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The New York Times reports that the Obama administration is worried that fast-rising populist fury at financial sector piggishness (post-bailout bonuses for the very people who dealt in credit-default swaps!!) may threaten its recovery plan. But I wonder if, in fact, we have the ideal recessionary spectacle to watch: call it How To Catch a Greased AIG. Just hang in there, Geithner et al., and don't let the slippery swine go. After refusing all demands for transparency in its use of the huge fall rescue loan, invoking privacy concerns, AIG squealed today: Now—for whatever it's worth—we've got the names of the trading partners who got big chunks of the money. "These are extraordinary times," an AIG spokeswoman explained to the Washington Post.
I confess utter lack of expertise here, but is there a reason not to aim for yet more public squirming by AIG, now on the bonus issue? Citing "privacy obligations," AIG refuses to name the 400 employees covered by the roughly $165 million bonus plan it claims is contractually binding. If those recipients were to get outed, is there a chance that at least a few among them—those, say, in line for more than $3 million—might be too embarrassed to collect? These are, after all, extraordinary times.