An Insatiable Greed: Bonus Time!

1. Gail Pink
   March 18th, 2009 at 3:48 pm

   These AIG pigs need to burn in hell.

2. firehazrd
   March 18th, 2009 at 4:10 pm

   Oh they will burn.

3. Another Tim
   March 18th, 2009 at 5:03 pm

   Gail and firehazrd--I would agree if Congress will admit to the truth: that late last year they agreed to let AIG issue these bonuses. Now they want the bonuses returned? That's a good definition of hypocrisy.

   Also, I would feel better about the current Congress witch hunt if the President and members of Congress who got money from AIG (campaign money--like Barney Frank) returned it as well.

   Also, keep in mind that these bonuses were to keep certain people at AIG until a certain date, not reward them for some previous action.

4. Charlie (Colorado)
   March 18th, 2009 at 6:04 pm

   Look up "retention bonus" guys.

   And then ask yourself why the CEO of AIG is willing to take that job, and put up with this nonsense, for a dollar a year.

5. Johnny Cat
   March 18th, 2009 at 6:30 pm

   Some of these people don't work there, anymore.

6. Justin E
   March 18th, 2009 at 7:18 pm

   i heard the people at AIG are getting death threats. I think I know what they say "you'll get yours in
   Hell you sub-human greedy bas***ds"

7. Rich
   March 18th, 2009 at 8:17 pm

   Would you give your VISA card to a crack addict?

   something's fishy.

   follow the money...

   not the paltry 200 mill, but the BILLIONS and BILLIONS AIG is sitting on or has 'laundered' ("bonuses" to Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, UBS, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, Barclays... etc)

   And their 'credit card limit' recently got upped ANOTHER $30 billion.

   The employees certainly aren't angels... think of them more as flares and chaff.

8. Tom
   March 19th, 2009 at 10:19 am

   The truth is, it isn't AIG's fault. They made stupid mistakes, and they should have gone bankrupt because of it. It's our stupid leaders on both sides of the aisle that thought that the free market doesn't work (it does when you leave it alone, but they have had it by the balls since the formation of the Fed in 1913), so they "had" to intervene.

   If they just let all these worthless companies fail, new ones would spring up to take their place, all this bad debt would be written off and disappear, and a lot of people would learn valuable lessons. Instead we have created a huge incentive for companies to act irresponsibly. If you only fed your dog after he mauled neighborhood children, before long you would have a pretty mean dog. In reality, you should put the dog down after the first such incident.

   Greed isn't what ruins nations, it's charity for the undeserving. AIG doesn't deserve your or my charity, and nor did Fannie, nor did Freddie, nor did any of the others. You can keep people from starving, but that doesn't mean that you should give companies welfare, or give them reason to breed more liabilities for the system.

   Let the system work.

9. vrmmff
   March 19th, 2009 at 6:30 pm

   Greed is perfectly capable of ruining nations. The Ron Paul Libertarians who think the free market will solve everything are idiots.
   Credit default swaps are what is bringing down AIG, and they are the perfect example of pure "free market" ideology in practice: unregulated financial instruments.
   The idea that just letting people fail means the debt will "disappear" is a fallacy. Somebody holds that debt, including people who thought they were making low-risk investments in reputable banks.
   There is an idea here that virtuous companies are being punished while bad companies are being rewarded. When a financial bubble breaks it takes down good and bad alike.
   The AIG bonuses stink, but people should take a deep breath and be rational about the situation.

10. Commentor
    March 21st, 2009 at 8:18 pm

    Love the Marx t-shirt. I'd make a Reagan one, but I can't think of a good one.

11. Commentor
    March 22nd, 2009 at 4:03 am

    Wait! It just came to me. There IS a good Reagan: Ron Reagan Jr.

    You could picture him alongside the bad one. I'd wear that t-shirt.

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