Summers calls AIG bonuses 'outrageous'

WASHINGTON -- "Outrageous."

That's what the president's chief economic adviser calls the tens of millions of dollars in new bonuses paid out by the troubled insurance giant American International Group.

Larry Summers says these kinds of bonus payments should be a matter of future regulations.

AIG has gotten more than $170 billion in a public bailout. Just this month, the company reported a loss of $61.7 billion for the fourth quarter of last year — the largest corporate loss in history.

AIG's chairman says the company entered into the bonus agreements in early 2008 before getting into severe financial trouble. Summers says the government determined it could not break those contracts after the fact.

The director of the National Economic Council spoke on ABC'sThis Week.