According to several reports, AIG has given more than the widely reported $165 million in retention bonuses to its employees. The new total is $218 million, a miniscule $53 million more than we were expecting. Do I hear $300 million? I don’t imagine this is the final number of paid bonuses we will be hearing about. The bonuses have spurred 20 states to initiate legal investigations in to the embattled company. What they are hoping to accomplish I have yet to figure out.

As a capitalist, I understand why these bonuses were paid. Who would want to work for AIG, a bankrupt company whose employees are the constant butt of jokes and death threats? To keep anyone worth our tax dollars around, you need to pay them well. As an American, I am as outraged as President Obama that our tax dollars are being used for fat cat million dollar bonuses. However, suing the company seems counterintuitive to our current AIG investment.

If AIG is caught up in a legal battle over these bonuses, who do you think is going to foot the bill for the defense? Here is a hint: look in the mirror. AIG is under contract with these employees to pay these bonuses. If they don’t pay the bonuses, the employees under contract will sue, and guess who pays for the defense? Again it is you, the taxpayer. We are giving AIG huge sums of money because we want them to succeed. If they fail, our money is lost. So while it is easy to jump on the anti-AIG bandwagon, I think it may not be in our best interest. In order to recoup the tax dollars already spent on this greedy embarrasment of a company, it must be able to operate successfully. While it might be hard to bite your tongue, I think we as Americans should not be so quick to grab our torches and raise our pitchforks at a company so heavily supported by our tax dollars. If you completely and utterly disagree, please comment below or send an e-mail to contact@dailywhig.com.