fuck you, wallstreet

Especially you, AIG.

According to the Journal's MarketWatch site, despite 62 billion in losses in the 4th quarter of 2008, AIG is preparing to pay out about 165 million in bonuses to its executives.

President Obama renounced the endeavor stating, "This is a corporation that finds itself in financial distress due to recklessness and greed. How do they justify this outrage to the taxpayers who are keeping the company afloat?" By afloat, he means that taxpayers now own about 80% of the company after the latest rounds of bailouts. Obama continued, "This isn't just a matter of dollars and cents. It's about our fundamental values."

Despite this, there's apparently a fair amount of skepticism as to whether these bonuses can actually be stopped due to the existence of binding contracts that were consummated prior to the collapse of our financial system and all the resulting bailouts. The argument goes, it'd most likely be illegal to break the contracts that these various execs have with AIG and not pay out the bonuses.

In response I'd like to say: hey assholes -- why don't you show some initiative and forgo the bonuses your contracts promise you and show a little situational awareness.

What makes these contracts so sacred? I mean, union contracts get amended all the time. Not to say that union pay is always appropriate or that unions are somehow special but seriously -- what makes these exec's so special that their contracts are immune to changes?