Roughly $165 million in retention bonuses have been paid to some of the derivative traders in AIG’s financial-products division. Many, President Obama included, believe that is wrong (make that OUTRAGEOUS) because AIG took billions from the federal government in the form of bailouts.

“How dare they?!” Team Obama is now asking. The ensuing furor has reached a fever pitch as politicians and other policy wonks scramble to be the one most outraged about the situation.

But wait…

Every one of these people, including Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and economic adviser Larry Summers, have known all about these bonuses for several months!! In fact the bonuses were accounted for in the very stimulus bill legislation they helped write! They were certainly informed of this whole situation during the Obama administration’s transition to the White House.

But now, all of a sudden, they’re all wound up and yelling from the nearest podium and soap box about how egregious the bonuses are.

Excuse me but remember when Chuck Schumer told us that the amount of pork in the stimulus bill was about 1% (a bold faced lie) and that the American people “don’t care”? Well the entire amount of the AIG bonus money represents only 1/10th of 1% (0.1 percent)! We don’t care about 1% pork but we ARE supposed to care about one tenth of one percent spent on bonuses that were contractual obligations to begin with and known about for many months prior to the bailout?! The gall of these people!

And let’s not forget this. Assuming that all of the people receiving these bonuses are American citizens and that they therefore pay the confiscatory tax rates that the “rich” pay in this country, each of them may have received over a million dollars but, after that money is stolen from them via taxes, they’ll be keeping far less. Or has Obama and company forgotten about that?

Whatever the reason(s) the socialists in our federal government use for hating AIG and the bonuses, their outrage is disingenuous at best and horrible acting at worst. Further, their anti-capitalist, anti-free market attitude is on display for all to see.

And that’s another reason WE WANT HIM TO FAIL!