Sen. Chuck Grassley: AIG has taxpayers over a barrel

Sen. Chuck Grassley, a member of the Committee on Finance, has said, “AIG (NYSE:AIG) has taxpayers over a barrel,” and he also believes that the Obama administration has been out maneuvered.

This comes after American International Group Inc (AIG) announced yesterday that current and former employees of its Financial Products unit had to accept cuts totaling about $20 million in retention payments, this is still short of a $26 million target.

AIG was bailed out by the U.S Government for $182.3 billion lawmaker Darrell Issa who investigated the payout to AIG said that “it’s not a question if the bonuses are justified, but if AIG are being transparent.” An uproar from the American public evolved last March after AIG paid $165 million to employees.

AIG asked the unit’s current and former employees to make up for the difference by taking cuts from the $195 million in retention payments that were due this March. To read more on this story go to nytimes.com.