It's true. Against the advice of Tim Geithner, AIG will pay out roughly half a billion in bonuses to the 370 people who bankrupted the company. In a letter to Secretary Geithner, AIG CEO Liddy claims that when it comes to these bonuses, "AIG's hands are tied." Liddy trots out the same pathetic excuses: we promised bonuses to these people and we can't afford to lose their talent. Bringing down a company the size of AIG is pretty impressive. Hate to see those gifted workers walk.More fuel for your rage inferno from Hilzoy:

If the people in the AIG Financial Products felt this way, they could have made all these legal issues about contracts vanish by simply decliningtheir bonuses. And they could solve the retention problem by agreeing to stay around as long as they're needed, at their existing salaries. Instead, they are using our predicament to extract even more money for themselves. And that's obscene.

And Robert Reich asks: are these people accountable to anyone?