Today Secretary Geithner and Chairman Bernanke were busy testifying before the House Financial Services Committee regarding the AIG bonuses.  They really didn’t say anything new, and the most interesting part of the testimony is below:

On another note, it looks like 15 of the top 20 AIG execs have agreed to return the bonuses in full.  However, it looks like they were strongly coerced by the New York Attorney General who made the following statement:

“My intention today is if a person returns the money, I don’t believe there’s a public interest in releasing the names. People who do return the money, they would no longer be on our list”

-Andrew Cuomo, New York Attorney General

This almost seems like a form of blackmail — give back the bonus or we will release your name to the public.  No one wants to be handed up to the public given that they are currently an angry mob armed with pitchforks and torches.  CNBC is reporting something similar with an internal memo being circulated stating that names of bonus recipients will not be released if certain “performance targets” are met.

Not much else happening in the market as it seems tired after yesterday’s gains.

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