AMERICANS, it is safe to say, are furious about AIG. Simply livid. They are sick of the neverending bail-out that no one can seem to explain, and they are really sick of hearing about AIG junkets and million dollar bonuses. If the average yank could choose between delivering a swift kick to Osama bin Laden and an AIG executive, the decision, for the moment at least, would be a tough one.

And when Americans get mad, their elected officials get to act righteously indignant. All of which has made possible this Bloomberg description of one of the most amusing oversight hearings ever:

Kashkari, who oversees the Treasury's $700 billion financial rescue plan, came under fire at a congressional hearing today, notably by Maryland Democrat Elijah Cummings. Cummings was angry about reports American International Group Inc., which got an expanded $150 billion government bailout this week, is setting aside $503 million in compensation for executives. "I'm just wondering how you feel about an AIG giving $503 million worth of bonuses on the one hand, and accepting $154 billion from hard-working taxpayers," Cummings asked Kashkari. "What really bothers me is all these other people who are lining up. They say, well, is Kashkari a chump?" Kashkari, who was selected by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson as interim head of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, told the panel that he was "outraged" when he first read the reports. Then he learned AIG has set aside the money to eliminate an incentive to leave the insurer, he said. "I'm not defending it," he said. Cummings went further, saying Kashkari's decisions will determine whether consumers will have a happy holiday. "Every decision that you make you think about those folks who are losing their jobs and who are in pain and who are not going to have a decent Christmas," Cummings said. "They're going to probably be sitting under the Christmas tree with no presents."

Have you no decency, Mr Kashkari? This Congress will not rest until you have located Christmas and agreed to return it to the American people.