NO SURPRISE

I am as outraged as everyone else over the millions paid by AIG in "retention" bonuses, mostly to unperforming executives who got the company into trouble in the first place. Given that some of the recipients aren't even employed by AIG anymore, Mr. Liddy should have had the common sense (?!) to know that when the payouts came to light, it would at a minimum be bad PR. That said, the Federal Reserve, the same Ben Bernanke who assured us on "60 Minutes" Sunday night that the recession would be over by the end of this year, should have written the bailout contracts to override industry standards and abrogate the corporate ones. The bureaucrats who bungled are now crafting ways to recoup the monies, and I wish them luck in doing that, however usually "once it's gone, it's gone," and there is no substitute in the public's mind for an ounce of prevention. I was fortunate enough to not owe the IRS a single penny this year. But I hear rumblings of taxpayers getting as creative as the financial players formerly did to get US into this mess so as not to have to pony up on April 15th, effecting their own individual "bailouts."
Treasury, BEWARE. It should come as "no surprise."

Karen Ann DeLuca