The Bonus Onus

Let me get this straight. AIG posted a $62 billion dollar loss in the fourth quarter; their stock has fallen more than 99% since early 2007; they are 80% owned by US Taxpayers thanks to the $173 billion bailout; AND they are planning to pay out $165 million in performance bonuses??  For what?   Continuing to come to work each day despite the fact that they screwed up their company and did their part to help take down the economy too?

I've asked Secretary Geithner to use his leverage and pursue every single legal avenue to block these bonuses and make the American taxpayers whole. But, as President, I'd like to go even a little farther than that.

As I've said many times, the Obama Administration is all about openness and transparency. Let's post the names and photos of the intended bonus recipients on Recovery.gov along with their explanation of why they deserve it. That should make a good David Letterman "Top Ten" list.

And why stop there? If potential members of my own administration (see Go Tom!) can have some "tax irregularities", I can only imagine what the 1040s of these executives look like. That's why today I'm ordering a complete audit of every AIG executive on the Bonus List.

I'm going to ask Congress to look into passing a bill that taxes those bonuses at a rate exceeding 100%. They ought to pay the US Taxpayers a bonus! And don't even get me started about their reserved parking spots! Let them take the subway to work from now on. If it's good enough for the Mayor, it's good enough for them!

The onus is on AIG to take back that bonus.