There really isn't much I can add to the hue and cry following AIG's announcement Saturday that it would be shelling out $100 billion in bonuses to some of the same clowns who got them into the derivatives mess in the first place. No less than the President himself has vowed to block the move with every legal means at his disposal.
Aside from the initial reaction of shock and disgust, however, the next thought that came to mind was that AIU Holdings Inc's recent separation from the insurance industry's answer to Marie Antoinette was a stroke of timing genius.
We recently interviewed John Q. Doyle, who now heads up AIU's domestic division (read the article)
Doyle stressed that the formation of AIU is the first step toward separation from AIG, including a whole new branding process. Its property-casualty business is solid, and he proudly pointed out that none of the government TARP money went to this segment of AIG's business.
We recently asked the survey question on our Web site of whether the AIU move will be enough to put an end to AIG's problems. So far, the majority of readers seem to think it will. What do you think? Take the survey here.
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