but i also think he should be made aware of the fact that ken feinberg representing and you me as lenders has a right to review hes compensation agreement. >> jimmy p., though, okay. here's the deal. president obama has said many times, he is against excessive risk-taking. he is in favor of some kind of performance standard. but he is against excessive risk-taking. are they going to try to say that john hall energy trader chap who is very successful is taking excessive risks? would they go there, jimmy p.? >> listen. i hope they go there. they don't go there. for the reason you just said. will they go there? there's a lot of concern that a company with all these government guarantees should not be involved in this. i think it's that kind of group that's going to drive this guy and drive his unit away from citigroup. >> i'm sorry, mark. we're out of time. we appreciate it -- you're terrific, both of you. mark walsh, and jim. catch me tomorrow morning on "the call" with melissa and trish at 11:00. i'll be right back this evening. at 155 miles per hour, andy roddick has the fastest serve in

it will be interesting to see how ken feinberg decides on this. and if that becomes a precedent for decisions going forward. >> it will be. and you know, actually that's where i would like focus more of my reporting because that's an interesting dynamic, is negotiations with these corporations and trying to determine what people should be paid and whether or not that will have any implication as well for the rest of the industry, which is hard in some ways to imagine. you're talking about those, of course, with the government owns some. >> right. >> a significant amount of equity and others where it owns absolutely nothing and, therefore, has no power. >> thanks so much, david faber. >>> ultimate fighting championship, ufc for short, they have trumped boxing. they've become a billion dollar business on occasion of the 100th event tomorrow in las vegas. darren rovell is joined by a special guest. >> when the ufc started 16 years ago it would be hard to imagine the mixed martial arts organization would make it to its 100th show and one of the man wh

asking for ken feinberg's blessing before paying out hundreds of billions in bonuses.hy aren't we hearing a peep from the czar? julie has more. >> probably because his hands are tied, since the bonuses were promised long before he took his post last month. feinberg's job, as you may know, is to oversee the compensation of seven firms that have received federal bailouts and large ones, a job which at this hour is too little too late. the question is will he or won't he give a.i.g. his blessing. that remains to be seen. but for the 40 high-ranking corporate officers at a.i.g., they will be seeing big checks totaling $2.4 million next week. hard to believe that number is significantly less than the bonuses received in the spring, which totaled $9.6 million. what recession, ask you? well, this was part of an agreement made back in november by a.i.g.'s top executive, including the chairman, edward liddy, who agreed to forego their bowen newses through 2009. if you're wondering why the government would allow a firm to hand out this kind of money, it's because a.i.g. doesn't

it's really ken feinberg saying, let's take a look at this. what is in the best interest of citi group? what is in the best long-term interest of the country and company in order to rein in excessive risk taking in order to make sure we have enough money for the future. >> you know that feinberg will have congress watching what he does on this one very closely? >> clearly. but in the end, it's an argument over what is in the best interest of the company and the country. and the question is would mr. hall have performed as well if he only got $35 million or $10 million? i'm sure there's a lot of unemployed traders who would be happy to work for a fraction of what he's getting? >> would they make $700 million? this guy has a special talent. >> this is not like michael xrrd pl jordan playing basketball. this is a skill you can learn. >> i don't know everyone would agree with that. >> this guy obviously has a special talent. the best thing for the country is get the politicians, get the government out of the business of interfering with the privat

i know ken feinberg, he's a buddy, known him for 20 years, he's a great tort lawyer but knows less aboutsalaries than i do. and that's scary. the fact that he is empowered stalin style toe make these decisions, that's the greatest indictment. >> two-thirds of american people believe, in fact, that any company that took government money to stay afloat should be subject to financial compensation regulation. half of republicans believe this. but the reason people believe -- >> the issue is that the american taxpayer is -- >> the reason people believe that is they don't know the facts. this guy had a contract before the bailout to get this compensation. he's in an independent subsidiary of citigroup. he is making them $660 million. he is not taking any t.a.r.p. money. he is making them money! so why would you want to get rid of the guy? making money -- >> it's about i don't think citi at this point should be trying to sign a check for $100 million. >> it's the law! >> i would strongly advise him to spread that out and reduce the payment. >> any of our -- >> it's between him and his employer,

ken feinberg cannot nix those bonuses yet.ng down the road. it is not happening now. martha: stay with us in the thinking here. beyond the story we are talking about, elizabeth feels there is something else you need to know about what is going on at aig. >> henry paulson, when aig collapsed that fateful weekend in september, turned to goldman sachs, who bought the insurance on these crazy bonds, and said, aig will make you whole. you will get 100%, 100 cents on the dollar for what you have paid for these products. the issue is that $54 billion in taxpayer money went out the aig front door to settle these wall street traits. these bonds were allowed to be priced checked -- price- tagged by these companies. i am going to get the balance in insurance. martha: they were made whole on their deal. >> it would make the bonds worth more and get more taxpayer money out of aig. it would be an aig insurance payout. that is the question congress needs to address. it is not happening now. it could happen next week. martha: i know you are d

the company doesn't technically need the okay of compensation czar ken feinberg but after the publiche $165 million in bonuses in march, any additional payouts are viewed as a potential land mine. the payments are said to be delayed from last year, due next week. here's the take of the normal take here. isn't that incredible, after a 10 for 1 reverse split. it goes straight down. here's the daily news. aig heads back to the pig trough. so if you were to -- honestly, it's problematic. you cannot -- you couldn't pay out $10. you couldn't. >> i think you could maybe pay out $10. >> no, you couldn't. carl -- >> $10, not $11. >> this is $2.4 million and it's 48 executives. i don't know who gets what, but that's about $60,000 -- >> the last -- the last round of outrage was about -- >> is that schwarzenegger 60,000? >> i'm doing the math. it is $60,000. >> it's problematic. it just shows you how difficult -- >> this is $2 million. >> $2.4 million with 48 people. it just shows you, it is problematic. the taxpayer feels like the only reason aig is around because of the money the taxpayer puts