I read the article of AIG bonus fiasco. AIG would not have existed if US Government did not choose to bail it out. If AIG went down, those bonus contracts would have been voided anyway. From this point of view, the congress and the president should be angry about this bonus payout program.   I as a tax paper have not only to pay for their rescue but also have to pay for their "unwarranted" bonus. I am angry too.

However, we need to think the root of these problems.  It appears that some of the bonus is given to the top executives and why in the world that these bonuses do not tie into the financial performance of the company. You could get bonuses by driving the company into ground?  On the other hand, I really think that there will be some heros inside the company, their department or division could have been contributing a great deal to the company and withtout them, the company could have been in a much worse shape, these people will deserve a big bonus.  Company needs to make sure that any bonus program will have to be merit based and not to reward bad behaviors.  People get paid regular salary to do a decent job.  Some people and some company executive forgot this. 

March 19, 2009