Obama_ AIG Can_t Justify _Outrage_ Of Executive Bonuses With Taxpayer Money Keeping Company Afloat

This is probably the most active story out there today. Everyone is talking about it. Obama wants to prevent AIG execs from getting bonuses. These bonuses are tied to contracts that AIG execs entered into with AIG. The government owns 80% of AIG. Should the government squash the bonuses? Or do you think that a contract is a contract? From the Associated Press:”It’s hard to understand how derivative traders at AIG warranted any bonuses, much less $165 million in extra pay,” Obama said at the outset of an appearance to announce help for small businesses hurt by the deep recession.”How do they justify this outrage to the taxpayers who are keeping the company afloat,” the president said.Obama spoke out in the wake of reports that surfaced over the weekend saying that financially strapped American International Group Inc. was paying substantial bonuses to executives.Noting that AIG has “received substantial sums” of federal aid from the federal government, Obama said he has asked Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner “to use that leverage and pursue every legal avenue to block these bonuses and make the American taxpayers whole.”