@robmandu: Sure, but AIG also paid hefty retention bonuses to people who were part of the problem and who left immediately after receiving their bonuses. This is a common technique in financial companies, when they know they’re in trouble and they don’t want employees jumping ship; but it’s also well known that it just doesn’t work. Employees simply wait until after the retention bonus has been paid in order to jump ship, and at that point the company is both short on employees and out the bonus money.
Also, I have no objection to paying bonuses to exemplary employees, but honestly, if AIG’s compensation had actually been structured to reward behavior that was beneficial to the company, AIG would not have been in the mess it was in in the first place.