Merrill Lynch Bonus Payments Dwarf AIGs

The political firestorm over the $165 million bonuses to executives at the failed American International Group (A.I.G.) that ripped through Washington, DC, in mid-March could be reignited by further attention on failing financial companies who were given taxpayer dollars then turned around and spent the cash on bonuses.

Anger over the bonuses at A.I.G. blew back onto members of the Obama administration as it was revealed that Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and others had been aware of the bonus payments but failed to halt them and did not express "outrage," until the bonus checks were already cashed. Further revelations of backroom dealings and million-dollar bonuses threaten to make any kind of assistance to financial institutions politically impossible for Congress.

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