AIG: a new way to spell ripoff?

AIG says that it was contractually bound to give large “bonuses” to a few select salaried employees out of government bailout money. While these are apparently not bonuses as most people think of them, i.e., rewards for doing things exceptionally well, it still seems unconscionable for AIG to make these payments with tax money, especially considering that they likely could have never made the payments any other way.

But contracts for basic pay [never mind bonuses] with many wage employees are overlooked all the time. Wilson Foods started this modern era of using bankruptcy and Hormel used those ensuing pay reductions to start its 1980s war with their employees even though they were not losing money. Recently Northwest Airlines has used similar tactics to abrogate some of its contracts.

Go figure!