Currently rough estimates put the AIG bill around $180B and the AIG bonuses tab at $165M. $165M sounds like a lot of money, but the problem is difference of units B vs. M. Does it look different when M is the unit for both: $180,000M vs $165M. Or perhaps B: $180B vs. $0.165B. It’s even more telling when the bonuses are given as a percentage: 0.0916666%, that’s 9 one-hundredths of a percent. Given that the recently appointed bailout watchdog is worried that current waste/fraud (sorry I can’t find an Internet reference for this one, I saw it on TV) of the funds needs to be kept below 7% ($12.6B, $12,600M) who the hell cares about 0.09%.

That’s also assuming, which really doesn’t seem to be the case, that the bonuses are unjustified. There was an interesting opinion piece in the NYTimes recently, basically a guy giving notice and defending the majority of AIG’s employees who had nothing to do with it’s problems. It’s a good read and you should check it out. Even taken with a grain of salt (since it’s biased) its hard to find fault in what the guy is saying.