As the unemployment rate increases, and Wall Street goes back to it’s traditional bonus model, this is not going to be well received. Bush is long gone, so the public is naturally going to look at Obama’s team who is negotiating with AIG on the issue. At times like this it’s hard to imagine how average Americans can accept “retention bonuses” for one of the most incompetent businesses in the country that represents everything that went wrong during the crisis. The AIG team may very well leave if they don’t receive their bonuses, though good luck finding new employment in this environment. When does everyone else get their retention bonus?

AIG has been talking with Washington’s newly-appointed compensation czar Kenneth Feinberg about the bonuses, which are due to be paid on July 15, said the source. The company is reviewing its compensation plans with Washington as it tries to avoid the national furor set off by $165 million in retention bonuses paid to employees of a financial products unit in March. Much of AIG’s $99 billion in losses last year stemmed from derivatives written by that unit. Feinberg was appointed last month to oversee the compensation of top executives at seven firms that have received large federal bailouts.

And to think we have a long way to go before this crisis is over. How many more bonuses are coming from this black hole?