Well, look at this: While we were riveted, watching that AIG public lashing on Wednesday, top executives other spectacularly failed companies -- Fannie Mae
“„Fannie Maeis due to pay retention bonuses of between $470,000 and $611,000 this year to some executives, despite enormous losses at the government-backed mortgage company. Fannie’s main rival, Freddie Mac, also plans to pay such bonuses but hasn’t yet provided details.
“„Fannie’s bonuses are smaller than ones paid by American International GroupInc. that have caused a political firestorm for that company. Seventy-three AIG executives received retention payments of $1 million or more recently, according to New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.
“„But the Fannie bonuses are still considerable and come at a time when Fannie and Freddie are receiving increasing amounts of funding from the Treasury. For 2008, Fannie and Freddie reported combined losses of about $108 billion, largely stemming from a surge in home-mortgage defaults. The Treasury has agreed to provide as much as $200 billion of capital apiece to Fannie and Freddie in exchange for preferred stock. The two companies have said they will need a combined $60 billion of that money to cover their losses so far.