Commerce on any large scale would come to a halt.
The real mistake was that congress did not let AIG go chapter 11. Had they done that, contracts would be no good.
I have been involved in quite a few bankruptcies as a vendor but never as a paid employee,. Government comes first, federal, state and local, then secured creditors which means holders of liens, notes, etc., and then common creditors. I doubt that AIG would have enough to get past the governments and secured creditors although that is a guess. I have no facts to support my guess.
Employees are in the common creditor group and therefore would have received no bonus, if all assets went to the secured parties.
Yeah, the country has gone a long way downhill when conservatives are joining in the mob demanding that Congress throw out contracts and determine what compensation people are allowed to make based on public opinion.
The fact that we propped up the company instead of letting in go into chapter 11, means all contracts are to be enforced. The government dropped the ball on this, what AIG, was legal and they were by law compelled to honor those contracts, whether we like it or not.
We are letting the MSM and the Congress confuse us and rile us instead of telling the truth. They are as usual, deflecting the blame for their stupidity on others with the hope that we are too stupid and emotional to pay attention to what really went on.