The AIG bonus payments controversy began in March 2009, when it was publicly disclosed that the American International Group (AIG) was to pay approximately $218 million in bonus payments to employees of its financial services division.
AIG is notable for having received taxpayer bailouts and in the fourth quarter of 2008 posted a loss of $61.7 billion, the greatest ever for any corporation. Beyond the $165 million in bonus payments that were recently announced, total bonuses for the financial unit could reach $450 million and bonuses for the entire company could reach $1.2 billion.
Read more about AIG Bonus Payments Controversy: Responses From Lawmakers, Media Commentary, AIG's Response and Counter-responses, Response By State Officials, Bonuses Exempted in TARP, Jake DeSantis's Resignation
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“And therefore, as when there is a controversy in an account, the parties must by their own accord, set up for right Reason, the Reason of some Arbitrator, or Judge, to whose sentence, they will both stand, or their controversy must either come to blows, or be undecided, for want of a right Reason constituted by Nature; so is it also in all debates of what kind soever.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688)