We should be mad as hell about this! Let's bail out the company for bad financial decisions so they can continue to make them!! If they need our tax dollars to stay in business they have NO business paying bonuses. A bonus should be paid on profit, if there is no profit there is no bonus. HOW many smaller business have gone under, they can't get a bail out, people are out of work because of these horrible financial decisions, loans and HIGH PAID executives that bury companies in debt!!! WAKE UP!!! They should have to submit finanicals to the tax payers and we should get the opportunity to make this decision for them!

I can't even beleive this is a real vote question! Are you serious?

All Bonus money should be used to pay down debt or refund investors. This company should be taking care of the money invested with them, not rewarding themselves, especially as they did nothing to protect those funds, only thinking of their own wallets. Anyone accepting a bonus at AIG should go to jail.

OMFG. Why are we surprised? Anyone who has any sense of decency or morals, who are currently doing business with, or planning to do business with this evil company should take their business elsewhere...let that POS company sink, and take all its bloodsucking executives with it! I almost signed up for insurance coverage from them, but they promised one rate and within a week changed it to a much higher rate for no good reason. I quickly recognized them for the greedy scumbags they were and cut them loose. They should be ashamed of themselves to throw legal BS in America's face about excessive bonus payouts!! "Our hands are tied..." give me a f'ing break! This just makes me sick.

Quite agree bonus should be paid on profit and good works and it should not be bailout money that money should be used to put the company back on foot. The president should stop and or take back the money.

It just goes to show how greedy the capitalist system is. IT'S TIME FOR AMERICA TO WAKEUP. I'm just a foreigner following the news.

It just goes to show what can happen with too much freedom. I n time like now companies who brought on this economic disasters should be talking bonus when you are bankrupt please please wait and let the world get back on its feet. The consequences that will follow will be very devastating for poor countries.

We could be heading for a world civilian uprising if America don't put the brakes on.

Everyone needs to send an email not only to their Senator, Congressman and President but also to:

Timothy Geithner (Sec. of Treasury) timothy.geithner@do.treas.gov
Dr. Lawrence Summers c/o assistant Bryan Jung bryan_jung@who.eop.gov

And my favorite (vent at will):
boardofdirectors@aig.com

This is flat out stealing from the American Taxpayers. It seems to me that if AIG had not recieved taxpayer money they would have folded and these people would be out of a fricking job just like many other people today. The government does have power to stipulate bonuses because they gave them the money to bail them out. It seems to me that the government and President Obama should step up and say fine you have that kind of money to give out.........great we want that much back immediately to pay back the american people They gave out 165 million plus another 55 million then the government should require an immediate check of $220 million payable immediately end of story. There should be no if ands or buts and then if they try to make further payments of this sort then when they cut those checks to those upper eschelon employees a check to the government/taxpayers should be cut on the same day. If they don't like it then fine we want ALL of it back NOW!!!!!!! Because apparently you are not that bad off. Bonuses are only given when a company is prosperous....at least that is how it works for everyone else and most of the time not even then this is a complete slap in the face to the American people. I urge anyone who has AIG to move their insurance to someone else. Only then will they learn the American people are SICK and tired of handing out and bending over while the rich get richer and the rest of us worry if we are going to have jobs and you greedy SOBs continue to line your silk pockets.

What do they mean "they will lose their best and brightest?" They can't have been very bright, so let them go. I mean really, millions of people are out of a job. I dare them to try to find a job comparable to what they currently have..they're lucky they have one. If they don't like that they aren't getting a bonus, fire their sorry a$$. How are they going to sue a company that has no money??? What, are they going to sue the taxpayers??Are these people idiots?? Well, obviously so, they wouldn't be in the mess they are in. Most of us know better than to even ask for even a raise right now, much less a bonus. Unbelievable.

Why is anyone surprised that this company is going to get away with this additional crass behaviour. The rest of us are struggling and people are losing their jobs, homes and 401ks every day, yet these people are giving their top people bonuses because they supposedly contracted to do so before they knew of the melt down in 2008?

What a scam and a con job. Just another scheme to defraud the public this time taking tax payers money after they descimated their stockholders etc monies.

At the rate they are going they will be trying to get more money and do the same thing all over again. No wonder these companies don't want the govt to take part of their company as collateral and they keep screaming about socialism and nationalization. Because they know well that if the govt held part of their company as collateral they would not be able to do this sort of thing.

Pay the bonuses in stock and whose value should them made available to them after they have paid back all of the the billions they have borrowed.

You can't pay out bonuses out of money you do not and did not have or would not have had without the bail out money to stablize the company that the tax payers had put up.

From the look and sound of things the tax payers who are the major shareholder/ owners of the company are being taken advantage of yet again.

Where are the republicans now, to talk about spending money one does not have? Why don't they do something to stop this unconscionable behaviour by this company?

Ah, wishful thinking on my part I suppose.

So this is what the money was for? The taxpayers gave AIG bailout money so they wouldn't get sued over "contract obligations" to these over paid corporate gluttons!

It's a win win for both AIG and the bonus gluttons. Those contracts should have been "null and void" the moment AIG recieved the bailout money. Taxpayers now own a decent portion of this company. When will we get our shares of the benefits from this perfect solution?

If the company would have went bankrupt, what would have happened to the bonus contracts then?

Oh this really cracks me up:

"Where are the republicans now, to talk about spending money one does not have?"

Who signed and forged this swift bailout?

When is Nancy Pelousi going to give up her jet? When is she going to start flying commercial airlines? Our administration is just as corrupt and wasteful and gluttonous as AIG.

Whatever happened to "We the people are the Government"?

a lumber co in Washington laid off 210 long time employees because their credit line was cut after 30 years, they couldnt get credit... they never missed a payment...

F these bonus's...

March on congress , your mayor, whoever and let them know if these bonus get paid,,, we want the names&addresses of the people who accepted these bonuses and we want the names&addresses of the people who approved them.

Pelosi doesnt have a jet, that is a myth, stop perpetuating stupidity,,, there is enough real carnage to focus on, we dont need to invent any...

Bonuses are supposed to be paid for performance. If you fail miserably you shouldn't recieve a bonus. If these are the talented ones they're afraid of loosing I shutter to think who the untalented are.

It's real simple economics taught when we were able to understand. No work no pay!!!!!

We are rewarding bad management. I don't get it.

HAY AMERICA IT IS TIME TO WAKE UP AND RISE UP! WE KEEP LETTING THEM STEAL THEY WILL ROB US BLIND WHILE THE WHOLE TIME LAUGHING ABOUT WHAT WAS IN A STUPID CONTRACT.

Oh and the stupid lawyers that support this need to be publicly stoned.

We should all picket AIG's office to let them and, the Government know the Taxpayers are MAD. Bonuses should be paid based on success of a Company, not failure. AIG is failing, I would have required bonuses stopped and Executive salaries cut prior to any Taxpayer money going to AIG to forego bankruptcy.

Mr. Liddy stated they must give these bonuses 165 million to retain good help. Apparently their help had problems or they wouldn't be in the shape they are now. I didn't get a bonus for living a conservative lifestyle and not losing my house or finances, so why should they get a bonus for turning the company belly up?

What are the bonuses for? For the fine job they did in losing $61 billion?

AIG insures the Congressional pension fund. Now who thinks Congress will let them sink? As to the bonus, hold your nose. A contract is a contract. As long as they are not bankrupt, the bonuses must be paid.

This is absolutely outrageous. In the state the economy is in and the 8.1% of people in the US that are unemployed, and the many more thousands of individuals who will lose their jobs in the very near future, to ALLOW a company that has been troubled and saved by us, the tax payers, to even think they should spend even a dime on individuals (executives so called) that have gotten the company in this situation to begin with, it is absolutely unacceptable. It was not to long ago when they spend a lot of money to take their executives to a retreat in a exotic island, and put them up in a luxury hotel, to reward them for getting the company in trouble and for wasting US people's hard earned dollars. Contract or not, in times like this, I am sure there is a loop hole that will allow the company to hold off such "bonuses" to individuals who should be paying out-of-their pocket instead, for the mistakes they made. In a business world they would have been FIRED a long time ago, but I understand that we should not consider AIG a company that has done well or even belongs in the business world. If they were business minded, they would not have left the ship to sink. Furthermore, the government who decided to "save" those needs to step in and either prevent this from happening or pull out the money we, tax payers, invested in AIG with the stimulus packages. If the government doesn't do it, then they deserve the same blame, AIG deserves. I have a solution regarding the contractual issues AIG says "has their hands tied". FIRE ALL THESE EXECUTIVES BEFORE THE DEADLINE FOR POOR JOB PERFORMANCE (I am sure like in any other organization there is a company policy referring to job performance by all employees), AND THEN YOU AS A COMPANY ARE NOT OBLIGATED TO PAY ANYTHING TO ANYBODY.

let the court figure it out! these people are stupid! my tax dollar at work!

How can anyone pay a bonus to a company that lost $61,700,000,000.00 in three short months. I can only imagine the loss came out of the original $85,000,000,000.00 that A.I.G. TOOK from the American taxpayer. In a single word "brilliant". Simply brilliant! Too even entertain the notion the executives should be paid a bonus is just short of lunacy. Isn't a bonus based on performance and profit? The performance is self evident with a 61.7 billion loss in the fourth quarter alone, but where the hell is the profit? As far as a "contract being a contract". Three simple words that will break any contract " Go F__— Yourself! If you're broke (as A.I.G. is) you're broke! You can't squeeze blood from a turnip!

How do you get bonuses for running a company into the ground. If they did their jobs properly AIG wouldn't need the bailout money!

NO ONE in my company is getting bounuses, NO ONE is getting raises, We are ALL taking steps to save money & cut back on everything, we have taken cuts in hours so we don't have to lay off as many people. Screw these guys, let em fail, let em try and sue.

When will the people of this country stand up and FIGHT for what is theirs?? Why are we continuing to allow politicians to sit in office and spend our money for us? Why are we allowing the government to bail out companies that are poorly ran? Then for those companies to give bonuses, what a crock!! Law suits or not, the company has a duty to the United States of America to do the right thing. We need to be held accountable for our actions and if we don't hold these types of corporations accountable, who will?? The government?? hahaha Give me a break!

I am taking my IRA out of AIG as a protest.

Retain what talent? If they want to leave, let them go and see if they can get another job in this market with their resume! I'm sure there is plenty of other talent out there, that is will to work for lest right about now!

Well just another example how not intouch the government is. Bonus these so called bright individuals should be fired. If they are so bright they can find another job, probably with the government. The government thinks we are stupid and will accept any screw up just tell them it's good for all, idiots. If I were to do my job the way these individuals did there's, there wouldn't be no bonus just the boot! God help us if this is the best corperate America has to offer.

I can't believe the statement "we can be sued if we don't pay the bonus" your ass should be sued for making such a idiotic statement. It just shows the minds we are dealing with,blank! My company and our union renegotiated our existing contract to help save all our asses. We took a pay cut to keep our jobs. Don't give me this bull@!$%# they can't restructure the language to fit the situation. Even with the changes I may still lose my job, but we tried. AIG should be squashed like the bloodsucking company it is. I'm sure there are hard working people there but will they see any of that bonus I seriously doubt it. This isn't liberalism it's the rich sucking us dry. Excuse me maybe it is liberalism, the freedom to exert one's greed.

My thoughts are, bonuses should be considered for those who perform and earn profits for a Company. How can bonus' be paid to those who are in part responsible for the horrific performances of AIG? I would think asking for part of their salaries back would be more appropriate.

i.e. Big man in Italian suit, "Hey Jones come on in to the board room"  "Boys this is Jones from our financial section!" "Jones here was responsible for us losing $146,765,987,555.33 last year!!" " Isn't that great!"  "What do you think? a 1% bonus?"  "OK passed.... Murphy cut this man a cheque right now!"   "Oh by the way Jones, you have a raise and a new promotion"  "Now let's have some Louis XIII Brandy and a Monte Christo #2!!!"   Har Har Har.

Make a loss.......get a BONUS? I thought bonuses were paid on PROFIT?

Must be the new CORPORATE concept......give the money that the past profitable employees earned to the new idiots.......go figure..........

This is so wrong....so very wrong......contributing to the losses

Q: How do you pay bonuses with money you do not have?

A: Steal it from the American Tax payer.

Take the Fed money back and let AIG pay bonuses from their funds. Oops, I forgot they will be bankrupt and the courts will not allow bonus payment after bankruptcy filing. AIG management, GMC, Maydoff, etc. should publicly have their hands cut off and be sent to jail.

Another question is how many of the bonuses would be paid without our taxpayer money? Contracts can be re-negotiated. I encourage each of your to make your voices heard to your House and Senate representatives.

Where is the corporate and fiscal accountability that this administration has been touting? "Yes we can" well here is a chance to make it Yes we DID!

Bonuses are based on profit and performance. AIG would be out of business without "our" money. Any employee taking one of these bonuses should be let go, what a nice severance check.

Can we, as tax payers, who are paying for these bonuses, under the Freedom of Information Act demand the names of the recipients of the bonus money? I would truely like to know whose house I need to camp out in front of in order to let their neighbors know who's screwing who. 

Please send this email to your Senators, Representatives, Department of the Treasury, and anybody else you can think of.

Dear sir,
As a tax payer who is ultimately footing the bill for the federal bail out of AIG, I demand under the FREEDOM of INFORMATION ACT to know whom is receiving bonus, or retention, money and how much they are to receive.

Thank you.

Sending e-mails to your senators does nothing but ensure that you get tons of spam from them telling you how wonderful they are. What ever happened to the good old nut jobs that used to come out of the wood work to assasinate?

Amen! Let AIG feel the pains of bankruptcy!!!

I wonder how many of the employees were given the choice of whether or not they wanted to pass on their bonus. I find it very hard to believe that out of a company that size only 6 would say they understood the situation and would pass it up. Then again, I may just be expecting more good in people than there really is.

Do you think the top executives gave others in the company the choice or just made it for them?

I believe these execs who were supposed to be the "Best and the Brightest"? Well, I'll have to agree. They were the best and brightest....at SMOKE AND MIRRORS! Send them to Vegas as magicians!

Line these morons up and shoot them. These guys put the entire economy at risk, and as a result, the national security. I call that being a traitor! Death sentence, period.

If these guys are the best and brightest, we might as well go to al Qaeda now and surrender.

We've met the enemy. It's us!

I agree. Maybe the top executives are not worhy but the 'workers' have probably been busting ass to do the work assigned, not knowing that they can't succeed.

Liberal? This isn't what liberals do. This is what the Bush crowd does--take from the poor and give to the rich.

I am a nurse in St. Louis. Here, not only have we been told that we will not be receiving any MERIT increases thru FY 2010 but many of my professional colleagues now cannot get any tuition reimbursement/continuing education funding. Instead, we are all trying to work extra hours, struggling to pay our bills with less money because many of our family members have lost their jobs due to fab companies like AIG. And BTW, my sister works at AIG in the upper eschelon and is not getting a bonus. She says they are not "commission or performance pay."

I can tell you personally, none of the 400 "little guys" I work with are getting any performanced based pay increases and are in fact doing the job of more than one person. BTW not all "AIG Employees" are blood sucking greed bags. The little guys are volunteering in our community making a difference in the lives of Senior Citizens as well as Habitat For Humanity and Angel Tree. The "little guys" work hard for less than we deserce and ARE TAXPAYERS TOO. Don't forget non AIG employees aren't the only ones getting screwd!!!!

This is totally unbeliveable!!! Since when do bankrupt organizations payout bonuses. The financial side of AIG is insolvent and it should be shut down, move any assets that are left to companies that are small enough that they have to do a good job. The AIG financial executives can go out and look for a job like everyone else!

These bonuses will be paid to executives. executives do not get paid on commision. They are paid a salary plus bonuses. With the company losing 61 billion in the fourth quarter and getting 170 billion bail out from the taxpayers, I CANNOT even see any type of situation where a bonus could or should be paid to any executive. It was said these bonuses are being paid because of a contractual obligation. It is the people who went into this agreement that are to blame for this mess. Why would you ever obligate your company to pay a bonus as a reward when you LOSE money. Without the bailout this company would be out of business and NO bonuses would have been paid. That should have happened!!!!

So Effemae and Justsaying.....

If you work or know a someone in management at AIG and they are NOT getting bonuses then WHO IS GETTING THESE MILLIONS IN BONUSES OVER THERE???!!!! Is AIG lying about these contracts just to rake over the American taxpayer once again?? Perhaps these contracts, bank statements, etc. need to be made public so we all can see what's going on? I'm not getting a merit raise or bonus either b/c of the economy - am I going to sue over it? LOL

Maybe AIG is using the money to give bonuses to their attorneys and accountants who help keep all this in the "other books" not the "books" that their shareholders or Congress are looking at?

"I have the suspicion giving these are going to "thousands" of people that they are not bonuses at all but either commissions or other types of performance based pay"

B. S.

So give a raise instead of a "Bonus" to these great performing thousands of people.

If there are "thousands " doing so great then why is their bottom line so poor?

And......so we take pay cuts, time off without pay and other losses partially DUE to the management of these people......and no one knew anything at AIG or no one had the guts to "whistle blow".

Hmmmm.... $61.7 billion 4th quarter loss-biggest in corporate history.

Maybe the term "bonus" should really be "Golden Parachute Escape Fund"! They see the writing on the wall. They are grabbing what they can and running.

And the funny thing is that we will complain about the company, but not the government who encourages them to act that way.

This is because AIG holds our governments Retirement money plain and simple...

thats why such big bailouts for them its all about themselves....!

Actually, the AIG argument is "Well get sued."

What talent? A 1st grader may have done better. These guys have one talent, filling their own wallets with other people's money. There once was a name for them - thieves, but now they're called Wall Street investors.

If these employees want to sue the company then let them. The govt should then sue them for failing to carry out their jobs in responsible manner by running their company into the ground and they should be investigated for fraudulent behaviour. There should be a claw back of all bonuses paid to these people for the past 7 years plus imo.

They knew their company was broke/bancrupt way before 2008. If they did not, then they we not doing their jobs in the first place. If Madoff can go to jail so should they.

pardon me, this whole mess started to unravel in 2007 and 2008 while these companies still held big shindigs and Madoff with our money. As the markets started to tank and these companies were running out of cash, The TARP was started under Bush and Poulson and had very little oversight or strings attached (remember that 3 page economic ultimatum?).

Since then at least, the restrictions and scrutiny are tighter so there is now some accountability. And while the GOP is fighting for its soul against the NeoCons who helped blow the economic world up, it's the other party that's at least trying to move forward. Don't misplace the blame on this one Birmingham.

You realize of course why the Congress so willingly and unquestioningly supplies whatever funds AIG asks for. It is because AIG manages the pension funds for all our legislators. Of course if AIG goes under, I'm sure those elite men and women of our Congress will figure out how to sqeeze it out of John Taxpayer. I think they are all scum.

i too, have a contract to hold on to my house which i am now ready to sell (if i can) as my income is cut in half and my mutual funds gone and my savings are gone, gone, gone. i should be retired but will never be able to do that! i could spit tacks.!! these people should have been replaced when the money was given to them. this also, opens doors for future deals! so they don't know what to do? so give the billions back to the government as they are misusing it!! there is so much greed in all areas of the work force today. i am shocked what so called public servants get paid today! even state government workers - when people in small business, sales, etc., are losing life savings - there should be paycuts not increases!!!!

Exactly...we'd be canned tomorrow if we screwed up as much as these guys do.....

Well, I guess this may be the last bonus they ever get. When there is no AIG as we know it today then they can say they contributed to the fall of AIG and go write a book .