The thing that gets me about these AIG "bonuses" is that they have been known since well before AIG got the initial $85 bn.  Nobody hid them.  Congress, the press, the Fed, bloggers, everyone knew about it.

I understand why the blog-o-sphere is freaking out: for all the pomp and self congratulation; bloggers really don't drive squat.  They amplify what the MSM wants them to and the MSM wants everyone focusing on this $160 million.

But why is the media going all hysterical now?  What are they trying to distract us from?  There is a level of flat-out media dishonesty creating a distorted picture of what these payments are and how they came about.  The implication is that somehow someone along the way was supposed to breach these contracts ... but yet the media never gave any real pressure to do so at any of the critical points (nor the blogging community or congressional reps - on either side of the political spectrum) despite full knowledge.

It appears this is technically the second in a series of scheduled payments, planned under various agreements that run through 2010.  So, why now?

There's a game afoot and it isn't being played by the folks at AIGFP.  I fear we're gonna look up from this very small group of trees and find someone finished clear cutting the rest of our forest.