A quick solution to the Bonus Scandal at AIG

The news regarding $165 million in bonuses paid to AIG executives has been making the rounds. A lot of people are trying to come up with solutions on how to get back some or all of that money. There's a lot of legal back and forth about whether it's even possible or that doing so would hurt AIG by having "good" executives leave (are there not a lot of "good" executives currently out of work that couldn't fill their spots?). Since I'm a solutions oriented guy, I have a suggestion that might solve everyone's issues. Just reduce the next bailout payment by $165 million. Believe me, $165 million may sound like a lot but compare that to the billions we've given AIG so far, it's really not that big of a deal. More than anything, it's a public relations issue and not an operations issue. So to soothe the public's concern, just deduct the bonus amount from the next payment and call it a wash. It'll be a lot easier than lawsuits and grand standing but maybe to all the politicians the publicity was all they cared about.

UPDATE: More craziness has insued.  From a special surtax to executives allegedly being asked to commit ritual suicide.  Again, in my opinion, it's an opportunity for certain politicians to cash in publicity-wise on the outrage by the taxpayers.  However, towards the end of the article, there is mention that the Treasury would try to restructure the next bailout payment to recoup the bonus amount.  That's probably the most frictionless way to do it.

How cool is this? Voltron now on Hulu!

Posterous is having a little trouble pulling in the main show page (check it out here).  I loved this show growing up.  Hulu is showing the first season which is the Lion Force Voltron.  However, the one I was really into was the Vehicle Voltron which was 15 separate vehicles.  There was supposed to be a third version of Voltron made up of 3 separate pieces (the one with a lion's head as the chest).  That one never made it to air but was featured in commercials for the first two Voltrons.  The crazy part was I actually had the toy (Daltanius) that the third Voltron was supposed to be based on years before Voltron ever hit US television so I was really hoping to see one of my favorite toys animated.  Oh well...

Guess we know Mark Zuckerberg's ownership percentage

The quote below is from an article re: the loss of wealth from technologists on the Forbes billionaires list.

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg didn’t make the list this year, however, with his estimated net worth dropping from $1.5 billion to $600 million. He’s still smiling though.

My last attempt to value Facebook put them close to $6 billion so I guess by that standard, Mark owns about 10% of Facebook.  However, if you're taking the valuation from the ConnectU lawsuit, it's $3.7 billion making Mark's stake a little over 16%.  I'll assume Forbes is using the publicly available number and not mine ;-)

Some respite for poor Warrior's fans... At least we're not Clipper's fans.

To put the following quote in context, Bill Simmons of ESPN is writing about the Cavaliers-Clippers game yesterday.  This is a hillarious quote about the final shot of the game by Zach Randolph.

The fans are in disbelief. Randolph's teammates are in disbelief. Dunleavy is making a face that my friend Sal later describes as a face I have never seen a human being make before. What ensued in the next 20 seconds could best be described like this: Imagine being trapped in one of those big hospital elevators with eight other people. One of them pulls his pants down and just starts going to the bathroom -- not No. 1 but No. 2. At that specific moment, the doors open for the next floor. How fast would everyone else in the elevator flee for the door? Lightning-fast, right? Like, Usain Bolt-level fast, right? That was the entire stadium after Z-Bo's air ball. He basically took a dump on the 3-point line.

The entire article is a nice microcosm of what I think is probably one of the worst run franchises in the NBA (Golden State used to hold that title).  A great read for all basketball enthusiasts.