I sincerely hope no one's blown their load on the AIG bonus payout scandale just yet-- there's still so much more to work yourselves into an aneurysm-resulting tizzy over. Erin Burnett reports that among the $165 million in trash bags of money, personally delivered door to door by Ed Liddy, a significant amount of taxpayer cash is being stuffed in the mouths of employees based in London (i.e. these guys).
Like many of its peers in the banking world, RBS used to make a habit of manipulating Libor (among other things). And, as recent reports suggest, the Royalest Bank of Scotland is probably going to be forced to cough up £300m (and fire a couple execs) to convince the government everyone is very sorry and it won't happen again. How does the bank, which has not had a money-making quarter since the financial crisis,* plan to come up with the cash? By 1) taking back bonuses that were already paid out to people who were involved in the scandal and 2) reducing everyone's bonus this year.
Also, tater-tots that smell "like a petrol station on a very hot day."
There are a lot of things that, if you wanted to, you could legitimately blame on former JP Morgan employee London P. Whale. The $6.2 billion trading loss the bank incurred over the summer. Ina Drew getting fired. This awkward phone call. Some stuff you can't pin on him, though many have tried: male pattern baldness, the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Apple Maps, Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy, tempting as it may be.