Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, the former chief executive of AmericanInternational Group, said the executives who recently receivedbonuses do not deserve them because they lost money for thecompany.

In an interview last night on PBS Television's "The Charlie RoseShow," Mr. Greenberg said the executives at AIG Financial Productswho produced the losses should not receive money.

He said the bonus arrangement with the group was that AIGCorporation would put up a portion of money for investing and AIGFPwould put up the other half. He said it is unfathomable how, afterlosing money, the company should be paying executives anything.

"Why would you then give them a bonus to make up for what theylost?" asked Mr. Greenberg. "Where is the equality of that?"

He said there was no reason to provide an incentive to retainthese executives because they have nowhere to go, and if they didleave they "could have been replaced very quickly."

Mr. Greenberg, who was forced out of his job in 2005 over anaccounting scandal but retains a considerable stockholding in hisold company, said that after AIG lost its "triple-A" rating itshould have stopped trading in credit default swaps.

He added that if the company had done so it would be fine today,commenting that the problem at AIG is not that it is losing money,but that it is bleeding dollars to put up collateral for creditdefault swap losses.

He was also critical of the need for so much money being pouredinto the company, saying that other forms of collateral could beused, including government guarantees, adding that contracts shouldbe negotiated.

The liquidation of AIG, he continued, makes no sense, since thesale of the assets would have to be done at bargain basementprices. The government, he continued, should be concentrating onrebuilding the company and extending the loan period to allow forthe rebuilding.

"What have you achieved [by breaking up AIG]?" asked Mr.Greenberg. "You've taken the greatest insurance company in thehistory of this country and destroyed it."

On the current global economic crisis, Mr. Greenberg observed,"We have not confronted what we are living with now in ourlifetime."

He added that it is difficult to predict when this might end,calling any timeline "speculation." With obtaining credit stilldifficult and consumers not spending, the public will be much moreconservative than in the past.

"It will be a lifetime before people will feel comfortableagain," Mr. Greenberg remarked. "We are on new ground."