I may have some of the details wrong because I was working out on the West Coast when this whole thing went down (anyone remember Late Night from the Left Coast on BSB?), but it was my understanding that in exchange for the massive federal bailout of AIG, the federal government took 80% ownership in this enterprise.
Which leads me to this question: don't we own these f---ers? And if we own then, it really ought to be a simple exercise to prevent the payout of the $165 million in bonuses that has the country up in arms. Just call a vote of the board of directors and that should be that. What's the problem here? I just don't get it.
One more thing. If the reason we had to bailout AIG instead of letting them go kaput is because they were "too big to fail" without causing massive damage to our economy, then why isn't the government trying to break up not only AIG, but other firms that are "too big to fail?"
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