR COUNTRY!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, and don't feel too bad about the employees losing their 10%. If you notice they're being paid a month early so they're really only losing 2% of the money owed to them.

Hmm... Pay my bills, or give myself a bonus.

What to do, what to do.

Folk's, you must understand, they don't give a damn, what the lower class thinks; they are just cow's to be milked.

Okay, number 314159, tell me what exactly are they doing to earn those millions in bonuses? What is it that they do? I've seen a bankrupt company's assets liquidated in 6 hours. It's been 16 months. If I'm expected to bankroll this operation, I have a right to know what's going on there. Yet they produce no pubic reports of their activities, surfacing only to demand their bonuses.

if they have an extra 100 million dollars...shouldn't they use that to pay down their debt?????

I cannot stand this company..and as far as I am concerned, I think they should all be unemployed.

Well you see Rich - that is EXACTLY why Government should stay out of the private sector...

I agree completely. AIG should have been allowed to fail and declare bankruptcy but I wasn't given the choice. Now that I'm stuck with it, I want to know what's going on. AIG's website (www.aigcorporate.com) is careful to give only the most general information.

Is their sign still off their building in New York? If is isn't, they might want to take it down again!

ah, a dirty Greedy darn Shame !!.. of course, we're not the recipients..for them the rhetoric is ; who gives a darn eh...welcome to the ways of the World, that's just the way it is..things will never Change.....

Who cares anymore! like we have a say in anything they do. We will never unite and stop using their services in vast numbers to make any difference the same as the banks, lose 1/2 million customers raise the fees on the existing customers until profits have risen again.

To big to fail and to big to care.........

I'll take a crooked Republican over an honest Democrat, although the latter is an oxymoron.

And yet we still can't get any real regulation on the banking industry. Why, because Glen beck tells you it would be socialist to do so.

You guys are your own worst enemies.

Turn off fox news for a couple of days and do some thinking for yourself.

Question: Did AIG repay their bailout(s)?

If so then I don't give a rip what bonuses they give. If not they should be applying this money toward repaying the taxpayers.

According to AIG's website, of $182.3 billion in aid received from the federal government, AIG still owes $120.7 billion.

http://www.aigcorporate.com/GIinAIG/owedtoUS_gov_new.html

They also claim $83.6 billion in outstanding debt to other parties.

Back last year I bought 10k shares at .39 cents a share. I paid $3900. It is now worth $97,368 dollars. Why would I boycott this company?

I bought this stock whent the Obama Administration had Chris Dodd remove the bonus clauses that TARP had written into them. I also noticed that their top two campaign donations were to Obama and Chris Dodd.

Did you know that almost 100% of AIGs bailout money went to Goldman Sach'?

Did you also know that the treasury department recquired that they pay $1 dollar to $1 dollar in loans? This also happened with Citibank?

Technically AIG never got any bailout money since the Government forced them to pay their lenders in full that did not take bailout?

far as me thank you Timmy Geithner :) wish i had sold when the shares were at $52.37 earlier this year.

also for more even more fun, did you know when the government buys "bad assets" from a bank, they force the bank to loan the same amount back to the governmen at a 3% intrest rate?

That is the truth as to why banks are not loaning money. Not Bankers being greedy.

We can all thank, Christopher Dodd’s for AIG bonus!!

..."the firm faces a deadline to pay nearly $200 million in bonuses to employees at Financial Products, the unit whose risky derivatives deals brought the insurer to the brink of collapse in 2008"... sickening.

This is so shameful, Tax them all expensively

Thank you Obama! Can you please start to raise taxes now instead of April I want to make sure I have enough money for these poor peoples bonuses...

There hard work shows!!

The mental processes of the management teams of AIG.........

AIG= ain't I great, I can do anything I like

AIG= aren't I greedy, and I will be paid even though I demolished the US economy

AIG= Absolutely Ignorant (and) greedy. = So you little people lost everything, so what, life is a crap shoot. Ha ha haa.... You win some you lose a lot....

AIG= All is great....yeah... and pass me the Gs

Why don't the IRS audit all these people? Why aren't any of these people locked up and tried for terrorism against the peoples of America.

Due to what they have done people are losing their homes, jobs, health Insurance and healthcare and their investments etc. When the savings and loans failed back in the 1980s people were sent to jail.

It must be nice to be so well connected, because it appears that the monied folks did not lose any of their money or the financial arm of that company would have been in jail cells next door to Madoff.

Do I understand this correctly? $100 million of bonuses to award to the financial products division that is half the 400 employees the company had before bailout. That works out to $500K per employee. And this group created the financial products - credit defaults and derivatives that caused AIG to almost collapse without the government bailout? I may not sleep tonight. I think I need to reload some 06 rounds and go out and insure my aim is on target. AIG should be forced to pay every household in the United States $5 plus postage cost instead of paying ten times the national average salary for a bonus - I am not happy at all about audacious greed.

Hey, People, keep a lid on it. This is all part of the plot! We are getting the change we asked for. Small change. Hey, mister, can you change this dollar for me? Sure. Poof! Now, it's a quarter!

Little Timmy gives them a wink and a nod and lets them know they can do whatever they want, but they better hurry up, since he's not sure just how long he will have his job. Make sure they have a nice high paying job for him when he's thrown out, and all those retro active bonus' would be nice.

Hell I'm starting to wonder if they're hiring, giant bonus's every couple months, and all you have to do is screw everyone who signs up.. least we know who to rob when we've nothing left.. aig execs.........

Better idea - institute a tax of 50% on bonuses over $39,000 as Britain and France have done. AIG employees would never have received this kind of money without the US taxpayers' bailout - let them give some of it back. And AIG is set to give out another $198 million in bonuses in March.

The median US HOUSEHOLD income is under $50,000 a year - do these greedy pigs think they can't live off $4-$5 million a year? Rep. Welch has introduced a measure in the House to tax bonuses over $50,000 at 50%. Fair enough - let's all get behind him!

Yet another red flag ignored.

Let's see, a thinking conservative doesn't support the bailout. But foaming at the mouth fanbois of the Republican party decide that supporting bonuses of a failed company by their own tax money is supporting capitalism......yeah.

That's about as smart as a radical Democrat saying they don't believe in terrorism but are fine with not screaning people that get on airplanes who come from countries harboring terrorists......becasue that will infringe on their 'rights.'

The radical voters in both parties are always good for laughs. Even more so than the radical politicians.

I am boycotting AIG and GM both. Thanks to Obama they're getting enough of my money already for their greedy pig execs, forcefully and against my will, and I have no intention of giving them one dime more by my own free will.

"nothing Obama can do"...hahaha...you sound like the dumbass Rich, and your post would indicate that your mom was the idiot, for not taking advantage of her "choice"...hahaha

do you have anything substantive refute my claims?...didn't think so, but you do have a little something dribbling down your chin

"In return, the government gets 79.9% of AIG's equity. It also gets to replace management (which it already has) and has veto power over all important decisions, including asset sales and payment of dividends."....

note to dumbass, a.k.a. Rich

Seeing that it is the peoples monies that was used to shore up these companies - and pay back the various banks in countries like France, China etc, after the meltdown, - no bonuses should be allowed until the people vote yeah or nay on it. LOL

The next general election is in 4 or is it now 3 years, thus these folks should receive no bonuses until the people of this country vote on it in that election. After all aren't we the majority shareholders?

Perhaps the reason why some banks in some countries were paid first was to stop these members of the management teams from being brought to justice in those countries. LOL

Madoff should have been having a lot of company/cell mates if congress had the bwls to do anything about it. But how can anything be done when many of these folks who are in position of power etc are actually either in these folks pockets or used to work with them or are still friends with these folks on Wally Maker's Street. Boy they sure made wally's out of the masses. LOL

By the by, you folks who used to say that 'the govt should get out of the way', 'get out of our lives' etc , please do not complain that you are being taken to the cleaners by those folks on Wall Street that you admire so much. LOL

Bull anyone? LOL The bears have already gone into hibernation. LOL

BZe1

ya Madoff should have cell mates, like 80% of the democrat party

http://www.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?zip=10022&last=MADOFF&first=BERNARD

Frankly I think it's time to put some nuts in a vice. You want all that money? You think you EARNED it? Well, just how much pain can you take before you change you mind and decide that maybe you don't want the money after all?

They value $ over nuts, especially the women there.

People whining about the good fortune and success of others... Simply amazing.

People whining about the good fortune and success of others... Simply amazing.

Success at doing what exactly? Taking other people's money and mashing up a bunch of loans in toxic packages? Wow you're right man, such valuable and necessary work they do there, I guess they deserve $100 milliion of taxpayer money for that don't they, instead of the rest of the lazy slobs in the middle class who actually (snerk) think working with their hands and degrees should pay instead.

People whining about the good fortune and success of others... Simply amazing.

At my expense!! AIG employee are you, 314159???!!!

Would you like a little cheese with that whine?

Why are you wasting your time on here 314159? Do they pay you by the post or by the hour?

Yawn, just another troll trying to get attention. Go back to the ward. It's time for your meds.

314159 is nothing but an AIG BORG!

Why are people(term used loosely) who's job it was to buy and sell toxic mortgages that brought down the division, getting any bonus!

Dave, did you read congress is setting up to give themselves a raise. Does anyone realize everytime congress gets a raise, Democrats are the majority party?????

314159 is a troll. He/she is only on to get a rise out of the rest of you.

Ignore trolls and save your sanity.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) rejected the idea of continuing a congressional pay freeze until Congress can balance the budget, saying that it would take “a long time” until the budget might be balanced – too long, he said, for Congress to go without a pay raise. CNSNews

They really do seem concerned with handling the deficit - as long as it doesn't affect them or their projects.

That's the clue! ANNOUNCING the bonuses. And WHO DOES THAT? This stinkin' RAG you are reading! Somebody is trying really hard to start trouble in the world! OK. So we won't accept that capitalism is finished! But if we keep our heads about us, we can do a peaceful evolution to COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS. That's COOPERATIVE, not socialism. Do you dig?

Nothing has hurt AIG yet. If they have no nervous system of their own, the American public should give them one.

314159, I'm not whining about other people being successful. They can have as much money and success as they want with no complaint from me UNLESS they are taking MY MONEY in the form of my tax dollars to pay for that lifestyle.

Hell I would just like to have a job period!

Nelson#6, can I be your assistant. I am quite cheap really. I will not need an office and will even pay myself my own bonus. All that I ask is that I am paid what the other guys got. LOL

Yeah..., a boycott will bring them to their knees..., right...

These are people without hearts. They live off the misery of others and if the company was to be dissolved they would find work at GIA soon enough.

Dr D, they knew very well the risks they took. This is not about incompetence. They're thieves on par with grave robbers, worse so as they steal from the living and couldn't care less about the lives they destroyed. Line 'em up, I'd with ease put a bullet in the backs of many heads over there.

Not to mention the trillions more the government has screwed the USA taxpayer out of...

That's right. Our government made eveyone too big to fail. Plus they gave themselves raises, and bankrupted us in the process, so the bonuses mean little to me. When the big o buys out the unions, ACORN and the votes of his senators, how can anyone be pieved at AIG? His adminsistration is as corrupt as AIG.

To the idiots above, this started in 2008... who was in office.

314159, are you 12 ? STFU unless you have something intelligent to say.

The Hope I know is a nice looking lady. As for Change, I have the two quarters left from my dollar.

Apparently you don't know what you're talking about either. Did you find that fact on Wiki? Because when you tried to tell us about it you f&#*ed it up. It's not 3.19....it's 3.14. You're welcome.

We learned that in fifth grade so obviously you ARE NOT smarter than a fifth grader.

So if I use this number I will be smarter?

3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923078164062862089986280348253421170679
8214808651328230664709384460955058223172535940812848111745028410270193852110555964462294895493038196 4428810975665933446128475648233786783165271201909145648566923460348610454326648213393607260249141273
724587006606315588174881520920962829254091715364367892590360011330530548820466521384146951941511609

As a American taxpayer, I cannot believe this......this company just does not get it.....we should have let this entire company go bust....

That is a great idea!! Too bad we didn't get a vote in it.
I don't remember the POSTUS calling me and asking me if it was ok to bail out big companies so they could use the money for vacations and bonus.

I don't remember getting a vote that said it was ok if they stole half of my 401k last year, either.

Therein lies the lesson. No one should be forced to take government money. Had the governent let AIG go to bankruptcy at least the we woudn't have this issue over our heads. Maybe a catastrophy would have happened, maybe not. Now we'll never know.

soooo many....AIG was the first with its hand up grabbing money..they had to have it....and I too do not remember President Bush asking any of us about the Trap money...

Edna453 and GOHOME thanks for the tags.

Lastly 314159 it looks like your typing skills are as rusty as my math. Again we can happily disagree, over my jab at AIG ungrateful employees....my opinion about greed and sky high salaries at banks and on Wall Street being somehow wrong still stands...no earthly human is worth that, but then I think the same about sport stars.....

and now I will sit in the corner and let the grown ups decide things for me....your funny thanks again for the tag.

AIG wasn't FORCED to take ANYTHING. Too BIG to go under was what I remember hearing.

And remember the bonuses were supposedly needed to keep these (useless) members of the management teams from bolting (to countries without extradition agreements) to work for other companies and in other countries. LOL

The French Finance mininster I think it was or somebody like that was asked if this sort of tax and clamp down on compensation packages would not cause these employees to go elsewhere. I think she was amused by the question as the answer would be, go where? Which other company would want failed employees of this magnititude who brought down the world economy. LOL

Only in America, where we reward crass behaviour (providing you are rich or connected to start with of course). LOL

All you folks who did not want the govt to nationalize these institutions because that would be socialism, well they didn't, and look where that has gotten us. A bunch of greedy conscienceless capitalists still taking advantage of the little people. LOL

Now you want govt intervention? LOL Why? Can't you take on these folks on your own? If their shareholders could not corral them do you think you will be able to? LOL

Perhaps the "govt need to be smaller", "govt need to get out of our lives and leave us alone", 'there is no need for re-regulation", "let them regulate themselves because the govt does not know about these financial instruments", "deregulation did not cause this problem", etc etc and others who still believe in trickle down economics, see what happens when you leave the fox to guard the chicken coop? The fox make you pay for the chickens that they ate and make you compensate them for the loss of your farm. LOL

BZe1 thanks for the additions and the tag.

BZe

you are right...the foxes were guarding the hen house...Barney Google, Chris Scrod, Franklin Paines (who by the way was cooking the books at Fraudy Mae the same way the Enron boys were , but you dumbass liberals closed your eyes) and the rest of the mortgage welfare crowd ...the last administration sent at least 12 requests for oversight and revue of Fraudy Mae and Fraudy Mac and was told that they were sound and operating fine...but then that is what your dad Barney (mush mouth) Franks said, can anyone really understand what that moron is saying? he sounds like he has something in his mouth..

When everyone all of a sudden showed up on the same day at the same time stating that all the money had "magically disappeared" overnight the reply should have been:

"The money isn't gone, it's in your pockets. Put it back or you're going to jail".

That would have been the end of the "banking crisis".

I agree with you Heather...how can a company be on it's last leg and then 12 months later have 100 million dollars to dole out as bonuses??? what the hell is going on here?

Bankrolled By China Dubya Sold America AIG was Founded in China

Heather, you'll get nothing out of their mouths. They wanted it this way. Shame on Obama and his minions for not letting them fail. No one is too big to fail, and that includes the head honcho responsible for this debacle.

Good grief-get a life. Eisenhower( one of the last true Republican Presidents) warnedof the dangers of allowing the industrial-military complex to acquire to much power. Sadly the Republican and the Demo crate Presidents following choose to ignore his warning. If a balance between the industrial/banking, military, and the general public is not reached the trouble we are having today may not seem so serious. It is time for everyone to put aside greed and again try to achieve a balance for the common good.

Rodger... Your absolutely correct. President Eisenhower warned of the Military Idusrtial Complex becoming to powerful and upsetting the balance of our Great Nation.

Anyone can read it, go to search and type in Eisenhower farewell address.

Trasnparency? A lie. No earmarks? Another lie. No lobbyists? Another lie. Closing Gitmo? Another lie. Pulling out of Iraq? One more lie, Obama. It's about time you pull your head out of your ass and make good on all these promises for those who supported you. I didn't, so I thoroughly enjoy your lack of ability to tell the truth.

T. Jefferson warned us about everything obama is doing today, look up qouted history of jefferson he warned of the failure of this country and what it would take to cripple her, his comments against a to big to fail scenario are exactly what this administration is doing today.

Think they should invite the management group of AIG to the White House, have them change into convict suits, and then have a press conference announcing the shut down of AIG and the arrest of all them in the convict suits. We have enough lawyers in the government to fight this till the end of the next century, and we certainly don't need AIG any longer.

Or invite AIG employees to the White House and make them join a union..., then it would be OK...

You truly are STUPID!

They can't- too big to fail as the White House says. This is what you get with mediocrity running this country.

I like it!!!

I think it's a matter of public information.

Hey Jason - why don't you post your full name, address, phone number, email address, address of your relatives, schools your children attend, social security number, etc.

Why not post the names of all of Washington and their addresses and telephone numbers? They were the ones who said "too big to fail" And gave them the money. AIG is following protocol as this is part of the pay package. You want to punish AIG, then you have to punish Washington and the POTUS. You can't have it both ways.

Hey 314159 - NO

Freedom of Information Act ?

AIG is a private company - even though they issue stock, they aren't required to make public the compensation of every employee. So, no, the names of those receiving bonuses is not public information.

Andrew Cuomo, Attorney General of New York State, has filed to require AIG to publicize that information. But since he's just AG of the state they're headquartered in, he probably doesn't have the political clout to actually make them turn over the names. The federal government does, but Congress doesn't seem to have the willpower to enact any restrictions on the financial industry. Unless we make them.

GetReal

AIG is a private company - even though they issue stock, they aren't required to make public the compensation of every employee. So, no, the names of those receiving bonuses is not public information.

Receiving taxpayer money to stay in business isn't considered public anymore? What Planet offers these incentives now?

a handout? haha I think they would be trampled.

This will be deleted, and I hope you are banned. We fought a war 65 years ago to rid the world of people like you. Shame.

Were not allowed to criticize the Jews? Most of these to big to fail corporations are run and owned by Jewish people. Also most of the people who have been appointed to high govt positions for finance are Jewish.

tom474e--------------are you a fascist or a communist?? you have to be one or the other-------you have just made a social statement that indicates that you are a closet Socialist without a "pot to p*ss in!!-----------I hit the nail on the head with one of them right----right!!

Oh ok.....now you are making it about the Jew? shame on you.

And to think there are some who do not see the connection between the right wing and National Socialism.

Anchorage smirks - Please stay in Anchorage. Personally, I'm willing to let you secede and have Palin for a dictator. As long as you take all the rest of the nuvo-fascists with you.

In Italina it's basta e basta. I agree with that.

No offense intended but..., your inlaws don't sound very bright... Hopefully they didn't get the advice from you...

You are truly stupid 314159. Do not even try to follow the PI decimals, as this is way beyond your comprehension. May the human race pray that you have not spawned any offspring. If not, God help the rest of our children. You are truly STUPID.