I agree partially. I think people are acting as a hysterical mob and not really thinking about the sources of their outrage.

At the same time, it's pretty difficult to ignore that Summers helped start the deregulation trend and has always been beholden to Wall Street while Geithner was described as "hand-in-glove" with Paulson and is heavily invested in Wall Street. I think it's valid to observe less "mistakes" might be made if the people in charge didn't have allies generating personal fortunes as a result of each "mistake".

It's kind of like Cheney and Halliburton. How can we be surprised when these people use their power to enrich their peers? And how can we pretend that it won't be repaid when they leave office? BTW where's 'ole Hank now? Rich as hell that's where he is!

Thank you for this. The lynch mob attitude is beginning to be really counterproductive, and so pervasive I'm feeling a bit suffocated by it. Which is not to say I wouldn't want to see these people, if not exactly lynched, definitely flogged in public.

But not right now. The administration has bigger fish to fry right now and these bonuses are chickenshit in the larger scheme of things. And I think that's basically why the decision was made to let them fly. Geithner's a businessman not a Joe the Plumber populist and Treasury made a businessman's decision. It would've cost more -- in time and money -- to block the payouts then allow them.

The outrage is warranted, I think we all agree on that. Where and how we direct it is an issue. Remember -- compensation limits should have been part of the original TARP legislation under the previous administration but it also should have been part of Obama's follow up legislation or could have been part of the stimulus bill. I totally understand if Obama's position was "let's not get caught up in that, let's get things passed." But... now I think we see it's an important issue and should be part of the next round of financial legislation, with Obama and Geithner's support.

One thing that does concern me is that it looks as if Obama is powerless to get the money back. The president shouldn't be made to look powerless in the face of an insurance company on taxpayer life support. I'm not going to call for anyone's head over this but it does need to be dealt with.

I don't see a lynch mob at all. I see people who are understandably and quite justifuably angry at the people in power for not doing what they ought to be doing. Sitting back and taking this "cooler head" approach is satisfying for those who do it but where does that get us except for deeper in the hole without even having complained? Sorry, but waiting patiently to get screwed without complaining does not seem like a very good strategy to me.

The number one thing they (our governmental leaders) ought to be doing is protecting the interest of the common folk taxpayers who are going to have to bear the burden of all this in the end. The Keystone Cops imitation that Geithner and Summers are doing on behalf of the President is appalling and it isn't because we haven't given them a chance. You can give these corporate people all the time in the world and they are still going to come up with the same dumbass approach which puts the interests of predatory wealth (the corporations and those filthy rich). Their approach is the problem and I would add it is indistinguishable from the bush approach. That is the primary problem that I think most people who are upset about the situation are really focused on.

Can you even believe these idiots knew about the bonus situation in advance and said nothing, did nothing to stop it and then blithely appear on the Sunday talk shows with some BS about "in this country we don't simply abrogate contracts." Bloody hell man that is pure unadulterated bullshit! All the backpedalling they've been doing is just that too. There is simply no excuse for the headlines over the past week about AIG. None at all.

To "tut tut" those who make it known they are pissed off about it and in essence simultaneously giving a pass on the bumbling incompetence at the top is just not okay. Obama is not being well served, the people are not being well served, but the crooks, thieves and conartists are (once again) getting away with murder. They have allowed God only knows how many of these crooks to skidaddle with so much money it isn't even funny. It is unacceptable. Compeltely unacceptable. And there isn't one shred of evidence that there this comedy of errors is going to end anytime soon!

So, while I understand your position I cannot agree with it. In my opinion, one of the biggest problems we have in America is that people don't get up in arms over matters like this. That's why the common people get fucked over so often and so easily. Hell, if people had hit the streets when Bush was stealing the election in 2000 we might not be in this awful spot right now. But no, the "cooler heads" prevailed. And the American people got royally screwed for 8 long years without even putting up a fight. I'm tired of being told to lie back and enjoy it while my country is being raped over and over and over again.

It's time to raise some hell and demand better than we're getting from those who clearly believe that protecting the guilty parties at the top is okay. If you won't raise hell over this what is it going to take? Will they have to physically harm or threaten immediate family members? There's nothing at all outrageous about being outraged at the unprecedented thievery that is going on and the looting of the treasury that Bush started and Obama's people have simply continued.

The President and the boobs he has appointed need to immediately demonstrate that they are on top of the situation in order to avoid a massive public outburst of very justifiable rage over this. I don't see them pulling it off frankly. Geithner inspires as much confidence as a high school senior delivering a valedictory address without notes and Summers is a disaster. Thus far, I have no confidence at all that they actually have a handle on the situation or that they know at all what they are doing.

This latest fiasco with the bonuses at AIG is just another log on the fire if you ask me. They need to quit trying to hide the fact that our banks are bankrupt, put them in receivership, get the bank examiners in their and put things back on track. At the same time, the Department of justice needs to have a special financial sector fraud unit put in place to ensure that every single one of the con artists responsible for sinking our economic ship go to jail for a long, long time, not to mentin repaying every penny they stole. Oh, and one more thing: no more bonuses for anyone at any company that is receiving public money in lieu of bankruptcy. These things would be a nice start. Till then, I say it's time to raise hell.

many in the blogosphere and elsewhere who appear to fancy themselves as economic experts.

Uncited, unreferenced and ad hominem. Most likely straw man as well, unless you have actual evidence -- with, y'know, quotes 'n' stuff -- of these unnamed "many in the blogosphere" who "fancy themselves as economic experts."

To evaluate then every action taken as a potential deal breaker, to demand perfect performance in dealing with problems, that for most of us are incomprehensively complicated, smacks of an impatience that I can only describe as either overanxious or immature.

Again, straw man. It is, for starters, not "every action" but the cumulative effect of ALL of them. And it is based on what is already known about the records, and ideological leanings, of the people at the helm. What is known give plenty of reason for mistrust.

So I say to those old enough to know better, get a grip. And for those who think they know it all, grow up.

More straw men. Nobody is saying they know it all. Nobody. What enough people are saying is that they know enough about the records, ideological leanings, and past performance of these folks to render them deeply suspicious. And Treasury's actions and inactions to date have done little to alleviate those suspicions.

"Blaming the President, the Treasury Secretary and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve is certainly something we can do. Frankly these people know more about the intricacies of the problems than we do;..."

They understand LESS about the problem than the average American. The only true economic expert is someone who knows you can't get something for nothing and you can't fix an economy by rewarding the criminals who wrecked it.

Our economic situation is simple: first, our financial industry and government conspired to put as much middle-class money as possible into the pockets of the rich. Now, claiming that they are fixing the problem, they continue to do exactly the same thing.

Doesn't this guy ESK sound sort of like an astroturfer?

Anyone got an idea of who might have sent him?