AIG Bonuses: It's only 170 million

I'm on the fence about this one. AIG is handing out 170 million dollars in bonuses this year. They claim they are mostly "retention bonuses" for employees they "need" to keep but it was revealed that at least some of the employees have already left the company and others are in the process of leaving. A little fishy...I think so.

The problem is that AIG has received taxpayer dollars to stay afloat...a LOT OF IT! If they weren't considered "too big to fail" they would be forced to file bankruptcy and there would be no bonuses.

The government is heading down a dangerous road if they start to demand the money back. They would be directly interfering with the way the company is run and i believe it would be a direct blow to free market capitalism. The money should be handled just like a loan. If the government doesn't think the company is viable without their direct control then they should let it fail.

This is the same argument i would make for executive salaries. It's not for the government to decide.