One brief point on the AIG/bonuses kerfuffle
03/17/09
As you hear all of these politicians on both sides bellowing about the bonuses being received by the AIG officials who, for the most part, did indeed run the company into the ground, keep one thing in mind:
With the AIG bailout of around $170 billion, we now own an 80% stake in AIG, which insures around the world. These bonuses, totaling $165 million (that's million, not billion) represents less than 1% of the total bailout.
If you want something to be righteously angry about, then you should take a look at how many other nations we bailed out with American taxpayer money through our nationalizing (read: socializing) of AIG.
This hubub over these bonuses is one giant red herring.