I'm pretty steamed about the AIG bonuses. Here's what they should do. If you are a player like those execs, and taking risks, then you should benefit if the risks pan out. But if you are guaranteed to win no matter what, you aren't really taking a risk at all.
If you are up for one of those bonuses, then you should only get the bonus if the company performs well, if the risk YOU took creates profit for the company. If the risk creates a loss, you should lose out, no bonus, and you should suffer some kind of comparable and proportional personal loss as a result. Only then is it a bonus, and only under that kind of circumstance is such a large bonus justified. Risk means you win big if the action pans out but you stand to lose if the action fails.
Beyond that, I do not see how those people can accept $1 million in bonuses when working stiffs like most of us are struggling to make ends meet despite working hard five,six or seven days a week, making sacrifices and hoping we don't get the pink slip each morning.
And get this -- they're now calling the bonuses "retention fees." That is the most bogus thing I ever heard. Where would these people go if they didn't get their "retention fees"?
Worse, these executives are the very ones who created this mess in the first place. How valuable can they be??