Good news, if you’re not keen on bailed-out firms handing out bonuses: AIG has trimmed by $20 million those due to current and former employees in March. The bad news: The insurance giant that was the largest recipient of US bailout funds is still going to pay out $100 million in bonuses, and do it tomorrow, ahead of schedule. Lawmakers, predictably, aren’t happy.
“AIG has taxpayers over a barrel,” Republican Sen. Charles Grassley tells the New York Times tonight, displeased that the company continues to honor its pre-bailout agreements. “The Obama administration has been outmaneuvered. And the closed-door negotiations just add to the skepticism that the taxpayers will ever get the upper hand.”
(More AIG stories.)