Let's Play AIG Bonus Bonanza

The current chief executive of AIG, Edward M. Liddy, will be testifying in a congressional hearing today to defend the retention bonuses paid out to current and former employees. Mr. Liddy will not be receiving a bonus himself. The bonuses were negotiated prior to his taking over the reins of the troubled organization and he finds them to be "distasteful". All told, there are or were $220 million paid out in bonus - that sure sounds like a LOT of money to me. But, when that amount is compared to the entire value of the bailout funds, a truly staggering sum of $170 billion so far, the bonuses are just a nit - approximately .13% - that's point one three percent - not even a drop in the bucket! This is starting to look like a whole lot of political bluster and posturing that obscures the more important issues of where is the money going and when will it be repaid?