I'm stunned by all the outrage. We've got three choices.

1. Take over AIG (and any other person we're loaning TARP money to). Of course we don't want to do this, not so much for the fears of nationalizing the businesses but for the politics of owning a company that provides services to Americans. Imagine, cutting jobs or restricting policies and then going in front of a Congressional subcommittee to explain why. Not to mention all the bad decisions that would get made in the name of "fairness".

2. Pull the investment. Think of AIG as like South Africa back in the day. If you don't like the fact that they are paying bonuses, pull your investment (or call the loans). Sure this will cause them to collapse and the government will be the proximate cause of all that pain but it's the second legitimate option.

3. Stop complaining. If you aren't willing to do either of the first two then stop complaining. We invested in a company that pays bonuses. There's no particular reason to expect them to stop, any more than we would expect them to stop investing in the investments that earn the highest return. That's what they do.

I guess there's a fourth option which is making a lot of noise with no effect. In the end, this one doesn't do anything other than provide fodder for bloggers, but that is a bit fun I'll admit as long as you don't take it too seriously.